Watch Crush perform ‘NAPPA’, ‘Rush Hour’ and more on ‘Tiny Desk Korea’

Korea’s premium VOD industry continued to grow in the third quarter of 2023, with the number of subscriptions increasing by more than 700,000 to reach 19 million, according to the latest report from Media Partners Asia (MPA).

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.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Leading Japanese publishing house Kodansha has struck a deal with new production company Majestic Limited for a feature film adaptation of its “Origin” comic. Created by Boichi (“Dr. Stone,” “Sun-Ken Rock”), a renown Korean manga artist (real name Park Mu-jik) who is based in Japan, “Origin” is set in a near-future where humanity has achieved incredible advancements in technology and robotics. It tells a story of self-discovery, morality, and what it means to be human. Winning the grand prize for manga at the 22nd Japan Media Arts Festival and currently only printed abroad, the English translation of “Origin” hit U.S.

Naman Ramachandran Canadian conglomerate, Blue Ant Media has scored sales of some 550 hours of programming to Asia Pacific broadcasters, it was revealed at Singapore’s Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF). Content was sourced from across Blue Ant’s portfolio companies.

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.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Political drama thriller “12.12: The Day” dominated the South Korean box office for a second weekend with a $13 million haul. Its second weekend outing topped its first session, when it earned $11.2 million, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). And the film (aka “Seoul Spring”) increased its share of the weekend’s total cinema market to a crushing 81%. Separately, ComScore calculated that the film’s single country receipts made it the seventh highest grossing film in the world over the weekend. After two weekends on release, “12.12: The Day” has garnered $34.2 million, making it already the sixth ranking film in Korea this year and the third biggest Korean-produced picture.

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.

Netflix this week launched a real-life version of its super-popular dystopian Korean drama, Squid Game. The new show, Squid Game: The Challenge, is streaming now and features hundreds of everyday people competing in games from the original series for a chance to win a life-changing multi-million dollar prize. Created by the same people who made The Traitors and Race Across the World, Studio Lambert, it follows 456 real players all vying for a whopping $4.56 million – the biggest cash prize in reality TV history, according to Netflix.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief BTS, the biggest act in K-pop and one of the world’s hottest contemporary music acts, will be forced into hiatus through 2024 and much of 2025 after it was confirmed Wednesday that four band members — RM, Jimin, V and Jung Kook — will imminently enlist in the Korean military. The four follow Jin, who enlisted in December last year, J-Hope (April) and Suga, who have already begun their mandatory military service. The news was announced by Big Hit Music via social media.

The Princess of Wales turned heads on Tuesday, 21 November as she sported an all-red ensemble at Horse Guards Parade complete with a statement hat. Kate, 41, attended a ceremonial welcome for The President and the First Lady of the Republic of Korea in London on Tuesday.

Thania Garcia Stray Kids returns to the peak of Billboard’s 200 albums chart with its eight-song mini album “Rock-Star.” It becomes the eight-member K-pop outfit’s second No. 1 album this year with the equivalent of 224,000 albums sold throughout the United States. “Rock-Star,” with lyrics in both English and Korean, is only the sixth mostly non-English album to have hit No.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Leading Korean star Jung Woo-sung (“A Moment to Remember”) will star opposite Shin Hyun-been (“Hospital Playlist”) in “Tell Me That You Love Me,” an original series for Genie TV. The show is a remake of the hit Japanese series of the same name that first aired at Tokyo Broadcasting Systems linear channel in Japan some 28 years ago in 1995. The new show will upload to Genie’s own streaming service on Nov. 27 and the same day in Japan on Disney+.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Mystery-horror film “Five Nights at Freddy’s” landed on top of the South Korean cinema box office. But fellow new release title “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songs and Snakes” managed only a fourth placed start. “Five Nights” earned $1.78 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council.

BIBI and Latin pop artist Becky G have teamed up for a new single titled ‘Amigos’.The ‘Amigos’ visual features the duo taking a drive to a house party together, where they lounge by the pool, singing to the sensual new track. As the sun goes down, they take the party to a bonfire, dancing and driving figure-eights.The new song features Becky G singing in Spanish before BIBI joins in her native Korean.

EXCLUSIVE: Korean American comedian, writer and producer Cathy Shim is the latest to join the cast of the film K-Pops! from first-time director and eight-time Grammy winner Anderson .Paak (who also stars). She will play Diamond, the energetic iconic host of a K-pop competition show in Seoul, and .Paak’s hard-to-please boss.

OnlyOneOf have announced the dates and stops for the North American leg of their upcoming world tour in 2024.OnlyOneOf announced last week that they would be embarking on a world tour next year, with concerts set for cities across North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. It will mark the band’s first-ever world tour.On November 14, the group announced that the world tour will kick off with its North American leg with 10 shows unveiled to take place in Vancouver, Chicago, New York City/New Jersey, Toronto, Atlanta, San Juan, Orlando, Dallas, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

DEAN has been confirmed to release his first music after four years and six months this November.The singer’s label, Universal Music, announced the upcoming release of DEAN’s first single in more than four years through a statement to South Korean outlet TV Daily earlier today (November 14). In the company’s brief statement to press, it wrote: “DEAN will return after 4 years and 6 months.

Lauv has released a new Korean version of his single ‘Love U Like That’, created using the help of AI.The new Korean version of Lauv’s song was created with AI voice modelling technology from Jordan Young, who founded the AI music start-up, Hooky, according to Korea JoongAng Daily.In an interview with Billboard, Lauv and Young revealed that they also enlisted the help of former K-pop idol Kevin Woo for the project. Woo, an ex-member of U-KISS, aided with the translation of the song and also recorded vocals.“We re-recorded Kevin’s voice singing the translation, then we mixed the song again exactly as the original was done to match it sonically,” Young explained.