Showbox Cannes Slate Brims With Korea’s Top Acting Talent

Alicia Vikander has lost all her patience at the police station in the new trailer for Blue Bayou.

International and indie film distributor Well Go USA Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Korean film Escape From Mogadishu. It will open in theaters in the U.S. and Canada August 6 following a July 28 release in Korea.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefA powerful opening by “Black Widow” lifted the South Korean box office to its biggest weekend this year. The Disney-Marvel title dominated proceedings with an 80% market share.The film launched in Korea on Wednesday and raced far ahead of the competition.

Taeyong has joined Mnet’s upcoming TV dance competition Street Woman Fighter (a direct translation of its Korean title, ‘스트릿 우먼 파이터’) as a judge.South Korean news outlet SPOTV first reported earlier today (July 8) that the NCT member had landed a role as a judge on Street Woman Fighter, where eight all-female dance crews will compete to become South Korea’s number one team.According to the report, Taeyong was allegedly selected as a judge for his dance ability, as he is considered to be “one of

Louis Vuitton staged a “spin-off show” of its Fall 2021 menswear collection designed by Virgil Abloh in Seoul, featuring the brand’s house ambassadors BTS on Wednesday. The seven-member Korean boy band walked and modelled the collection in a short film by Abloh and South Korean director Jeon Go-woon, debuting 34 new looks.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefAfter flying into Cannes to open the festival in Korean on Tuesday night, “Parasite” director Bong Joon-ho took a trip down memory lane.Speaking at an on-stage interview Wednesday in front of a public audience, who accorded him a standing ovation on arrival, Bong discussed his early cinema experiences, the good and bad sides of video streaming and his obsession with mass murderers.“I had no idea that ‘Parasite’ would be a such a global hit.

The 74th Cannes Film Festival kicked off in earnest this evening as big names came out to support the event that’s just getting back to business after last year’s cancellation and this year’s delays. Assembled together, 2019 Oscar and Palme d’Or winner Bong Joon-ho, Cannes veteran Pedro Almodovar, Jury President Spike Lee and tonight’s honorary Palme d’Or recipient Jodie Foster paid tribute to the event and officially opened the 2021 proceedings in a mix of Korean, Spanish, English and French.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe powerful appeal of K-pop is a major contributor to YouTube taking up position as the dominant streaming video platform in South Korea, a new study has found.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefLocal film “Hard Hit” held on to top spot at the South Korean box office for the second week, keeping Hollywood holdovers and new release titles at bay.The Busan-set action thriller scored $2.07 million in its second weekend on release, according to data from the Kobis tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). That was a drop of only 5% compared with its opening weekend.

Ed Sheeran has revealed he has written a song for the new BTS record.While speaking to Most Requested Live, Sheeran confirmed the new track after briefly discussing his previous collaboration with the record-smashing Korean group, ‘Make It Right’.“I’ve actually worked with BTS on their last record, and I’ve just written a song for their new record,” he said.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefLeading Korean film sales company Finecut has added mystery-horror movie “Guimoon” to its pre-Cannes and Cannes Market slates. The film was specially shot in order to be released in ScreenX and 4DX special versions, as well as conventional 2D presentations.Now in post-production, after lensing in 8K, the film is set to be delivered by the third quarter of this year.

Magic can be a scary thing.