A bevy of Korean stars are ready to set sail on The Pirates: Goblin Flag (translated title), the sequel to the 2014 hit The Pirates. KANG Han-neul, HAN Hyo-joo, LEE Kwang-soo and KWON Sang-woo lead an ensemble in a film with a whole new story and set of characters. KANG Ha-neul, who hasn’t been seen on the big screen in a leading role since enlisted for his military service in 2017, is known for M...

The 56th editions of both the Grand Bell Film Awards and the BaekSang Arts Awards were held in quick succession earlier this month, on the 3rd and 5th, both without an audience for the first time, owing to public health concerns during the COVID-19 Pandemic. BONG Joon-ho’s Parasite (2019) won the Best Film prize at both, as well as BaekSang’s separate Grand Prize, and was also the most awarded fil...

KIM Bora’s sensational debut film, the indie drama House of Hummingbird (2018), has come away with the top prize, the Best Film Award, from this year’s 6th Korean Film Producers Association Awards. BONG Joon-ho was awarded Best Director for his comedy-drama satire Parasite, which also earned prizes for Best Lighting and Best Production Design. In the acting fields, Best Actor went to JUNG Woo-sung...

Following two weeks of unprecedented blockbuster mania, courtesy of Marvel’s epic finale Avengers: Endgame, the box office has receded to normal spring levels, with 1.95 million tickets sold over the last frame. The local industry also found its way back into the mix, clinching 43% of sales over the weekend. Following last week’s strong hold, demand has finally dropped off for Avengers: Endgame, w...

Though sales slowed considerably from the previous week, this past weekend remained a highly lucrative window at the Korean box office, with 3.12 million tickets sold. With Marvel’s Phase 3 culmination continuing to lord over the charts as it scaled the records book, local films were kept down to just under 20% of the market. After setting several new industry records during its supersized debut, ...

With the arrival of the most anticipated film in history, box office admissions rose a staggering 500% week-on-week as Marvel’s blockbuster to end all blockbusters sucked up all the air out of the market, accounting for 92.8% of the 4.51 million tickets sold over the frame. Among the casualties were local films, which only accounted for 6.8% of the total. Building on years of fandom and its 21 pre...