Korea’s CJ ENM to Spend $4.4 Billion on Content as It Seeks Global Role

It already saw off Donald Trump, now K-pop is threatening to cause the collapse of North Korea. Or so fears that nation’s leader Kim Jong-un, as South Korean pop music gains popularity in the country.Kim has called South Korean entertainment smuggled into North Korea via China a “vicious cancer”, according to the New York Times.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“F9” became the most-watched foreign film in South Korea since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic on another weekend where Hollywood and Japanese titles dominated the South Korean box office.The weekend box office chart was headed by “Cruella,” which held strong in its third frame and swapped places with newer “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.”“Cruella” scored $1.82 million according to data from Kobis, the Korean Film Council’s film tracking service,

Kim Jong-un has labeled K-Pop as a “vicious cancer” that is corrupting the youth of the country he leads. As a result, he is imposing harsher penalties on citizens who are consuming South Korean movies, K-dramas and K-pop videos.The New York Times detailed the secretive anti-K-pop campaign that came to light through leaked internal documents from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

SEOUL, South Korea -- Bringing her camera to a home for unwed mothers on South Korea’s Jeju island, Sun Hee Engelstoft anticipated an empowering story about young women keeping their babies.Instead, she ended up with a raw and unsettling documentary about how a deeply conservative sexual culture, loose birth registration laws and a largely privatized adoption system continue to pressure and shame single mothers into relinquishing their children for adoption.The shock and grief of mother-child

They aren’t well known in their native South Korea, but that’s poised to change after four-piece vocal group Korean Soul made their debut audition for “America’s Got Talent”.

CAA completed the sale of a majority stake in its own affiliate production outlet, Wiip, to the Korean studio JTBC to comply with the WGA franchise agreement,Endeavor, which became a publicly traded company in April, is the combination of sports, events, fashion and talent-management IMG and the agency WME. In its first earnings report last week, the company reported $2.4 million in net income for the quarter, besting the $51.4 million the company lost in the same period in 2020.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefSouth Korea enjoyed its biggest weekend box office of 2021 propelled, unusually, by a trio of Hollywood titles. “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It” topped the chart with a $2.68 million haul, ahead of “Cruella” and “F9.”Aggregate national box office for the three days from Friday to Sunday was $7.12 million, according to data from the Korean Film Council’s Kobis tracking system.

BTS leader RM has shared a new track called ‘Bicycle’ as part of the band’s annual Festa celebrations.Each year, the Korean group mark the anniversary of their debut, which occurred on June 13, 2013, with a series of new photos, profiles, video content and new music.‘Bicycle’ is RM’s first solo material since the release of his 2018 “playlist” project ‘mono’. The song was produced, written and arranged by the rapper and singer-songwriter John Eun.

ABC Signature has enlisted CJ ENM’s Jiwon Park as its VP Drama Development.

CAA has sold a majority stake in Wiip, the producer behind HBO’s Mare of Easttown and Apple’s Dickinson, to Korean company JTBC Studios. It marks the first sale of an agency-backed studio after CAA and the other agencies agreed to end their standoff with the WGA and sell a majority interest in their content divisions.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefMultiplex operators in South Korea have begun to offer significantly reduced cinema tickets to moviegoers who have been vaccinated against the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief‘F9’ enjoyed a second weekend at the front of the South Korean box office. It was joined by ‘Cruella’ in keeping the nationwide gross total over $6 million for a second week.Action franchise movie, “F9” grossed $3.21 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from the Korean Film Council’s Kobis tracking service.