Mark Tuan hints at plans to stay in Korea for the foreseeable future

Paramount Global has handed Marco Nobili and Olivier Jollet key new roles as its seeks to turbo-charge expansion of its international streaming services.

EXCLUSIVE: Fresh off their Oscar nominations for drama The Lost Daughter, Oscar winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite) and Chernobyl star Jessie Buckley are set to reunite on comedy Wicked Little Letters, which will be a hot project at the Cannes market.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaNeon has teamed with CJ ENM to acquire North American distribution rights to “Broker,” the new film from writer and director Kore-eda Hirokazu. The deal was inked prior to the film’s premiere in Cannes, where “Broker” is slated to premiere in competition.

Marta Balaga “Face Off” helmer John Woo will receive a Career Achievement Award during Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival, about to celebrate its 26th edition. The Hong Kong filmmaker is currently working on “Silent Night,” starring Joel Kinnaman and Kid Cudi.“I defy anyone to watch ‘Bullet in the Head,’ ‘Hard Boiled’ or ‘The Killer’ and not walk away wanting to break down the shots and make a movie.

admitted to a hospital in Seoul on Thursday (May 5) following a sudden cardiac arrest.Kang’s memorial service has been set up at Samsung Medical Center in Seoul. Her funeral ceremony will be held on Wednesday (May 11) and will be broadcast live through the Korean Film Council’s YouTube channel, according to a report from The Hollywood Reporter.The funeral committee will be led by Kim Dong-ho, former chairperson of the board of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF).“Kang broke boundaries with her fearless performances.

Kang Soo-youn, who won South Korea’s first acting award from a Big Three film festival when she took home Best Actress honors at the Venice Film Festival, died Saturday, two days after suffering a cardiac arrest. She was 55 and her family said she died of a cerebral hemorrhage at 3 PM at a hospital in southern Seoul.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” opened with a stunning $14.4 million debut weekend in South Korea, far in excess of any film this year at the Korean box office. Its five-day opening score was $29.1 million.Data from the Korean Film Council’s Kobis tracking service shows the film garnered an 87% market share over the weekend, as it lifted nationwide box office to pre-COVID levels for the first time in more than two years.

Tommy Fury shared that he won't be proposing to Molly-Mae Hague until she "stops asking him 100 times a day." The 22 year old boxer was seen in a candid video with girlfriend Molly-Mae, also 22, as they headed to Molly’s sister Zoe's engagement. Zoe didn't know the pair were on a road trip to meet her, not knowing she was getting engaged that day.

As he prepares to leave office next week, South Korea’s outgoing Culture, Sports And Tourism Minister Hwang Hee has called on the country’s incoming new government to amend the law so to exempt BTS members – and other successful pop stars – from military service.“It’s time to create a system for [treating] popular culture-art figures as art personnel”, he said at a press conference in Seoul yesterday, according to Yonhap.The issue of BTS’s national service has been a hotly debated topic in South Korea for a number of years now. Under the country’s laws, all able-bodied men must begin serving around two years in the military at some point between the ages of eighteen and 28.

BTS‘ exemption from the nation’s mandatory military service.The Culture Minister proposed in a press briefing on May 4 that globally recognised male pop-culture artists should be allowed to substitute their compulsory two-year conscription for alternative programmes.“It’s time to create a system for incorporating popular culture-art figures as art personnel,” Hwang said, per Yonhap News Agency, in recognition of figures such as award-winning athletes and classical musicians and their roles in enhancing South Korea’s image overseas.“The [exemption] system has been operated meaningfully to give those who have enhanced the national status based on their excellent skills more chances to contribute to the country, and there is no reason the popular art-culture field should be excluded from this,” he continued.Under South Korea’s current Military Service act, all able-bodied Korean men are required to enlist for approximately two years of military service before the age of 30. This was after an amendment to the act was made in late-2020 where the age limit was raised from the initial 28.“I thought somebody should be a responsible voice at a time when there are conflicting pros and cons ahead of the enlistment of some of the BTS members,” Hwang added.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefK-pop superstars BTS could be given exemption from compulsory military service in South Korea.“It’s time to create a system for incorporating popular culture-art figures as art personnel,” said Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Hwang Hee, at a press briefing on Wednesday, according to reports by the Yonhap news agency. Hwang said he aims to push a new law through parliament that would allow the stars of popular culture to serve their country outside the military.Under the present Military Service Act all able-bodied Korean men must enlist for roughly two years of military service before they reach age 30.

Naman Ramachandran Paramount Global’s streamer Paramount+ will launch in the U.K. and Ireland on June 22, with other international territories to follow.

Paramount+ is to launch in the UK and South Korea next month and will be in India next year, Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish has revealed in the past hour.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” topped the box office in South Korea over the May Day weekend, beating a handful of minor local titles which released in hope of catching a rising market.The latest Friday-Sunday period appeared to represent a turning point – a $4.86 million nationwide aggregate was the biggest weekend haul since January – but a slow and uncertain one. Theatrical box office in Korea has been severely depressed all year due to government-imposed COVID restrictions, audience caution and a paucity of new release local titles.