Park Chan-wook traveling to US for Golden Globe Awards ceremony Korean director Park Chan-wook poses for a photo upon arrival at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, holding the Best Director trophy he won for his latest film, "Decision to Leave," at the 75th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, in this May 30, 2022 file photo. NewsisKorean director Park Chan-wook headed to the United States to attend the annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony, where his latest film "Decision to Leave" is competing for the best non-English language film, its distributor said Wednesday.Park departed for Los Angeles on Tuesday to attend the 80th Global Globe Awards slated for Jan. 10 (U.S. time), according to CJ ENM and Moho Film, Park's own production company. During the stay, Park is also expected to work on the upcoming HBO drama series "The Sympathizer," which he is on board as a co-showrunner and director."Decision to Leave," starring Korean actor Park Hae-il and Chinese actress Tang Wei, tells the story of a detective who suspects a mysterious Chinese widow is the culprit of a murder case and later falls in love with her.It brought home the Best DireJan 4, 2023
'Avatar 2' tops box office for 3rd consecutive week Posters of "Avatar: The Way of Water" are displayed at a Seoul theater, Jan. 1. Yonhap"Avatar: The Way of Water" remained on top of the Korean box office for the third consecutive week, attracting over a cumulative 7 million viewers, data showed Monday. James Cameron's sequel to his 2009 sci-fi blockbuster registered 1.27 million admissions from Friday to Sunday, the third weekend of its release, according to the data from the Korea Film Council.The film has accumulated 7.74 million viewers and generated 95.8 billion won ($75.8 million) of sales since its release in Korea on Dec. 14.The sequel has sold tickets at a faster pace than the original "Avatar," which attracted 13.6 million moviegoers in Korea in 2009 to become the most-viewed foreign movie released here of all time."Hero," a Korean musical film about independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun, was No. 2 with 518,866 admissions over the period. It has amassed 1.67 million viewers since its release on Dec. 21. (Yonhap)Jan 2, 2023
Six movies to look out for in 2023 From left, actors Lee Byung-hun, Park Seo-joon and Park Bo-young will star in the dystopian film “Concrete Utopia” / Courtesy of Lotte Entertainment By Kwak Yeon-sooDespite the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, cinema admissions last year were weaker than expected. A total of 986.3 million tickets were sold in the January-November period of 2022, up 89.3 percent from a year earlier. However, the figure remained below half (48.3 percent) of the pre-pandemic level (2019) due to a lack of mega-hit films. Studios latched on to blockbusters including the sequels to “The Outlaws,” “Roaring Currents” and “Avatar” to attract audiences back to theaters. Many of the films conceived and shot during the pandemic have been subject to repeated delays as cinemas saw a big drop in overall attendance.While 2023 still looks somewhat grim, in terms of reaching pre-pandemic attendance levels, there is still room for cautious optimism. Here are six movies to look out for this year, ranJan 1, 2023By Kwak Yeon-soo
CJ's Miky Lee named 2022 Women in Entertainment Power 100 list Miky Lee, vice chairperson of CJ Group / Korea Times fileBy Kwon Mee-yooMiky Lee, vice chairperson of CJ Group, (a South Korean conglomerate holding company) has once again demonstrated her influence in the global entertainment industry by being included in the Hollywood Reporter's Women in Entertainment Power 100 list for two consecutive years.The magazine acknowledged her role in helping to establish not only CJ but also Korea's entertainment industry as a global power player and Lee is the first Korean to be on the list two years in a row. Lee, known as Lee Mie-kyung in Korea, was the producer of Bong Joon-ho's "Parasite," which made history by becoming the first non-English language film to win the Oscar for Best Picture back in 2020.The publication also expressed its anticipation about Lee for future awards, as CJ ENM financed and distributed Park Chan-wook's latest film, "Decision to Leave," a Cannes-winning romance thriller that was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.In a brief interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Lee said she would like toDec 28, 2022By Kwon Mee-yoo
Korean director Park Sye-young's 'The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra' invited to Berlin fest The poster of Korean director Park Sye-young's feature debut "The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra" is seen in this photo provided by its distributor Indie Story. YonhapKorean director Park Sye-young's feature debut "The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra" was invited to the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival, the film's distributor said Tuesday.The movie will be presented at the Critics' Week, a side bar section held jointly by the German Critics Association and the Heinrich Boll Foundation, during the festival's 73rd edition that will run from Feb. 16-26, according to Indie Story. "The Fifth Thoracic Vertebra" is the second Korean film that has been invited to the section established in 2015, following veteran director Im Kwon-taek's "Revivre."Park's film tells a story of a creature born in an abandoned mattress that travels around the country feasting on its victims' vertebrae, struggling to break free from the bed, the mold and its past. It is scheduled to hit theaters in Korea next year. (Yonhap)Dec 27, 2022
Erick Oh's 'Metamodernity' invited to French short film festival A scene from Erick Oh's latest short film “Metamodernity” (2022) / Courtesy of Beasts and Natives Alike By Park Han-solFilmmaker Erick Oh, whose short motion picture “Opera” was shortlisted for the 93rd Academy Awards in 2021 as the first-ever Korean animated film, has been invited to the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival for his latest work titled “Metamodernity.”Oh's seven-minute movie will compete in the Young Audience category at the French festival's 2023 edition, which is slated to run from Jan. 27 to Feb. 4, according to his agency, Beasts and Natives Alike.The film festival was launched in 1979 in the small city of Clermont-Ferrand in central France as a student film club. Over the decades, it quickly grew to be one of the most acclaimed cinematic events of its kind, along with Finland's Tampere Film Festival and Germany's International Short Film Festival Oberhausen.“Metamodernity” follows an individual born out of his consciousness who begDec 26, 2022By Park Han-sol
'Avatar' sequel sells over 5 million tickets in 12 days Posters for “Avatar: The Way of Water” hang in a movie theater in Seoul, Dec. 20. The film has sold over 5 million tickets here as of Sunday, 12 days after its release. YonhapBy Kim Rahn“Avatar: The Way of Water” has sold over 5 million tickets in Korea as of Sunday, at a faster pace than the 2009 original. The sequel to the sci-fi blockbuster, “Avatar,” had amassed some 5.37 million filmgoers as of 7 a.m. on Christmas Day, the 12th day since its release on Dec. 14, according to the Korea Film Council.The film reached the 5-million mark in ticket sales only a day after it reached the 4-million mark on Saturday, and the theater industry expects the film to reach the 6-million mark easily in one or two days, because 830,000 people have already made reservations for the movie in the coming days.The original “Avatar,” screened 13 years ago, reached 5 million in ticket sales here 15 days after its release. It set a box office record at the time with 13.3 million in ticket sales.Directed by James Cameron, the same director of the original filDec 25, 2022By Kim Rahn
Ju Ji-hoon on why he chose mid-budget film after starring in mega-blockbusters A scene from the film, "Gentleman" / Courtesy of Contents Wavve By Kwak Yeon-sooActor Ju Ji-hoon, best known for his roles in the “Along With the Gods” film franchise and Netflix series “Kingdom,” went against expectations and chose to pursue a mid-budget movie instead of vying for a role in another major franchise. In the crime comedy film, “Gentleman,” Ju plays the role of Ji Hyun-soo, a private detective who is falsely accused of kidnapping his client. He disguises himself as a prosecutor to chase Kwon Do-hoon, an alleged mastermind of kidnapping and sex trafficking crimes.Ju shared his thoughts on starring in mid-budget films and why theaters still need them.“I believe that studios should pump out more quality mid-budget movies because they allow for a wider range of themes and genres to get explored. As long as a film has its own charm and an interesting concept, I am willing to take part in the project,” he said during an interview with The Korea Times at a caDec 23, 2022By Kwak Yeon-soo
'Decision to Leave' makes Academy Awards' shortlist for international feature film A scene from the film “Decision to Leave” / Courtesy of CJ ENMBy Kim RahnDirector Park Chan-wook's Cannes-winning film “Decision to Leave” has been included on the shortlist for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the list, Wednesday (local time), for 15 films of the category, after reviewing candidates from 92 countries. It will announce the five finalists on Jan. 24 before the awards ceremony, which is slated for March 12.“Decision to Leave” is a romance thriller revolving around a detective (Park Hae-il) who suspects a Chinese widow (Tang Wei) is the culprit in a murder case and later falls in love with her.The film, which won the Best Director award at the 75th Cannes Film Festival, was also nominated as the best non-English language film at the 80th Golden Globe Awards scheduled for January, as well as the best foreign language film at the Critics' Choice Awards, also slated for January.Other films on the Academy's shortlist are: “Argentina, 1985” (ArgentiDec 22, 2022By Kim Rahn
Kang Soo-youn's final movie, 'Jung_E,' to debut on Netflix in January A scene from the film "Jung_E" / Courtesy of NetflixBy Kwak Yeon-soo“Jung_E,” a dystopian sci-fi film featuring Kang Soo-youn in her final film appearance, will debut on Netflix on Jan. 20. Kang died of a cerebral hemorrhage in May while “Jung_E” was in post-production and eight months before the film's release. She was 55.Set in the post-apocalyptic 22nd century, “Jung_E” follows the story of a researcher at Kranoid Lab who clones the brain of an elite soldier called Jung_E to create a combat AI warrior in an attempt to end a civil war. It is helmed by director Yeon Sang-ho, well known for his previous works such as “Train to Busan” (2016), “Peninsula” (2020) and “Hellbound” (2021).Kang played Seo-hyun, the team leader of Kranoid Lab for brain cloning. Her character is responsible for testing Jung_E's cloned brain and the warrior's combat capabilities.Kim Hyun-joo takes on the role of Jung_E, an elite soldier of the allied forces who becomes the subject of brain-clone testing. This is her second time working cloDec 21, 2022By Kwak Yeon-soo
