Character actor CHO Dal-hwan took on the lead role in the indie drama Like the First Glass (translated title), the debut feature film of producer and short film director PAEK Seung-hwan. The film, which co-stars veteran actor SHIN Gu and new actress WOO Hye-rim (aka Hyerim of the K-pop outfit Wonder Girls) completed production earlier this summer. CHO Dal-hwanplays Lee Ho-yeon, a sales rep at a ph...

The time-loop drama Spring, Again (translated title) completed production on July 11. Featuring LEE Chung-ah and HONG Jong-hyun, this webtoon adaptation from director JUNG Yong-juis currently in post-production and aiming for a theatrical release later this year. Based on the popular webtoon of the same name, Spring, Again features LEE as a mother who grieves following the loss of her child. Unabl...

The Korean remake of the Italian comedy Perfect Strangers, featuring YOO Hae-jin, CHO Jin-woong and YUM Jung-ah, kicked off production on December 27th. From The Fatal Encounter (2014) director LEE Jae-kyoo, the film will be distributed by Lotte Entertainment, the company behind current the 10-million-viewer hit Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds. Released in 2016 and directed by Paolo Genovese, ...

Korean film industry, which was a slump in February, represented a growth in March compared to last year. The number of moviegoers and the total sales in March 2017 were 13.85 million and USD 98.50. They are numbers that grew by 2.58 million (22.9%) and USD 19.9 million (25.2%), respectively. The market share of local films was 31.5%, much less than 68.8% of foreign films but more than the same pe...

The Korean box office has had a rocky ride through the first two trimesters of 2017, but this period was not without its success stories. Though controversies and an uneven slate of films presented some obstacles, Korean history remained a strong driver for profits, particularly in a shifting political climate that may have aided the release of several politically-tinged hits. Riding on the critic...

The first quarter of 2017 was one of few surprises at the Korean box office but one which demonstrated the industry’s stability, both as a global exhibition market and a local production industry. Though not quite reaching the highs of 2013 (55.47 million) or 2015 (54.56 million), Q1 this year handily exceeded the totals of the last two years, with a sturdy 52.27 million admissions registered duri...

A new Hollywood tentpole entered the marketplace and further lifted the American market share to 86% as Korean titles were left in the dust. 1.69 million sales were recorded over the frame. Opening well in first place was big-budget monster title Kong: Skull Island with 823,000 viewers (USD 6.16 million) and 1.01 million spectators (USD 7.46 million) since its Wednesday bow. A highly competitive m...