TXT’s Yeonjun says K-pop boybands are “not as recognised” as girl groups

The Marvels director Nia DaCosta has revealed how the K-drama Itaewon Class led her to cast Park Seo-joon in the upcoming film.DaCosta recently spoke to South Korea film magazine Cine21 ahead of the release of The Marvels in the East Asian country on November 8. During the interview, she revealed how she ended up casting Park Seo-joon in the film.The 33-year-old director, known for her work on 2018’s Little Woods and 2021’s Candyman sequel, said that it started during the COVID-19 pandemic when she rediscovered her love for K-drama.“I love K-dramas.

There is so much K-pop excellence in 2023!

Sure, we all know that Michael Mann is currently prepping the release of “Ferrari.” And then, after that, he’ll be hard at work on bringing “Heat 2” to life. But what else does the filmmaker have up his sleeve? Well, according to Variety, it appears the Mann is working on an adaptation of the Korean hit film, “Veteran.” READ MORE: ‘Heat 2’: Michael Mann Eyeing Adam Driver To Star & Says It’ll Be His Next Film The report claims that Michael Mann is working with Korean studio, CJ ENM, on an English-language adaptation of the crime film, “Veteran.” It’s still in the early stages, but we know that Mann is definitely attached to help write the script.

North Korea. Your house is on fire. What do you try to rescue first? Your kids? Your pet? No, the first thing you reach for is the portrait of the Dear Leader, Kim Jong-un and his father and grandfather that is hanging on your wall, as mandated by the authoritarian government. Everything else can wait. 

BTS member Suga has revealed that he thought the boyband’s 2015 album ‘The Most Beautiful Moment in Life’ would be their last.Suga recently released the latest episode of this online talk show, Suchwita, which featured guest appearances from SHINee‘s Taemin and BTS bandmate Jimin.During the episode, Suga asked Taemin to name what he believes to be Jimin’s most memorable performance. “For me, it’s ‘I Need U’,” said the SHINee singer.

Rowoon has opened up about this departure from K-pop boyband SF9 for the first time.Rowoon spoke about his recent decision to leave K-pop boyband SF9 during a press event for his new K-drama series, The Matchmakers. The actor had been a member of the group for seven years, from their debut in 2016 until September 2023.“I left the group because I wanted to become more serious about acting, and I wanted to get better at it,” Rowoon explained, per SBS Star.

The London East Asia Film festival came to a close on Sunday night with the UK premiere of Concrete Utopia, Korea’s entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 2024 Oscars. After the event’s Best Film award went to Iron Mask, by Kim Sung Hwan, artistic director Hyejung Jeon presented its Rising Star award to Concrete Utopia’s Pak Bo-young. Actress Park returned after the film for a Q&A with director, Um Tae-hwa, to discuss the film’s themes of survival, which suddenly seemed shockingly relevant after recent events in Ukraine and Israel/Gaza.

EXCLUSIVE: Megan Stalter (Hacks), Kanoa Goo (The Rookie), and Rainn Wilson (The Office) will topline ILY, BYE, a new short marking the narrative debut of veteran music video helmer Taylor James (Jason Mraz’s “I Feel Like Dancing”), which has wrapped production.

Luminate, a provider of music and entertainment data, the Top 100 K-pop artists globally have racked up a total of 90.4billion streams across audio and video services so far this year.The figure is a 42.2 per cent increase as compared to the same period in 2022, with Japan having the high number of on-demand streams at 9.7billion, up from 8.6billion from the year prior.The US came in second with 9.2billion, a marked increase from 6.6billion in 2022. Rounding out the Top Five in terms of most on-demand streams are Indonesia (7.4billion), South Korea (7.3billion) and India (6.2billion).In its report, Luminate also broke down the regional composition of streams for a number of top K-pop groups.

Persona: Sulli, a documentary film starring late K-pop star Sulli, will premiere on Netflix in November.Today (October 26), Netflix confirmed that Persona: Sulli will be released on the streaming platform next month. According to a report from Korea JoongAng Daily, the film will be split into two parts.The first is a short film called 4: Clean Island, which stars the late Sulli as the titular “4”, who travels to an island that is dubbed the cleanest place in the world.

STAYC recently wore the jerseys of the wrong Rangers team to their recent Dallas, Texas concert.STAYC are currently on the US leg of their 2023-2024 ‘Teenfresh’ world tour and played a show in Dallas, Texas on October 19.

Extraordinary Attorney Woo.Park Eun-bin made the revelation while discussing her upcoming role as Seo Mok-ha in the upcoming K-drama series Castaway Diva, where she plays a girl who finds herself stranded on an uninhabited island for the next 15 years.Speaking to Harper’s Bazaar Korea, the Extraordinary Attorney Woo actress said that she had “a lot of time to reflect on myself” while filming the hit K-drama series because it was “actually a very lonely time for me”, as translated by Soompi.“But when I read the script for Castaway Diva, I felt like character Seo Mok-ha would be able to overcome the difficulties of the human being Park Eun-bin,” she explained. “I received a lot of good offers back then, but the main reason I chose Castaway Diva was because I wanted to gain Seo Mok-ha’s strength.”Castaway Diva will premiere October 28 on South Korean TV network tvN.

SAG-AFTRA has rules around Halloween!

Jimin of K-pop boyband BTS has opened up about how the superstar group managed to overcome language barriers with their music.In a new interview with GQ Korea, BTS’ Jimin spoke about how the boyband were able to transcend languages with their music. Notably, BTS have topped the Billboard Hot 100 with songs in both English and Korean.“To get to where we are now, our team has faced considerable struggles,” Jimin said, “occasionally losing our way and experiencing conflict, but always supporting each other.”“The joy, sorrow, pain, delight, and love we’ve felt along the way – we’ve been candid about it all.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Acclaimed film-making duo Kamila Andini and Ifa Isfansyah take a calculatedly side-on approach to Indonesian societal history in “Cigarette Girl,” a new Netflix series that releases on Nov.1 and which premiered its first episodes at the Busan International Film Festival earlier this month. Starting with a wealthy family about to lose its aging patriarch in 2001, the series uses flashbacks to the 1960s to uncover not only the origins of the family’s herbal cigarette or ‘Kretek’ fortune, but also the hidden romance underlying it. And it highlights the overbearing and only slowly changing societal pressures placed on women, from high and low ranks, even as Indonesian politics and government underwent tectonic shifts. Ahead of the Busan premiere Andini and Isfansyah told Variety how their lush and romantic treatment is both a product of changing society and a way of facing up to recent Indonesian history.Watch the new trailer here.

SM Entertainment has addressed a report about EXO‘s Sehun and Chanyeol signing with a different agency for their solo activities.Earlier today (October 17), South Korean news outlet SBS reported that EXO member Sehun and Chanyeol would be signing with a new agency for their solo careers. Notably, the two K-pop idols make up the boyband’s sub-unit, EXO-SC.According to SBS, the unnamed agency is reportedly founded by Jeong Hoon-tak, the former CEO of iHQ (also known as SidusHQ).

Jesse Jo Stark has shared her heartfelt new single ‘Fallout’ ahead of her final debut headlining North American tour date.The melancholic track features confessional lyrics that are both deeply personal and universally relatable. “Don’t buy me a ring / the scariest thing about being all alone / clouds grow / I don’t know how not to have you around / the beautiful thing about the things that come out your mouth fallout / I don’t know how not to have you around,” Stark sings in the song.Directed by Christina Bryson, the accompanying video for ‘Fallout’ features footage of Stark on tour performing the track to her loving fans.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Neom, the Saudi Arabian region on the Red Sea that is aiming to become a major film and TV production hub, has forged a strategic partnership with the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) to set up training programs for young Saudi content creators. The full-service Saudi production hub, which is becoming a major driver of the kingdom’s effort to build a film and TV industry almost from scratch, will be hosting courses held by The Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA), South Korea‘s top national film school.

There is so much K-pop excellence in 2023!

BLACKPINK’s Jennie has shared a live performance video for a jazz version of her latest solo single, ‘You & Me’.The star shared the original version of the track last week (October 6) after premiering it on the ‘Born Pink’ world tour in 2022.In the new video, Jennie sits on a chair in front of the moon background that appears in the original performance video shared upon the single’s official release. With glowing orbs sitting on the floor around her, she delivers a poised performance of the track, with its melodies reinterpreted in jazz form.The jazz version marks the third incarnation of ‘You & Me’ that has been shared so far, alongside the original single and the ‘Coachella Remix’.In a press release about the release of ‘You & Me’, YG Entertainment said, “We hope the song becomes a special gift through which fans remember their memories from ‘Born Pink’ tour”, per The K-pop Herald.‘You & Me’ is Jennie’s second solo single, following her 2018 debut single ‘Solo’.