Korean Streaming Subs Reach 19M While Market Braces For Tving, Wavve Merger

The family of one of Brianna Ghey's killers has received 'death threats', it has emerged - and there are concerns the second murderer could become 'notorious'. The disclosures were made during a hearing at Manchester Crown Court, the day after Girl X, from Culcheth, and Boy Y, from Leigh, were found guilty of murdering the 16-year-old in a park near Warrington.

Mauricio Umansky is stepping out for dinner.

This year was full of incredible Korean drama offerings.

told media outlets.“I had the pleasure of spending a lot of time with him in his last years, as he had no immediate family,” Garland said in a statement to Entertainment Weekly. “We spent much time outdoors, where Jack loved to sketch, read news articles, and recite Shakespearean sonnets.” Born on Jan.

EXCLUSIVE: Critical Content, the company behind series such as Netflix’s Ginny & Georgia and Sly, is looking to bolster its formats business and co-productions with the hire of former Zodiak exec Stéfanie Gelinas.

Like the Japanese with their Godzilla movies, the Koreans are partial to a bit of post-apocalyptic social satire, and Um Tae-Hwa’s box office hit Concrete Utopia follows a path trailblazed in 2013 by Bong Joon-ho’s cult sci-fi Snowpiercer. Adapted from the popular webtoon Pleasant Outcast by Kim Soong Nyung and partly inspired by British writer J.G. Ballard’s 1975 novel High-Rise, it centers on a Korean apartment block whose residents become lawless after a terrifying earthquake rips through the country.

One of Sam Lantz, Mai Whelan and Phill Cain will be crowned champion of Squid Game: The Challenge later today and walk away with $4.56M, the largest prize in reality TV history.

There’s only a few weeks left until the big day so if you haven’t already started thinking about Christmas shopping you better get your skates on. Gift buying can be a stressful experience - you’ve got to battle all the crowds in the shops and it can be hard to know what to buy.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Something Special, the Seoul-based international format agency founded by format specialists Jin Woo Hwang (president and executive producer) and Kim In Soon (EVP & head of content) announce that ITV Studios has optioned the hit Korean celebrity format “Battle in the Box” for France, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel. The deal was unveiled on Wednewday, the first full day of the Asia Television Forum and Market (ATF) in Singapore. “Battle in the Box,” created by Korea’s NMedia and represented globally by Something Special, has previously seen deals announced with Fremantle for Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal.

Addie Morfoot Contributor Madeleine Gavin’s Sundance award-winning documentary “Beyond Utopia” will kick off the winter season of PBS documentary series “Independent Lens” on Jan. 9. Using hidden camera footage, the 115-minute doc follows the high-stakes journey that a handful of desperate families make in order to defect from North Korea — a country with the most brutal regime on earth, led by a dictator, Kim Jong-un.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Webtoons, the vertical-scrolling iteration of digital comics that emerged some twenty years ago in Korea, along with the smartphone, are now a global medium. But they are only at the beginning of their global journey, says Charlie Park, CEO of Kakao Entertainment-owned Tapas. Park was speaking Tuesday at the Asia Television Forum in Singapore in a session moderated by industry consultant Jimmy Kim. Park explained that the webtoon segment was for several years a niche fan-driven activity with few opportunities for monetization.

As Democrats look to regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives next year, one of the candidates that may help them do that is a gay former federal prosecutor. That candidate, 38-year-old Will Rollins, is again running against Republican incumbent Ken Calvert in California’s 41st Congressional District in Riverside County. Rollins narrowly lost to Calvert in 2022. Photo: Will Rollins for Congress

EXCLUSIVE: Korean production powerhouse Barunson E&A is making its first move into the burgeoning Indonesian film industry through an investment in Visinema’s upcoming action movie 13 Bombs. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief South Korea’s two largest streaming services, Tving and Wave, are in advanced merger talks, according to Korean financial news media. The move appears intended to strengthen the home-grown platforms, which currently trail streaming market leader Netflix. The Korean Economic Daily reported Wednesday that CJ ENM, the largest shareholder in TVing, and SK Square, the biggest backer of Wavve, could strike an agreement as early as next week.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Carmen,” “Foe,” “Limbo,” Australia’s Oscar contender “Shayda,” “Streets of Colour” and “The Royal Hotel” have received the six nominations for best feature film at this year’s Screen Producers Australia Awards. The SPA Awards will be held on Thursday, March 21, 2024, the final evening of the Screen Forever conference. In the documentary feature section, the nominations are “Flyaways,” “Harley & Katya,” “Living With Devils,” “ONEFOUR: Against All Odds,” “The Cape,” “The Giants,” “The Jewish Nazi?” and “The Platypus Garden.” Nominations for best telemovie or miniseries production are “While the Men Are Away,” “The Claremont Murders,” “Wellmania,” “The Messenger,” “Bad Behaviour” and “The Clearing.” “2023 was a year filled with a number of challenges for our industry, but the Australian screen sector continued to delight audiences globally with stories that share our unique culture and creativity,” said SPA CEO Matthew Deaner.

Jeon Somi, ENHYPEN and many more.The first day of the 2023 MAMA Awards took place on November 28 at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. It featured K-pop acts such as Jeon Somi, ENHYPEN, Kep1er and more take to the stage with a line-up of special stages and collaborations and more.

Squid Game: The Challenge appears to have launched with a splash in the UK.

The British royal family is bracing themselves for another tell-all. Omid Scobie has written an "explosive" follow-up to his 2020 book, "Finding Freedom," titled "Endgame." It promises to be "a penetrating investigation into the current state of the British monarchy – an unpopular king, a power-hungry heir to the throne, a queen willing to go to dangerous lengths to preserve her image, and a prince forced to start a new life after being betrayed by his own family." The publisher noted that "Endgame" is based on conversations and interviews "with current and former palace staff, trusted friends of the royals and even family members themselves." "The reality is that the royal family will see it as another bombshell book," True Royalty TV co-founder Nick Bullen told Fox News Digital.

Death’s Game, starring Seo In-guk and Park So-dam. Here’s everything you need to know about the new Korean series.Based on a Naver webtoon of the same name, Death’s Game will follow a young man named Choi Yi-jae (Seo In-guk), who tries to take his life after losing his savings in a bitcoin scam.However, Yi-jae’s indifference towards dying offends Death (Parasite’s Park So-dam), and she decides to punish him with a game: Yi-jae has to experience 12 lives and deaths before he is sent to hell.However, Yi-jae learns that he will be able to live on if he manages to evade death in any of the 12 lives.

EXCLUSIVE: Squid Game: The Challenge has piqued the interest of quite a few spectators.