Korean Police Raid Multiplex Operators, Film Distributors

In three weekends, Greta Gerwig‘s “Barbie” squares off against Christopher Nolan‘s “Oppenheimer” for this summer’s big box-office battle. So which film will walk away victorious? Both movies boast stacked ensemble casts, but given its soundtrack, premise, and Margot Robbie as its lead, “Barbie” may be 2023’s movie to beat.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Lee Yong-kwan, one of the original founders of the Busan International Film Festival, says he is stepping down as the event’s chairman – this time with immediate effect. He says the move is intended to defuse a morass of factional infighting and political interference surrounding Asian’s most prominent film festival. A festival spokesman told Variety that the board of directors “has decided to persuade the chairperson to return. So, the resignation has not been accepted yet.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Some 18 film industry guilds and trade associations are calling for urgent structural reform of the Busan International Film Festival. They point out that this year’s edition of the festival is looming less than 100 days away. The festival’s management has made a succession of management missteps in recent weeks, including one that resulted in an official apology. At the beginning of May, a decision to split the festival’s senior management in two by creating a new position for Cho Jongkook, was followed by consternation among guilds and the resignation of festival director Huh Moonyoung.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Busan International Film Festival has apologized for its mishandling of the resignation of its executive director Huh Moon-young and related sexual harassment allegations. “We sincerely apologize over the sexual harassment case that occurred in the workplace,” BIFF said in a Korean-language statement on Thursday. (A festival spokesperson said that an English-language statement, along with an update, will be issued in the coming days.) Huh has publicly denied the allegations, though he has not replied to email and telephone requests for comment by Variety.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief C CGV, a company that is one of the world’s top ten cinema exhibitors and is also a major cinema technology developer, is to raise close to $800 million in order to shore up its finances after a devastating COVID era. The company operates the largest cinema chain in its native South Korea and has significant numbers of screens in Vietnam, Indonesia, Turkey and mainland China, with smaller operations in Myanmar and the U.S. It also owns CJ 4DPlex, which developed the technology for films to be augmented with practical effects, including motion-seats, wind, strobe-lights, simulated-snow, and scents. In addition, its ScreenX system provides screenings that use the side walls of an auditorium to create a 270-degree sensory experience.

For the second week in a row, no scripted TV series were shooting on location in Los Angeles due to the Writers Guild strike, according to data compiled by FilmLA, the city and county film permit office.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Killing Romance,” one of the most creative Korean films of the past year, has been set as the opening night title for the upcoming New York Asian Film Festival. The deliberately multi-genre picture tells the tale of a beautiful movie star with dubious acting skills (portrayed by Le Ha-nee) who suddenly quits the industry and retires to newly-married life that turns out to be anything but bliss. When she decides to return to acting she teams up with a fan and an absurd plot to kill her absurdly rich husband. The film is directed by Lee Won-suk who previously attended the NYAFF with his first film, “How to Use Guys With Secret Tips,” in 2013 and returned with his second feature, the big-budget period drama The Royal Tailor, which earned the audience award at NYAFF in 2015.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Samuel Goldwyn Films announced today that the company has acquired U.S. rights to the “The Three Musketeers,” a two-part adaptation of the swashbuckling French adventure story by Alexandre Dumas. The two films were shot back-to-back, with the first film “The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan” released in France this past April, earning $35 million at the international box office. The sequel “The Three Musketeers: Milady” will open in the country on Dec. 13. The period epic boasts a top-shelf ensemble of European stars such as Francois Civil (“Call My Agent!”), Vincent Cassel (“Black Swan”), Romain Duris (“Eiffel”), Pio Marmaï ((“Happening”), Eva Green (“Casino Royale”), Vicky Krieps (“Phantom Thread”) and Louis Garrel (“The Dreamers”). Both films were directed by Martin Bourboulon, with screenplay by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Physical 100,” the first unscripted Korean show to top Netflix’s non-English global charts, is being given a second season. The show falls between a talent contest and a survival competition with 100 contestants, including Olympians, professional fighters, bodybuilders and former soldiers, through a series of quests to challenge their strength, endurance, agility, balance and willpower, and to develop the perfect physique. Controversially it mixed men and women and amateurs and professionals. The show incorporated a plaster cast of each contestant’s torso. This was destroyed with a sledgehammer when they were eliminated.

Massive release date changes were fairly commonplace over the past few years, as we watched the COVID pandemic shift entire distribution strategies for film studios. Now, it appears the WGA Strike has finally shown its impact on film releases, at least over at Disney, as the studio delays some of the biggest films on its schedule including new “Avengers,” “Star Wars,” and “Avatar” films.

Paul McCartney “Got Back” again.The 80-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is headed to New York City’s Tribeca Performing Arts Center on Thursday, June 15 at 6 p.m. for a conversation with Conan O’Brien.At the one night only event, the pair will discuss McCartney’s new “1964: Eyes of the Storm” about McCartney’s rediscovered photos from the height of Beatlemania as part of the Tribeca Film Festival’s Storytellers Series.And if you want to pick up last-minute tickets to see the Beatle live in the Big Apple, we’re here to let you know you still can.General admission tickets start at $254 before fees on Vivid Seats at the time of publication.Will Paul bust out his guitar and sing “Hey Jude” with Conan? What do the two have in store?All we know is the best way to find out is live.Want to go to the show?Here’s everything you need to know and more.All prices listed above are subject to inflation.As mentioned earlier, the lowest price on general admission tickets is $254 before fees on Vivid Seats.After that, there is a significant price hike — the next cheapest tickets start at a whopping $732 before fees.Therefore, if you see tickets available at a lower price — strike while the iron is hot.

Police in Korea on Tuesday raided three major multiplex chains and the offices of three film distributors on suspicion of box office manipulation, according to multiple local media reports. News agency Yonhap, citing officials from the Seoul Metropolitan Police, said the six entities are alleged to have obstructed the business of the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) by falsely counting audience numbers for some local films.

Addie Morfoot Contributor Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia is the latest high-net-worth individual to get involved in the documentary business. As a producer on Waad Al-Kateab’s “We Dare to Dream,” about the refugee Olympic team at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Gebbia not only helped fund the project, he also played an active role in the film’s pre-production, production, and edit. “We Dare to Dream” is Al-Kateab’s second feature docu. In her first film, “For Sama,” which was nominated for an Academy Award, the Syrian director used her camera to capture her daily life during the siege of Aleppo.Gebbia produced “We Dare to Dream” alongside Violet Films’ Joanna Natasegara (“Virunga”) and Abigail Anketell-Jones (“The Edge of Democracy”) and XTR’s Bryn Mooser and Kathryn Everett. Angelina Jolie recently signed on as an executive producer on the project. Gebbia joins fellow philanthropists Laurene Powell Jobs (Concordia Studio), Jeff Skoll (Participant Media) and Jim Swartz (Impact Partners) in the docu investment business.

Naman Ramachandran International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has appointed former BFI London Film Festival director Clare Stewart to the position of managing director, taking over from Marjan van der Haar. Stewart was most recently interim CEO at Sheffield DocFest and commences in the role at IFFR on June 21. IFFR has a dual leadership structure where the managing director and festival director oversee the commercial and creative elements of the organization respectively, working in partnership. Stewart previously consulted with the IFFR board of directors in 2021 in its first phase of re-evaluation prior to her joining DocFest, with a focus on the IFFR program structure and content strategy.

Five men have been arrested, and cash and drugs were seized, as police raided a home in Manchester.

On-location production of scripted TV series has ground to a complete halt in Los Angeles due to the five-week-old Writers Guild strike, according to data compiled by FilmLA, the city and county film permit office.

A suspected county lines gang have been arrested after police raided homes across Bury in the early hours of Wednesday (June 7).

For months now, we’ve known a series led by “Star Wars” fan-favorite, Ahsoka Tano, was coming to Disney+. Several weeks ago, we saw the first full trailer for the series.

Israeli director Guy Nattiv’s biopic Golda, starring Helen Mirren as Israel’s iconic Prime Minister Golda Meir, will open the 40th edition of the Jerusalem Film Festival, running from July 13 to 23.

2023 Tribeca Festival in June, Robert De Niro made a splash at the 76th annual Cannes Film Festival, where the Oscar-winner's 45-year-old girlfriend, Tiffany Chen, made her debut on the carpet. Additionally, the actor's latest film,, made quite the impression on audiences during its world premiere. «It was great,» De Niro told ET's Rachel Smith about walking the carpet at the Cannes event with Chen in May.