News

A KPop Demon Hunters star will lead a new movie by Paramount, also focused on the world of K-pop. KPop Demon Hunters is still leading the streaming charts, amounting to a massive, unexpected success for Netflix and becoming the family streaming event of the summer.

The KPop Demon Hunters cast is led by Arden Cho, May Hong, and Ji-young Yoo as the K-pop girl group Huntr/x, who moonlight as demon hunters and are working to solidify the Honmoon barrier to protect their world. Overall, KPop Demon Hunters has reinforced the only-growing interest in Korean pop culture worldwide, which will lead to other major projects.

Per Variety, Ji-young Yoo, who voices Huntr/x's lyricist and rapper Zoey, will be starring in Paramount's currently untitled movie about K-pop, alongside singer-songwriter Eric Nam. It is scheduled to release in theaters on Feb. 27, 2027, and will be the first major American studio movie to...

Another new movie centered in the world of K-pop is in the works from Hybe and Paramount!

It was just announced that Ji-young Yoo and Eric Nam are set to star in the upcoming feature, according to THR.

Ji-young is currently starring in the No 1 movie on Netflix, KPop Demon Hunters as Zoey, while Eric is, of course, a super popular American K-pop singer based out of South Korea.

“if 15 year old me could see me now … I will try my best,” Ji-young shared on Instagram.

“this one’s for the dreamers,” Eric added on his account.

Keep reading to find out more…

“This film is my love letter to K-pop – its energy, passion, magic, and the incredible community behind it,” director Benson Lee shared in statement. “I’m deeply grateful to Paramount Pictures for championing the project, to our producers for their unwavering dedication, to our talented and dynamic cast,...

TriStar's feature-length adaptation of the global best-selling novel The Nightingale is finally back on track. A release date and director for the long-gestating project set to star Dakota and Elle Fanning have been announced.

Per Deadline, a Feb. 12, 2027 release date has been set for The Nightingale by TriStar. So far, the only competition the film has is with an untitled feature from filmmaker Benson Lee. The Feb. 12 weekend is expected to be a big one with the double holiday of Valentine’s Day and President’s Day. This marks the latest release date for The Nightingale. TriStar's previous release date attempts for the movie were for Aug. 10, 2018, Dec. 25, 2020, Dec. 22, 2021, and Dec. 23, 2022; with most of those delays attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Additionally, Michael Morris has been tapped to direct The Nightingale, in what will be his third feature-length directorial effort. He made his debut with the 2022 drama film To Leslie...

Paramount has set an untitled K-Pop film co-produced by Korean entertainment company Hybe America for release on Feb. 12, 2027.

The film will star Ji-young Yoo, who most recently starred in the breakout Netflix/Sony Animation hit “K-Pop Demon Hunters,” as well as Eric Nam, who will star in the upcoming “Avatar: The Last Airbender” feature film “The Legend of Aang.” Yoo will play a young Korean-American woman who defies her family’s wishes to compete in a televised competition to find the next K-pop girl group.

Benson Lee, director of the 2015 Sundance teen comedy “Seoul Searching,” is attached to the film, which is set to be the first American production shot entirely in South Korea.

“This film is my love letter to K-pop — its energy, passion, magic and the incredible community behind it. I’m deeply grateful to Paramount Pictures for championing the project, to our producers for their unwavering dedication,...

Paramount has set untitled K-Pop Movie from Hybe America with Ji-young Yoo and Eric Nam (The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender and Transplant) starring.

Benson Lee (Seoul Searching) is directing for a Feb. 12, 2027 theatrical release. The movie is expected to be the first major American studio film shot entirely in South Korea.

Eileen Shim wrote the latest draft. Previous writers include Adele Lim (Crazy Rich Asians), Elyse Hollander and Lee. The movie follows a young Korean-American woman, who defies her family’s wishes to compete in a televised competition to find the next K-pop girl group.

“This film is my love letter to K-pop – its energy, passion, magic, and the incredible community behind it. I’m deeply grateful to Paramount Pictures for championing the project, to our producers for their unwavering dedication, to our talented and dynamic cast, and to the legends of the genre...

Paramount and Hybe America’s untitled K-pop film has found its stars and landed a release date, Paramount announced Tuesday.

Ji-young Yoo (KPop Demon Hunters) and Eric Nam (The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender) are set to star in the Benson Lee-directed film. Eileen Shim wrote the script’s latest draft.

“This film is my love letter to K-pop – its energy, passion, magic, and the incredible community behind it,” Lee said in statement. “I’m deeply grateful to Paramount Pictures for championing the project, to our producers for their unwavering dedication, to our talented and dynamic cast, and to the legends of the genre helping us bring this story to life.”

In North America, the movie will open in theaters Feb. 12, 2027, the beginning of the lucrative Presidents Day/Valentine’s Day weekend, opposite TriStar’s buzzed-about book adaptation The Nightingale, starring Elle and Dakota Fanning (that film’s...

Becca Kufrin and Thomas Jacobs welcomed their first child, a son named Benson Lee, on September 21, 2023. Becca shared the news on Instagram and explained the meaning behind her son's name, honoring their respective fathers. The couple chose the name Benson after the town where Becca's father was born and raised, and Lee after Thomas' father, who served in the military.

Bachelor In Paradise season 7 couple Becca Kufrin and Thomas Jacobs welcomed their first child, a son named Benson Lee, into the world on September 21, 2023. Becca and Thomas met and fell in love during Bachelor In Paradise season 7 in 2021 and have been together ever since. In May 2022, Becca proposed to Thomas, and they got engaged. He then popped the question to Becca in October 2022. In April, Bachelor Nation stars Becca and Thomas revealed that they were expecting a baby who would be born in September. They shared that he'd be a...

Exclusive: Seoul Searching director Benson Lee has signed with Verve.

He was previously with WME, having signed on the eve of Seoul Searching‘s premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2015, as we told you at the time.

The Korean-American is currently attached to direct Kpop Superstar for Paramount, with Scooter Braun’s Sb Projects producing and Adele Lim (Crazy Rich Asians) now polishing a script originally from Elyse Hollander. He’s worked in drama, docs and commercial production since breaking through in the late 1990s.

Lee is also working on a breakdancing documentary that will feature exclusive access granted by the World DanceSport Federation in the run up to the 2024 Paris Olympics. We hear other projects include an Asian-American dance-themed drama series set in southern California’s hip-hop scene

He’s best known for Sundance Film Festival title Seoul Searching, a John Hughes-style comedy set in the 1980s...

What sets “Seoul Searching” apart from other teen-oriented films is it is a story not only about personal wounds, but also of a nation’s deepest, lingering scars. Directed by Benson Lee, the movie, which won the the Best Narrative Feature Film at the 2015 Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival and was also an official entry to the Sundance Film Festival, cleverly and pointedly lays down the cultural intricacies of identity, both of the self and the nation-state.

“Seoul Searching” is based on Lee’s real-life experience where young Koreans like him who grew up in other countries are made to rediscover and acquaint themselves with what it means to be Korean through a summer camp. It’s a program developed by the South Korean government after its citizens emigrated to other countries following the war between South and North Korea in the 1950s.

The movie takes us back to the...

Exclusive: Seoul Searching director, Benson Lee, is set to direct 20th Century Studios’ Untitled K-Pop feature film from Scooter Braun’s Sb Projects and Epic Magazine.

Story follows a young Asian- American college student from the U.S. who becomes a top competitor on South Korea’s toughest k-pop competition show and chases her dreams of becoming a K-Pop star, despite the disapproval of her family.

Elyse Hollander is attached to write. Braun and James Shin are attached as producers with Scott Manson as executive producer on behalf of Sb Projects. Joshua Davis and Arthur Spector are producing on behalf of Epic Magazine with Epic’s Joshuah Bearman executive producing. John Zaozirny is attached as executive producer on behalf of Bellevue Productions.

The Korean-American director recently received rave reviews for his coming-of-age dramedy Seuol Searching following his directing debut in Battle Of The Year. Lee is represented by WME, Marathon Management and Andrew Hurwitz.

Planet B Boy and Graffiti Limbo both screen at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood) Tonight August 30th. The program starts at 7:30.

It’s Hip Hop Week at Webster University!

Their purpose is to educate people in the culture of Hip Hop by using elements such as art, music, film and dance. Hip Hop Week will not only educate but inspire and entertain the community by bringing musicians, artists, educators and designers together for a multi day event in St. Louis, Mo.

Planet B Boy – directed by Benson Lee, 2007 – 95 minutes

Jumping continents and crossing cultures, Planet B-Boy looks at the history of breakdancing and its vibrant resurgence in urban cultures around the world.

Preceded by: Graffiti Limbo – directed by Brent Jaimes, 1996 – 45 minutes

Graffiti Limbo offers unique insight into what may be the ultimate expression of public art. Graffiti is a vibrant combination of art and urban dissent that...

Seoul Searching is a dramedy that firstly present us a peculiar real-life situation that, if you are not from Korea, probably has remained unknown. Back in the 1980's, the Korean government developed a summer program with camps that allowed the sons and daughters of Korean immigrants to actually return to their origins and learn about the culture of the place. These camps were especially important because, as we are told, since the Korean War a huge amount of people migrated to a vast variety of countries, where they established and eventually formed a family. Korean-American director Benson Lee uses this scenario, and a bunch of teenagers as protagonists -- who travel for the first time to Seoul from places like the U.S., Germany and Mexico...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Seoul Searching is a dramedy that firstly present us a peculiar real-life situation that, if you are not from Korea, probably has remained unknown. Back in the 1980's, the Korean government developed a summer program with camps that allowed the sons and daughters of Korean immigrants to actually return to their origins and learn about the culture of the place. These camps were especially important because, as we are told, since the Korean War a huge amount of people migrated to a vast variety of countries, where they established and eventually formed a family. Korean-American director Benson Lee uses this scenario, and a bunch of teenagers as protagonists -- who travel for the first time to Seoul from places like the U.S., Germany and Mexico...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

To help sift through the increasing number of new releases (independent or otherwise), the Weekly Film Guide is here! Below you’ll find basic plot, personnel and cinema information for all of this week’s fresh offerings.

Starting this month, we’ve also put together a list for the entire month. We’ve included this week’s list here, complete with information on screening locations for films in limited release.

See More: Here Are All the Upcoming Movies in Theaters for June 2016

Here are the films opening theatrically in the U.S. the week of Friday, June 17. All synopses provided by distributor unless listed otherwise.

Wide

Central Intelligence

Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Ed Helms, Aaron Paul, Amy Ryan, Danielle Nicolet, Ryan Hansen, Bobby Brown, Megan Park, Timothy John Smith

Synopsis: “After he reunites with an old pal through Facebook, a mild-mannered accountant is lured into the world of international espionage.

Seoul Searching is an unabashedly spirited homage to the John Hughes teenage comedies from the 1980s (most notably The Breakfast Club), and though the movie traverses widely tread terrain, writer-director Benson Lee and an engaging ensemble are up for the challenge. It's 1986, and a lively group of Korean teenagers from all over [...]...

“Seoul Searching” follows a group of Korean teenagers in 1986 who travel to South Korea to participate in a government-sponsored program to help reconnect them with their roots. They’ve come from all over the world, from the United States to Hamburg, to party hardy in their homeland, flirting and drinking the nights away. However, the teens also learn a little bit about their ancestors’ struggles, and slowly come to terms with their own issues at home and abroad as well. Watch an exclusive clip from the film featuring Sid (Justin Chon) and Grace (Jessika Van) share a sweet moment in front of a Buddha statue.

Read More: Meet the 2015 Sundance Filmmakers #69: ‘Seoul Searching’ is the Angsty ’80s Korean Teen Dramedy You Never Realized You Wanted

“Seoul Searching” is written and directed by Benson Lee based on his own experiences as a teenager. His previous credits include “Planet B-Boy,” a documentary about the history of breakdancing and its global resurgence, and “Battle of the Year,” a 3D dance film based on “Planet B-Boy” starring Josh Holloway (“Lost”), Chris Brown (“Think Like a Man”), and Josh Peck (“Mean Creek”). The film is also executive produced by Ken Jeong, best known for his role on Dan Harmon’s sitcom “Community” as well as his appearances in “The Hangover” movies. “Seoul Searching” stars Justin Chon (“21 and Over”), Jessika Van (“The Gambler”), In-Pyo Cha (“Crossing”), Teo Yoo (“Day Night Day Night”), and more.

“Seoul Searching” premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. It opens in New York City on June 17th and in Los Angeles on June 24th.

Read More: The Biggest Challenges the 2015 Sundance Filmmakers Faced

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Asia House is delighted to announce the full programme of the Asia House Film Festival 2016, once again generously supported by Prudential plc. This year’s theme of ‘Breaking Boundaries’ will be reflected in the diverse programme of 19 films, which include five European and six UK premieres. All of the films will be shown in London for the first time.

The Festival, now in its eighth year, will take place from 22 February to 5 March, and includes 11 feature films, three documentaries and five short films coming out of countries including Japan, China, Kazakhstan, Myanmar and Afghanistan.

Jasper Sharp, the Festival’s Artistic Director, said: “The films selected as part of the 2016 programme represent a world in which culture, politics and economies are transcending national boundaries. There will be a number of films from countries often completely overlooked by followers of Asian cinema, giving audiences a chance to experience the lives and landscapes...

Nomad drama Stranger headlines London-based Asian festival.

Asia House Film Festival (Feb 22-Mar 5), held in London, has unveiled the line-up for its 2016 edition and revealed it will open with Ermek Tursunov’s Stranger (Zhat) - Kazakhstan’s submission for the 88th Academy Awards.

The period drama, which debuted at Toronto in September, centres on a young man who survived the famine of the 1930s, Stalinist deportation and Second World War by retreating in a cave to live off the land, but finds himself battling society in a bid to retain his freedom.

Tursunov and the film’s producer, Kanat Torebay, will host a Q&A session following the screening.

The director, whose previous feature Old Man (Shal) was selected as Kazakhstan’s official submission for the Oscars in 2012 and had nomadic drama Kelin shortlisted in 2010, will also present the European premiere of his latest film, Little Brother (Kenzhe), at London’s newly reopened Regent Street Cinema and will...

Seoul Searching

Written & Directed by Benson Lee

South Korea/China, 2015

Director Benson Lee’s film, Seoul Searching, is a semi-autobiographical story about a summer camp for the teenage children of Korea’s emigrants during the mid-eighties. Lee has a clear love for and understanding of the 80’s teen movies that inspired his film, and he packs Seoul Searching with all the debauchery, angst, and political incorrectness of its genre predecessors.

In the early 1980s, the Korean government created an outreach program meant to establish a cultural bond with gyopo (foreign born Korean teenagers). The government decided to foot the bill for summer camps (based in Korea) where gyopo would visit in order to establish cultural ties with their parent’s homeland. Seoul Searching begins with a motley crew of teenagers from around the globe stepping foot on Korean soil for the first time. Amongst the group of misfits are Sid...

The 19th annual Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival (Reel Asian) is set to run from November 5 – 15, 2015 in Toronto and Richmond Hill. The festival highlights contemporary Asian cinema as well as work from the Asian Diaspora. Reel Asian also features a series of industry events in areas such as pitching and screenwriting to help guide and inspire creative minds.

After meticulously going over every synopsis, trailer, and bio that this year’s festival has to offer, I’ve put together a list of several can’t miss films at Reel Asian 2015.

Seoul Searching

During the 1980s, the Korean government instituted a policy which created summer camps aimed at enticing the country’s gyopo (foreign born) teenagers to visit their motherland. The plan seemed to be a win-win; parents could send their kids away on the Korean government’s dime, the kids would gain a first-hand cultural experience, and the country...

“Seoul Searching,” an '80s-set teen comedy written and directed by Benson Lee, had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival back in January and was a homecoming of sorts for Lee. His previous film, “Miss Monday,” also premiered at the fest in 1998, winning a Special Jury Award for star Andrea Hart’s performance. After Sundance, the coming-of-age film also hit the Seattle International Film Festival (where it won the Futurewave Youth Jury Award), CAAMFest (where it won an Audience Award for Best Narrative film), and as it arrives as the Los Angeles Film Festival it provided me a second chance to take a look at the movie. When I first caught the film back at Sundance, I was moved by its performances and equally impressed by its stellar '80s soundtrack, which features cuts from The Clash ("Should I Stay or Should I Go"), Spandau Ballet ("True"), Erasure...

Evan Peters is taking a room in Ryan Murphy's American Horror Story: Hotel. Also included in our latest round-up are details on The Girl in the Photographs, starring Kal Penn and executive produced by Wes Craven, as well as recently revealed photos from Fox's Scream Queens.

American Horror Story: Hotel: Ryan Murphy announced on Twitter today that Evan Peters has officially joined the cast of FX's American Horror Story: Hotel. Peters, a frequent American Horror Story actor, joins a cast that includes Lady Gaga, Kathy Bates, Sarah Paulson, Matt Bomer, Cheyenne Jackson, Wes Bentley, and Chloë Sevigny.

This season, Evan Peters will be waiting for you in Room 64. #Ahshotel

— Ryan Murphy (@MrRPMurphy) April 24, 2015

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The Girl in the Photographs: Press Release -- "Los Angeles, CA (April 23, 2015) – Al-Ghanim Entertainment (Age), a specialty financing and production company founded by Kuwaiti industrialist Nawaf Alghanim, has announced today that Kal Penn...

The La Film Festival, for the first time ever, has added a TV Gala to buttress its indie film program. This is the new normal for festivals looking for audiences where they really are nowadays, and that's television. On June 14 the festival will premiere MTV/Dimension's horror series "Scream," based on the international hit franchise spawned by Wes Craven. Executive-produced by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, "Scream" makes its TV premiere on Tuesday, June 30. Among Laff's rash of titles from Sundance and other festivals is "Seoul Searching," Benson Lee's warmly reviewed, '80s-set Korean immigrant comedy set for a Gala premiere on June 17. The festival will also screen ten hot circuit titles in the Buzz section, with highlights including the Berlinale one-take heist thriller "Victoria," Netflix's SXSW pickup "Manson Family Vacation," Sony's feminist comedy from Sundance "Diary of a Teenage Girl" and The Orchard's squirmy swinger...

Exclusive: Wme has signed Matt Sobel, writer/director/producer of Take Me To The River, which debuted at Sundance. This marks the third signing the agency made of filmmakers who made a splash at Park City; Wme also signed The Hallow helmer Corin Hardy and Seoul Searching‘s Benson Lee. Cinetic Media will also rep Sobel, and is repping the distribution rights to his pic. Sobel’s coming-of-age drama follows a California teen who travels to a family reunion in Nebraska where…...

Korean-American filmmaker Benson Lee won the Jury Prize at Sundance with his Competition Drama, Miss Monday, in 1998. A decade later he returned with Planet B-Boy, a critically-acclaimed, commercially-successful doc about breakdancing crews competing in an international competition. Lee’s success with Planet B-Boy led to both a studio deal and a career setback. Battle of the Year, a Sony production based on B-Boy, was as critically derided as the doc was praised, and it was a commercial failure to boot. This year, Lee returned to the site of his Miss Monday success — the Sundance Film Festival — with an […]...

Korean-American filmmaker Benson Lee won the Jury Prize at Sundance with his Competition Drama, Miss Monday, in 1998. A decade later he returned with Planet B-Boy, a critically-acclaimed, commercially-successful doc about breakdancing crews competing in an international competition. Lee’s success with Planet B-Boy led to both a studio deal and a career setback. Battle of the Year, a Sony production based on B-Boy, was as critically derided as the doc was praised, and it was a commercial failure to boot. This year, Lee returned to the site of his Miss Monday success — the Sundance Film Festival — with an […]...

Park City, Utah – This is the last batch of Sundance reviews I’ve got to offer. A tad late, but I couldn’t let these films go uncommented on, especially with their special offerings for those who seek them out. I hope that each of these films finds an audience.

Aside from “Listen to Me Marlon” (which will be debuting on Showtime soon), I have also recommended both of these films for the third annual Chicago Critics Film Festival, the next fest for your radar, which takes off May 1-7, 2015 at the Music Box Theater.

Nonetheless, below are reviews for documentaries “Listen to Me Marlon” and “Pervert Park,” along with a take on a personal favorite, the narrative film “Seoul Searching.” After that, you’ll find a brief recap of my Sundance experience, along with very brief words on a few other movies I saw.

Listen to Me Marlon

‘Listen...

Benson Lee's "Seoul Searching" is "The Breakfast Club" for South Korean suburbanites with a modern sensibility, an '80s setting, and a lot of heart. If it sounds like a hodgepodge of, like, total awesomeness, dude, that's what he's aiming for. What's your film about in 140 characters or less? It's a teen comedy/drama about a disparate group of Korean teens from around the world. They come together during the summer of 1986 to attend a special summer school in Seoul where they were sent to learn about their Korean heritage. Of course, the last thing on any teens mind is their "heritage." The story focuses on three boys -- a punker from La, a conservative student from Germany, and a Latin lover from Mexico who meet three girls who rock their world! Now what's it Really about? It's about the beauty of youth with all its angst, rebellion and acne.

Festival resurges as launch pad for awards contenders while sales agents are prepared for healthy market

Those up in arms over Hollywood’s limited roles for women and minorities should be excited for the diversity of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, which kicks off Thursday with no shortage of films that address the broad range of human experience, while renewing the festival as a key launch platform for awards season hopefuls.

For all the talk of work drying up for over-40 actresses, they’re well represented this year in Park City between “Lila & Eve” with Jennifer Lopez and Viola Davis, “Strangerland...

Chicago – This Thursday marks the beginning of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, and yours truly will be in attendance to cover the fest for HollywoodChicago.com. Last year, the Park City, Utah event introduced the world to its 2014-defining sensations like “Whiplash” and “Boyhood”.

Those titles followed in the paths of indie landmarks such as “sex, lies and videotape,” “Clerks,” “Hoop Dreams,” “American Movie,” “Memento,” “Frozen River,” “Winter’s Bone,” and “Fruitvale Station,” among many others.

In pursuit of new favorite films for a new year, I’ve composed a relatively solid schedule so that I can devour as much diverse Sundance goodness as possible. Narratives, documentaries, white supremacists, nasty babies, Neil Hamburger, Chiwetel Ejiofor, stolen cop cars, and much, much more are all in play. But with hopes that everything I witness is the next “Boyhood”-like zeitgeist, I’ll be sure to report back here on what’s worth,...

Announcements for the lineup for the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, taking place between January 22nd and February 1st, are starting to roll out. Watch this page for updates as more films and sections are revealed.

Premieres

Brooklyn (John Crowley, UK)

Digging for Fire (Joe Swanberg, USA)

Don Verdean (Jared Hess, USA)

End of the Tour (James Ponsoldt, USA)

Experimenter (Michael Almereyda, USA)

Grandma (Paul Weitz, USA)

I Am Michael (Justin Kelly, USA)

I'll See You In My Dreams (Brett Haley, USA)

Last Days in the Desert (Rodrigo Garcia, USA)

Lila & Eve (Charles Stone III, USA)

Mississipi Grind (Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden, USA)

Mistress America (Noah Baumbach, USA)

Seoul Searching (Benson Lee, USA/Korea)

Sleeping with Other People (Leslye Headland, USA)

Ten Thousand Saints (Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman, USA)

True Story (Rupert Goold, USA)

A Walk in the Woods (Ken Kwapis, USA)

Zipper (Mora Stephens, USA)

Documentary Premieres

Beaver Trilogy Part IV (Brad Besser,...

Our Sundance 2015 pre-coverage continues with some first look images and synopses from a collection of films that will have their world premiere in the Premieres category at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. Briefly: Seoul Searching – Directed and Written by Benson Lee; starring Justin Chon, Jessika Van, In-pyo Cha, Teo Yoo, and Esteban Ahn, Byul Kang. Ten Thousand Saints – Co-directed and co-written by Robert Pulcini, Shari Springer Berman; starring Ethan Hawke, Asa Butterfield, Emily Mortimer, Julianne Nicholson, Hailee Steinfeld, and Emile Hirsch. Zipper – Directed and co-written by Mora Stephens; starring Patrick Wilson, Lena Headey, Richard Dreyfuss, Ray Winstone, John Cho, and Dianna Agron Hit the jump to check out the images and synopses. The 2015 Sundance Film Festival runs January 22nd – February 1st. Seoul Searching A comedy set in the '80s about a group of foreign-born Korean teenagers who meet at a Seoul summer camp to learn what it means to be Korean.

Festival top brass have revealed a high-profile roster of out-of-competition Premieres and Documentary Premieres entries featuring many returning heroes, as well as a new Special Events section and panel participants including George Lucas.

Justin Kelly’s I Am Michael is likely to become a major talking point and stars James Franco and Zachary Quinto in the true tale of activist and Young Gay America co-founder Michael Glatze, who renounced his homosexuality and became a Christian pastor. The Exchange handles international rights.

James Ponsoldt’s David Foster Wallace film End Of The Tour (pictured, photo by Jakob Ihre) starring Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel makes the cut — Fortitude International is the international sales agent — as does the latest from the newly prolific Noah Baumbach, whose Mistress America stars his Frances Ha and Greenberg muse Greta Gerwig and arrives three months after the Toronto premiere of While We’re Young.

Sundance regulars Ryan Fleck and Anna Bowden return with Mississippi Grind...

Festival top brass have revealed a high-profile roster of out-of-competition Premieres and Documentary Premieres entries featuring many returning heroes, as well as a new Special Events section and participants on two panels including George Lucas.

James Ponsoldt’s David Foster Wallace film End Of The Tour starring Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel makes the cut, as does the latest from the newly prolific Noah Baumbach, whose Mistress America stars his Frances Ha and Greenberg muse Greta Gerwig and arrives three months after the Toronto premiere of While We’re Young.

Sundance regulars Ryan Fleck and Anna Bowden return with Mississippi Grind starring Ryan Reynolds, Ben Mendelsohn and Sienna Miller, while Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman introduce the New York Tompkins Square Park Riot drama Ten Thousand Saints starring the in-demand Ethan Hawke and Emily Mortimer.

Joe Swanberg brings Digging For Fire with Rosemarie Dewitt, Orlando Bloom, Brie Larson, Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick.

Peter Sarsgaard, [link...

The Sundance Institute effectively filled out its slate for the 2015 Sundance Film Festival with the announcement of the always star-friendly premieres category. It's also where many former Sundance filmmakers bring their second, third and even fourth films back to the fest. This year the category features 16 world premieres and almost all of them are from Sundance alumni, including Ryan Fleck ("Half Nelson"), Noah Baumbach ("The Squid and the Whale"), Joe Swanberg ("VHS"), Jared Hess ("Napoleon Dynamite"), James Ponsoldt ("The Spectacular Now"), Michael Almereyda (2000's "Hamlet"), Rodrigo Garcia ("Nine Lives"), Benson Lee ("Miss Monday"), Leslye Headland ("Bachelorette"), and Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman ("American Splendor"). Some of the intriguing titles include Paul Weitz's "Grandma" with Lily Tomlin and Laverne Cox, Ryan Fleck and Anna Bowden's "Mississippi Grind" with Ryan Reynolds and Sienna Miller, Garcia's "Last Days in the Desert" featuring Ewan McGregor as Jesus, Charles Stone III's "Lila...

Filmmaker Benson Lee (Planet B-Boy) discusses the importance of hip-hop music all around the world in an exclusive featurette for Battle of the Year, which is currently available on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray and DVD. The film centers on a group of American dancers practicing for the Battle of the Year competition, who are taught the importance of teamwork by their new coaches (Josh Holloway and Josh Peck). Take a look at the director discussing why hip-hop is so popular all over the world, along with behind-the-scenes footage.

Brace yourself as the world's best B-Boy teams hit the stage in the most intense dance tournament. The Battle of the Year competition is an all out war of mind-blowing dance moves, explosive routines and electrifying displays of skill and imagination. The American team, a group of underdogs, is pitted against the world's elite as they tear it up in their struggle for...

Moviefone's Top DVD of the Week

"Fast & Furious 6"

What's It About? Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Vin Diesel, and the late Paul Walker reunite with Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Jordana Brewster, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, and future Wonder Woman Gal Gadot to put the pedal to the medal in the sixth iteration of this car-racing series. Can our favorite speed freaks outwit and outdrive a gang of drivers led by a British baddie named Shaw (Luke Evans)?

Why We're In: Besides the fact that some of the DVD earnings will be donated to the late Paul Walker's charity Reach Out Worldwide, this is the perfect guilty-pleasure action film to pop on with a bunch of friends. It's worth it for the runway scene alone.

Moviefone's Top Blu-ray of the Week

"Big" (25th Anniversary Edition)

What's It About? Before Tom Hanks saved "Mr. Banks," he won our hearts as a little...

Don Jon | The Butler | The Counsellor | Dom Hemingway | In Fear | Utopia | Future My Love | Pandora's Promise | Battle Of The Year | Ram-Leela

Don Jon (18)

(Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 2013, Us) Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, Tony Danza, Glenne Headly. 90 mins

Never one to shy away from a risky project, Gordon-Levitt dives into sexual politics and pornography addiction for his first directing job, and just about pulls it off. He's charming as ever, playing a cocksure Italian-American casanova who secretly prefers online onanism to real sex – until dream girl Johanssen prompts him to take a hold of himself. It's snappy, funny, and pertinent, though the Noo Joisey stereotyping is an unnecessary let-down.

The Butler (12A)

(Lee Daniels, 2013, Us) Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo. 132 mins

Old school but illuminating take on American history and the civil rights struggle, viewed through the eyes of a black White House butler who served eight presidents. The dazzling cast is almost a distraction,...

Chicago – “B Boys” – or as they’re known by the more familiar term as break dancers – are high energy street performers who combine gymnastic moves with tight choreographed dance. This all comes together in a film depicting an international competition called “Battle of the Year.”

Rating: 3.0/5.0

This is basically a hey-kids-let’s-put-on-a-show for post millennial street tough dancers, as if Gene Kelly had been born in Brooklyn in the 1990s and learned his moves break dancing on cardboard in the ‘hood. The gyrations ooze aggressive testosterone, and the “dream team” characters in the film highlight these traits, but they’re also a dance troupe putting together steps for a talent show. Although updated to now – with sneaker endorsements and hip-hop beats – it’s still about the show, and overcoming the obstacles to get to the so-called Battle of the Year. There is copious borrowing from other sports movies to get...

Uh oh. Chris called out Jay Z in a new interview, saying the legendary rapper sold drugs and stabbed someone but he still ‘gets a pass’ for his criminal past. Chris says he means ‘no disrespect’ to Hov — but do you think it was a diss?

Chris Brown has certainly seen his fair share of criticism from the media, and while he fully accepts the blame for his mistakes — including assaulting his former girlfriend Rihanna in 2009 — he’s wondering why other artists like Jay Z, 43, don’t seem to get any grief for their past indiscretions. Read on for more details.

Chris Brown: Jay Z Sold Drugs, But ‘Gets A Pass’ For Criminal Past — New Beef?

Chris, 24, isn’t perfect, and nobody knows that better than the X artist himself. That said, he’s paid for his mistakes, and he wants to put his troubled past behind him– but no one will let him.

It's not really being talked about - at least, in the circles (both online and offline) that I travel in, but fans of both actors might want to know that a film they star in opens wide in theaters today - a dance drama called Battle of the Year, which stars Chris Brown and Laz Alonso co-star in, alongside Josh Holloway and Josh Peck. The Screen Gems' film was previously titled Planet B-Boy, and is directed by Benson Lee. It's based on director Lee's 2007 documentary, also titled Planet B-Boy, which was set in the international world of "B-boying." The $20 million film inspired by Lee's award-winning documentary follows an all-star American b-boy...

Is this the first feature film in history designed to be a commercial for a documentary? Back in 2007, director Benson Lee made a pretty engaging doc called Planet B-Boy, about break dancing and hip-hop culture and the “Battle of the Year” international dance tournament. It played a few festivals (including Tribeca) and had a modest theatrical release. Now, he’s turned it into a feature film, casting a lot of talented dancers as a ragged crew of Americans who must be whipped into shape in order to compete in the titular tournament. These kids spend a lot of time watching Planet B-Boy, and there’s even a whole scene that’s basically an excerpt from the movie. They actually call the film “our Bible” at one point. I’m glad Lee is so proud of his earlier movie, but really?Modesty, of course, isn’t a part of b-boying, and...

Chris’ 3D dance movie hits theaters Sept. 20, and the reviews are starting to roll in! It sounds like this is the perfect movie to amp up your weekend.

Chris Brown is now at a theater near you! The 24-year-old stars in Battle Of The Year, and his dancing is captivating critics. The film, directed by Benson Lee, is about a group of troubled kids who go to France to compete in an annual breakdancing competition. Do they win? You’ll have to check out the film to find out!

Chris Brown — Impressive In ‘Battle Of The Year’

Chris steals the show in this flick, according to film critics. If you don’t believe us, just read some excerpts from top reviews, below!

The Hollywood Reporter: “Brown, who pulls off some impressive moves.”

The New York Daily News: “Much focus is given to the tough braggart Rooster, played with reasonable believability...

If Jon M. Chu transformed the “Step Up” franchise into the gold standard for modern dance movies, “Battle of the Year 3D” is a runner-up at best. Shepherded to the screen by Benson Lee, the writer-director of the acclaimed documentary “Planet B-Boy,” the film exudes authenticity in its depiction of the annual dance competition — most notably in acknowledging America’s poor standing within the competitive community. But its dramatization of a U.S. dream team’s journey to the international showcase is leaden with predictable character types and a seemingly inexhaustible wealth of storytelling clichés, neither of which its well-executed but oddly.

The dance moves are killer but the story is deadly in "Battle of the Year." Bland and boring are not the adjectives you hope for from a movie starring Josh Holloway (a.k.a. Sawyer on "Lost") as an alcoholic coaching a team of young breakdancers to the world championship (in 3D!), but a cookie-cutter narrative and unimaginative filmmaking rob this "Battle" of just about any pleasure, guilty or otherwise. Director Benson Lee previously made the documentary "Planet B-Boy" and that 2007 film serves as both an inspiration for and an awkward plot point in "Battle." When young B-boying fan Franklyn (Josh Peck)...

Inspired by the award-winning documentary Planet B-Boy, from director Benson Lee, Battle of the Year showcases the exhilarating and awe-inspiring world of competitive dance, in a way that illustrates how it is both a display of athleticism and an art form to rival any other. When hip-hop mogul Dante Graham (Laz Alonso) turns to his old friend Jason Blake (Josh Holloway) to create and coach an American all-star dream team of b-boys to win the legendary Battle of the Year, hip hop’s premier competition held in France, he struggles to transform 13 individuals into a disciplined and cohesive crew. At the film’s press day, actor Josh Peck (who plays assistant coach Franklyn) spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about what it takes for these dancers to pull off what is required of them, how even though he didn’t dance on camera, he did try to learn some of the moves,...

Stock characters and a formulaic plotline are the main elements of Benson Lee’s feature film inspired by his documentary Planet B-Boy about an annual breakdancing competition. Battle of the Year seems designed to capitalize on the success of the highly successful Step Up series of dance movies, but it lacks those films sexy, glossy appeal. While the presence of best-selling recording artist Chris Brown in a leading role should attract teenage femmes, the film has an overly familiar quality that should prevent it from breakout success. Photos: The Best (and Worst) Dance Movies: From 'Step Up' to 'Black

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Launched in 1990, the real world Battle of the Year is an annual B-boying competition held in Europe that brings together the finest breakdancers from all over the world. Director Benson Lee made the competition the focus of both his 2007 documentary, Planet B-Boy , and a new, narrative take with this Friday's Battle of the Year . Starring Josh Holloway, Laz Alonso, Josh Peck, Caity Lotz and Chris Brown, Battle of the Year follows a down-on-his-luck coach, Blake (Holloway), who is enlisted by his friend, Dante (Alonso) to train an American Dream Team for the Battle of the Year competition. ComingSoon.net sat down with Josh Peck, who plays Blake's assistant coach, Franklyn, to discuss the world of B-Boying, Lee's transition from documentary to narrative and Peck's own...

With "Battle of the Year," director Benson Lee adapts his own 2007 documentary "Planet B-Boy" as a narrative feature. In doing so, he's taken the earlier film's dance competition centerpiece and applied it to the basic structure of an underdog sports movie. Technically, breaking may not be a "sport" in the conventional sense, but the b-boys participating in the contest certainly show as much athletic talent as any ballplayer.

If anything were to blur the line between dance and sport, this movie could be it. If it is to be considered a sports movie, though, "Battle of the Year" falls into the subgenre group involving unconventional sports, as in those we don't normally see so often on the big screen. If you're ever tired of the same handful of major sports employed for underdog stories, check out any of the iconoclastic titles below.

Watch clips from Benson Lee's Battle of the Year, starring Josh Holloway, Laz Alonso, Josh Peck, Caity Lotz, Chris Brown, Terrence Jenkins, Weronika Rosati, Jesse Erwin Ivan 'Flipz' Velez and Steve Terada. Sony distributes the drama which opens on September 20th, 2013. The film's scripted by Chris Parker and Brin Hill and produced by Amy Lo as well as Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson. Battle of the Year is an international dance crew tournament that attracts all the best teams from around the world, but the Americans haven’t won in fifteen years. Los Angeles Hip Hop mogul Dante (Alonso) wants to put the country that started the Sport back on top. He enlists his hard-luck friend Blake (Holloway), who was a championship...