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Lee Byung-hun’s career goes beyond Squid Game and is packed with standout roles across both Hollywood and Korean cinema, making him one of the most versatile actors of his time. His haunting performance as the masked Front Man garnered worldwide attention, particularly with Squid Game season 2's Player 001 twist.

Though Squid Game hid the Front Man’s identity for much of the first season, Lee’s intense presence shone through. For those intrigued by his complex and mysterious character, there are plenty of movies and TV shows to watch to explore the actor's incredible talent. As we wait for Squid Game season 3, Lee's other works offer a deeper look into why he’s a master at bringing unforgettable characters to life.

Ashfall (2019) Directed by Kim Byung-seo & Lee Hae-jun

Ashfall is an action-disaster movie where Lee Byung-hun plays a key role as Lee Joon-Pyeong, a North Korean spy who possesses...

Warning: Mild spoilers for “Squid Game” Season 2 ahead.

Last season of “Squid Game,” one of the biggest twists revolved around Player 001. There may be new games and players this time around, but that basic rule remains the same: Never trust Player 001. The only difference is that in Season 2 the audience knows Player 001’s real identity before Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae).

In the game, Player 001 introduces himself as Hwang In-ho (Lee Byung-hun). But unbeknownst to Gi-hun and his friends, In-ho is actually the Front Man, one of the leaders of the Squid Game. He’s also the brother of officer Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon), the very same brother Jun-ho was convinced died in the game.

A previous winner, In-ho was added into the game to keep an eye on Gi-hun and prevent him from completely overthrowing the competition. He tells Gi-hun that he entered the game to pay back the medical debt...

Between brand-new releases and expansions to fan favorites like Final Fantasy Xiv and World of Warcraft, 2024 has already been a big year for MMOs. Standing for "massively multiplayer online," and usually followed with the further qualifier "role-playing games," Mmo is a vast and all-inclusive term that requires just one thing: an interconnected game world that can be inhabited by thousands, if not millions, of players at once. Although amazing Mmo expansions like Final Fantasy Xiv: Dawntrail have already been released, the rest of the year is slated to have some amazing games.

Of course, there are hallmarks of the genre: customizable characters, combo- and placement-based combat, and a ton of grinding tend to be the norm. But an Mmo can be anything as long as it's shared by a large number of players. 2024 and beyond has several heavily anticipated MMOs that introduce strange new worlds, long-awaited sequels, and linear expansions.

Ma Dong-seok has been getting a lot of attention from the media in the last few years. While his work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has certainly helped get his name out there, it was his iconic series, The Roundup, that helped his face get recognized. While this was the case in Western cultures, he has been a respected member of the South Korean film industry for decades.

Ma Dong-seok in Champion

Being one of the most talented and respected actors from there, it is not surprising that he is strong-willed and lives up to his title of the ‘Korean Superman’. It would seem that these traits were truly tested when he had to survive a true natural catastrophe.

Ma Dong-seok Was a Part of Something Horrific

Ma Dong-seok has become the talk of the town with the upcoming release of the third part in The Roundup series, The Roundup: Punishment.

Exclusive: Michael Le, one of the most popular dancers on TikTok (known as @justmaiko) and YouTube who has amassed more than 68 million followers combined across his social media, has signed with CAA for representation.

Le creates daily content on social media that revolves around dance, fitness, fashion, Web3 and gaming. He also has created a family channel called The Shluv Family with his two younger brothers, sister, and mom.

In the content space, Le recently partnered with Liithos’ Ashfall, a sci-fi game and comic book, to build a TikTok series based on the new IP. Le stars in the five-episode series, released on his TikTok account. According to Liithos, the company behind the project, the series “explores a post-apocalyptic world set in the climate change ravaged Pacific Northwest, where Seattle has been submerged in the ocean for hundreds of years. With civilization devolved into factions and enclaves and humanity fighting over resources and differing ideologies,...

With the ongoing labor disputes casting shadows on Hollywood, audiences are turning to alternative streaming platforms for their entertainment fix. Leading the charge in offering a captivating alternative is Kocowa+, the premier Korean content streamer, stepping up to deliver an impressive 40,000-hour library and an exciting lineup of five new shows this month. Kocowa+ is also expanding its collection with more timeless Korean films, including the internationally acclaimed zombie blockbuster, “Train to Busan.”

Kocowa+ CEO KunHee Park expressed enthusiasm about the upcoming fall season, stating, “We're thrilled to kick off our autumn lineup with a diverse array of new shows and films. Our film collection, in particular, showcases some of the most iconic and culturally significant Korean cinema, now accessible to a wider audience.”

K-Drama lovers can anticipate the “Live Your Own Life” premiere on September 16. This heartwarming show narrates the journey of Lee Hyo Shim, a benevolent...

Stars: Ma Dong-seok aka Don Lee, Lee Jun-hyuk, Munetaka Aoki, Se-ho Ahn, Noo-Ri Bae, Kim Do-Geon, Ko Gun-Han, Go Gyu-pil, Shin Hyeon-Yong | Written by Kim Min-sung | Directed by Sang-yong Lee

The third film in the Crime City franchise, The Roundup: No Way Out certainly has its work cut out for it following 2017’s The Outlaws and last year’s The Roundup. Of course Ma Dong-seok or Don Lee, depending on where you’re watching, is back as “Beast Cop” Detective Ma Seok-do. Also returning is Sang-yong Lee who directed both of the previous films, with Kim Min-sung making his debut as a screenwriter.

Seven years after the events of the previous film our hero is working with a new unit and they have a problem on their hands. A drug called Hyper has hit the streets of Seoul, it’s described as more potent than cocaine or amphetamines and more toxic than heroin.

TikToker Michael Le has been tapped to promote Aaa game developer Liithos‘s first title, Ashfall.

Le, aka @justmaiko, is a pro dancer and choreographer who has more than 52 million followers on TikTok and 3 million subscribers on YouTube. He’s been on TikTok since the musical.ly days, and now he’s teaming with Liithos to star in a five-episode series advertising post-apocalypse Mmorpg Ashfall.

In each episode, Le will cosplay the game’s main character Ash Naranjo in a storyline that’ll focusing on rescuing Le’s own younger brother Jonathan, per The Hollywood Reporter. Instagrammer @slider_jesus will play the series’ main villain.

The first episode dropped on Le’s TikTok account Jan. 29, and at press time has around 210,000 views.

@justmaiko Ep 1. Everything was normal… until it wasn’t. Time to find out who took my little brother. Join in on the adventure by claiming our free Ashfall...

The timeline for a successful video game franchise usually goes like this: The game comes out and soon becomes popular among players. Avid fans start creating content inspired by the game and their favorite characters, helping bring that IP into pop culture. There might be a movie or TV adaptation. And as more people are introduced to the game’s world, more fans are created, leading to more demand for derivative content. Et cetera, et cetera.

But the leaders at Liithos, a multimedia gaming studio led by former PlayStation executives, are about to do things a little differently with their first studio IP, Ashfall, which is set in a post-apocalyptic Pacific Northwest ravaged by climate change, civilian fighting and mutations caused by a dark energy. The series follows Ash Naranjo, a character who was born without arms and is given cyborg-like implants to help him save his family and homeland.

Click here to read the full article.

The government of Suriname is considering taking legal action against the producers of Netflix’s new Korean original series Narco-Saints over the way the country is portrayed in the show.

Released globally last week, Narco-Saints is loosely based on real-life events from the early 2000s. The show, titled Suriname in Korea, tells the story of an ordinary entrepreneur who risks his life to join a secret mission to capture a Korean drug lord operating in the Latin American country. The show was created by acclaimed filmmaker Yoon Jong-bin (The Spy Gone North) and stars Ha Jung-woo (Ashfall, Entourage).

But the government of Suriname says Netflix has gone too far in portraying the country as a “narco-state,” with story elements that highlight outdated “crime and cross-border activities” that the people of Suriname have worked hard to expunge.

“Suriname no longer has the image that...

Stars: Ma Dong-seok, Gwi-hwa Choi, Son Sukku, Nam Mun-cheol | Written by Sang-yong Lee, Min-Seong Kim, Ma Dong-seok | Directed by Sang-yong Lee

“The Beast Cop is Back” proclaims the posters for The Roundup. And if you’re wondering who the Beast Cop is, where he went or if this is another sequel to WolfCop, we’re talking about Ma Seok-do. And this is a sequel, to 2017’s The Outlaws, don’t worry, it has a standalone plot but after seeing this you’ll probably want to go back and watch it anyway.

Ma Seok-do and his captain Jeon Il-man have been sent to Ho Chi Minh City to pick up a suspect for extradition. That would seem a simple assignment, right? There’s just one question. Why would a fugitive in a country that doesn’t have an extradition treaty with Korea turn himself in?

But it turns out someone else...

I've been enjoying the spate of asian disaster movies recently (Ashfall etc.) A film that just aired at New York Asian 2021 Festival is the latest asian disaster film, Sinkhole and it has my attention.

Check out out below!

Synopsis:

Park Dong-won (Kim Sung-kyun), a common man and his family move into a house purchased after 11 years of labour. They throw a housewarming party and invite all friends. A heavy overnight downpour creates an extremely big sinkhole, and in a mere minute, it engulfs the whole house with the people inside it.

Deep down the hole, Park Dong-won, his neighbor Jeong Man-soo (C...

When a new genre catches on in Korean cinema, it tends to proliferate pretty quickly, but before audiences grow tired of it, filmmakers try to find new ways to freshen things up. Take the disaster film. A perennial favourite at the global box office, it was introduced in Korea through Haeundae (aka Tidal Wave) in 2009, at which point the local industry had finally achieved the technical knowhow to pull that kind of a film off. Many other films have followed, including The Tower, Tunnel, Ashfall and the forthcoming Emergency Declaration, but in 2019, debut filmmaker Lee Sang-geun breathed new life into the genre by injecting a heavy dose of comedy into his disaster hit Exit, but he also never lost sight of the fundamentals...

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

Korean cinema’s recent obsession with disaster movies continues and the latest to join the already released productions in the genre is probably the most high profile of them all. Featuring a blinding superstar-cast, “Emergency Declaration” also features a terrorist angle and is all set to premiere Out of Competition at Cannes Film Festival this month.

Synopsis

‘Emergency Declaration’: If an aircraft faces a potential disaster, and normal flight can no longer be maintained, the pilot calls for an unconditional landing.

Veteran chief police detective In-ho receives a tip about a man threatening a terrorist attack against a plane. While investigating, he discovers that the sus- pect has actually boarded flight no. KI501.

Despite his phobia of flying, Jae-hyuk decides to go to Hawaii for the sake of his daughter’s health. At the airport, he is distracted by a strange man who hangs around, speaking to them in a menacing way.

“Parasite” star Song Kang-ho, who will be part of the main competition jury at Cannes Film Festival this year, will do double duty as the representative of Emergency Declaration, the Korean action drama film which plays out of competition. Song is joined in the cast of the film by two of Korea’s best actors Lee Byung-hun and Jeon Do-yeon, who previously won the acting palme at Cannes for her role in “Secret Sunshine.”

The film involves a terror plot on board a plane from Seoul to Hawaii, but where the supposed terrorist is himself on board, puzzling a veteran detective who is investigating. When a man dies on board shortly after take off, the transport ministry tries to find a way to land the plane.

The film, directed by Han Jae-rim, heads the Cannes Market slate of producer-distributor Showbox. Pre-sales have secured the film distributors throughout Asia, and also...

From Snakes On A Plane to Ashfall, modern disaster movies have a tendency to try and come up with the worst possible scenario, no matter how silly, then watch as experts and amateurs alike try to deal with it. For extra points, they make use of unique or unusual settings. The Tunnel takes a purist approach to this formula, with very little else going on. There's a storm coming. A couple of truckers decide to rush to make their route ahead of it. One of them crashes pretty much exactly halfway through a five mile tunnel, which is under a mountain. Then it explodes. Oh, and the bus full of people in there with it is carrying the lead firefighter's resentful teenage daughter.

Said firefighter, Stein (Thorbjørn Harr), is best known outside Norway for his work in popular series Vikings, and still looks the part here, with a gigantic blond beard.

TollywoodRumours are rife that Shankar is making not just a pan-Indian film but a pan-Asian film.Tnm StaffScreengrabTollywood actor Ram Charan recently announced that he will be teaming up with filmmaker S Shankar for a movie. Ever since he made the announcement, several speculations about the film have been doing the rounds. Earlier, there were rumours that the movie is going to be a political thriller, and now rumours are rife that South Korean actor Bae Suzy might star opposite Ram Charan in this venture. A report published by Gulte states that the South Korean actor will be teaming up with Ram Charan for the untitled film. The report adds that the movie is not just going to be a pan-Indian venture but there is a possibility for it to become a pan-Asian film. However, the makers of the film haven’t officially confirmed the aforementioned details yet. The Shankar...

Total box office for 2020 reached just $69.3m (Hk$536.9m), compared to $248m (Hk$1.92bn) in 2019.

Hong Kong’s box office plummeted by 72% in 2020 due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the market’s top ten chart, which is usually dominated by US tentpole titles, was more diverse than it has been for several years.

Total box office for 2020 reached just $69.3m (Hk$536.9m), compared to $248m (Hk$1.92bn) in 2019, according to figures from Hong Kong Box Office. The total number of releases fell to 218, compared to 329 the previous year, while the number of Hong Kong films released decreased...

The coronavirus outbreak caused a 72% slump in theatrical box office in Hong Kong last year. It also caused audiences in the city to embrace a more diverse selection of films, especially those from Asia.

Hong Kong traditionally has one of the world’s highest per capita cinema attendance rates. That means that in conventional years it usually ranks among the world’s top 20 box office markets, despite its lowly 7.5 million population.

Data published Monday by Hong Kong Box Office Ltd. showed gross revenues last year slumped to Hk$536 million ($69.2 million), down from Hk$1.92 billion ($248 million) in 2019 as releases dried up and social distancing measures cut into already limited seating capacity.

As different waves of virus infection hit the city, government ordered cinemas to close on three separate occasions in 2020. The latest enforced closure remains currently in effect and Hong Kong cinemas are dark.

“Tenet,” released in Hong Kong on Sept.

New Foreign

“Parasite” is an often-brutal examination of wealth inequality, and yet its Best Picture win still counts as one of the few universally uplifting moments that 2020 had to offer. This Blu-ray release from The Criterion Collection arrives fully-loaded with extras, including director Bong Joon Ho’s black-and-white rendering of the film — anything but an afterthought, it’s a version that he and cinematographer Kyung-pyo Hong had in mind all along — commentaries, interviews, and a new essay from onetime TheWrap film critic Inkoo Kang.

Also available: Cameroonian college students get pulled into the dark web to pull a “Scam République” (IndiePix); anime saga “Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna” (Shout/Toei) celebrates the franchise’s 20th anniversary; “Three Comrades” (IndiePix) go out to unwind on a Friday night and wind up on an unexpected spree.

Chilean stop-motion feature “The Wolf House” (KimStim) uses unsettling visuals to spin a fable about the...

While the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 is still ongoing, and will probably continue for quite some time, this naturally does not stop movie publishers worldwide to try and cash in on these developments. At least it seems that way, considering a South Korean film which was made in 2013 has been published in countries like Germany, albeit under the much more fitting title “Pandemic”. Leaving this context aside “Flu” is yet another entry into South Korea’s ventures into the genre of the disaster movie after such promising releases like “Ashfall”. Directed by Kim Sung-soo (“Asura: The City of Madness”) “Flu” combines the aesthetics of blockbuster cinema with a human story about survival and saving others.

When a container of undocumented immigrants reaches the city of Budang, South Korea, it also carries another, unwelcome passenger that has already killed the majority of the people inside. As the last...

The London Korean Film Festival (Lkff) is proud to be returning in 2020 for its milestone 15th edition. Taking place from 29 October – 12 November the festival will be going digital for the first time, with 30+ films available online to audiences across the UK, prerecorded interviews, live Q&As and other virtual events, along with a selection of special cinema screenings taking place in London. Despite this year’s many uncertainties, the Lkff is pleased to be back, sharing its annual celebration of Korean cinema with fans all over the UK.

In a special treat for both committed cinephiles familiar with Bong Joon Ho’s feature film work and newcomers eager to discover more after the razor-sharp thrills of Parasite, the festival will be screening two shorts from the great director featuring his now trademark blackly comic social satire, available online and throughout the UK for the very first time. Incoherence (1994) marked the...

As we head into October, the amount of new content on streaming and VOD platforms doesn’t seem to be slowing down, Covid-19 or not. For this weekend, a number of new movies were added to the major providers, including Misbehaviour, Ava, Alone, and No Escape. What, then, can we expect from these new titles and where can you watch them?

Well, first up is the Keira Knightley-starring Misbehaviour, a British comedy-drama from Philippa Lowthorpe. Set during the 1970 Miss World competition, the film examines the context behind a feminist protest at the event, and the impact of the first black winner. As with many new releases this year, a cinematic outing was curtailed by the pandemic, and with a decent response from reviewers, it’s worth checking out as a rental on the Microsoft or iTunes stores.

By comparison, Ava is a thriller with Jessica Chastain, wherein she plays...

Mpi Media Group and capelight Pictures proudly announce the October 6th digital, blu-ray + DVD release of the South Korean action hit, Ashfall.

South Korean Hit

Ashfall

Comes To Digital Platforms, Blu-ray & DVD on October 6th

Directed by Lee Hae Jun, Kim Byung Seo

Written by Lee Hae Jun, Kim Byung Seo, Kwak Jeong Duk, Kim Tae Youn, Lim Jung Hyung

Country: South Korea

Language: : Korean original with English subtitles and English dub available

Genre: Action

Distributor: Mpi Media Group + capelight Pictures

Produced by: Choi Ji Sun, Jang Hye Jin, Choi Won Ki

Cast: Lee Byung Hun, Ha Jung Woo, Ma Dong Seok aka Don Lee, Jeon Hye Jin, Bae Su Zy

Synopsis

Following a volcanic eruption along the China-North Korea border that leaves the entire Korean peninsula in shambles, seismologists warn that an even greater eruption is forth coming-one that could devastate the entire region. Enlisting...

Lee Byung-hun, Park Seo-joon and Park Bo-young are all confirmed to be starring in “Vanishing Time: A Boy Who Returned” director Uhm Tae-hwa’s new thriller film “Concrete Utopia”.

The film follows the survivors in a city that went to ruins after a massive earthquake destroyed all the concrete.

Lee Byung-hun’s character Young-tak is a leader who works to protect Hwang Goong Apartment from outsiders. Park Seoo-joon will play Min-sung, a salaryman who gets chosen to assist Young-tak and becomes increasingly bold as he encounters crises. Park Bo-young has been cast as Min-sung’s wife and former nurse Myung-hwa, a warm character who cares for those who are hurt in dangerous situations.

Lee Byung-hun currently seems to be on a run of disaster films, has already survived a volcanic disaster in last year’s “Ashfall” and currently mid-production of aviation disaster film “Emergency Declaration” alongside Song Kang-ho and Jeon Do-yeon.

Box office declined to its lowest level since 2005, but started showing signs of recovery in May and June.

South Korean box office saw its lowest first half since 2005, according to an analysis report the Korean Film Council (Kofic) published today (July 21). Public concerns over the Covid-19 pandemic knocked admissions down 70% year-on-year to a total of 32.4 million entries from January 1 to June 30, 2020.

Box office gross also decreased 70% to $228.56m (KW273.8bn). Local films’ box office take went down 64% while foreign films’ went down 77%.

With major releases postponed and admissions down, theatres downsized operations after the pandemic hit its stride in February,...

Derek Tsang’s debut film “SoulMate“, starring Zhou Dongyu and Ma Sichun in award-winning roles, was a big hit critically and commercially, so much so that Korean remake of the romantic drama was eventually announced. Now the actors for the central trio of characters, which include two childhood best friends and the man that becomes the object of both their affections, have been finalised, with Kim Da-mi, Jeon So-nee and Byeon Woo-seok all confirmed to be on board.

Kim Da-mi, who was the first to be attached to the project, is coming off the back of her brilliant performance in the K-Drama series “Itaewon Class“, which followed her breakout debut role in Park Hoon-jung’s “The Witch: Part 1. The Subversion“. Jeon So-nee, meanwhile, was last seen in her scene-stealing turn as Mi-na in “Jo Pil-ho: The Dawning Rage” and “Ghost Walk”. Byeon Woo-seok is fairly new to films, having had...

Hong Kong box office receipts plunged by more than 70% in the first six months of 2020 as audiences stayed away and cinemas shut down amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Hong Kong government closed all cinemas on March 28 as the second wave of Covid-19 brought by returnees began to spread. Cinemas reopened six weeks later, on May 8, as the number of cases in the city came under control and social distancing measures began to be relaxed.

The impact on the box office however was felt before cinemas closed and continued after their reopening.

According to figures provided by the Hong Kong Box Office Ltd., a company under the Hong Kong Motion Pictures Industry Association, box office income totalled just $37.8 million (Hk$293 million) in the first six months of 2020. That was 72% down on the $135 million (Hk$1 billion) recorded during the equivalent period last year.

While the number of local titles released fell from...

For many years now, the highly competitive domestic Korean film market shows a exponential growth. The Oscar winning streak of “Parasite” (2019) was one of the well-deserved results of this process. Celebrating its 101th birthday, the Korean film seems to be on its peak in terms of international recognition. “Parasite” gained a huge amount of attention and people start to turn their eyes to the foreign country. In 2019, “Parasite” had many other national competitors. For example the action thriller “The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil” starring Ma Dong-Seok and the historical blockbuster “The Battle: Roar to Victory” by Won Shin-Yun. Nevertheless, “Extreme Job” by Lee Byeong-Heon was the most successful film in Korean last year and outperformed “Parasite” with more than 16 Million moviegoers. It is more than surprising that Lee Sang-Geun’s debut film “Exit” took the third place of Korea’s movie market. Following the tradition of other apocalyptic Korean...

‘Happy Times’ will be released by Artsploitation Films in Q1 2020.

M-Appeal has closed North American deals on two of the most prominent titles on its virtual Marché slate.

The Berlin-based sales outfit confirmed that Artsploitation Films has acquired Michael Mayer’s Happy Times, a horror comedy set over the course of a Shabbat dinner in a luxurious Hollywood mansion. Mixing satire and genre elements, the film stars Israeli actor Michael Aloni (Shtisel) and Stéfi Celma.

Happy Times is produced by Mayer, Paola Porrini Bisson and Tomer Almagor. Executive producers are Gabrielle Almagor, Richard Bisson and Erri De Luca. Artsploitation plans...

Taiwan handled the coronavirus outbreak so effectively that the island’s cinemas did not need to close. But Hollywood studios largely stopped releasing movies, leaving the field to the independent distributors.

For the year to mid-June, seven-year-old GaragePlay (aka Moviecloud when in acquisitions mode) achieved the previously unheard of feat of topping the distributors’ box office chart. Its cumulative takings amount to $7.98 million (Nt$236 million), narrowly ahead of United International Pictures with $7.77 million (Nt$230 million), Sony on $7.16 million (Nt$212 million), Warner Bros on $5.06 million (Nt$150 million) and Disney in fifth with $3.98 million (Nt$118 million).

“I can’t pretend that we did this alone – the studios pulled back their releases — or that the numbers are great, but it is interesting to see how a wide range of Asian and independent U.S. titles can keep playing,” says company founder and CEO, Wayne Chang, a former executive at Catchplay.

The company’s...

Korean blockbuster Ashfall will open this year's online-only Far East Film Festival (Feff) with Wilson Yip's Ip Man 4, Johnnie To’s musical and martial arts mash-up Chasing Dream and Andrew Lau's action movie The Captain among the big titles in the lineup.

In total, 46 films from eight countries feature in the lineup for the 22nd edition of Feff, which ordinarily takes place in the picturesque northern Italian city of Udine but is moving online due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Despite the move to streaming for this year's edition, organizers say that there will still ...

Korean blockbuster Ashfall will open this year's online-only Far East Film Festival (Feff) with Wilson Yip's Ip Man 4, Johnnie To’s musical and martial arts mash-up Chasing Dream and Andrew Lau's action movie The Captain among the big titles in the lineup.

In total, 46 films from eight countries feature in the lineup for the 22nd edition of Feff, which ordinarily takes place in the picturesque northern Italian city of Udine but is moving online due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Despite the move to streaming for this year's edition, organizers say that there will still ...

Korean disaster action film has been set as the opening movie of the Far East Film Festival in Udine. Due to coronavirus and social distancing measures still in place in Italy, the festival will be held entirely online this year.

The festival is normally held in late April and early May. This time it will run June 26-July 4 with a slightly reduced selection of 46 films from East Asia.

The festival will be hosted on the MyMovies.it online platform. Organizers explained that some titles will be available worldwide, some only in Europe and some exclusively in Italy. They include 4 world premieres, 12 international premieres, 10 European premieres and 17 Italian premieres.

Organizers have arranged the line up in a loose daily schedule, but say that they have “also left open the possibility of choosing independently when to watch movies by accessing the on-demand section.” And only 3 of the 46 titles will be shown exclusively in...

Star-studded South Korean disaster epic Ashfall has been unveiled as the opening film of this year’s Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy, which will be staged as an exclusively online affair due to the ongoing covid-19 lockdown. Ha Jung-woo, Lee Byung-hyun, and Ma Dong-seok headline the blockbuster, that will screen via the MYmovies.it platform, kicking off nine days of screenings from 26 June through 4 July. 46 films from eight different Asian territories will be participating in this revolutionary digital event, including 4 world premieres. Ning Yuanyuan’s An Insignificant Affair, Daigo Matsui’s #HandballStrive, Layla Ji’s Victim(s), and Liao Mingyi’s I WeirDO will all make their debut bow at this year’s event. ...

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

The festival will play 46 features from eight Asian countries.

Udine’s Far East Film Festival (Feff) has revealed a lineup of 46 features including four world premieres, for the online-only edition of the event that will run from June 26 until July 4.

It will open with the international premiere of Lee Hae-jun and Kim Byung-seo’s disaster action film Ashfall, available to viewers in Europe only.

The film was a blockbuster hit in South Korea over Christmas, grossing almost $60m (£47.9m) by the end of January.

The world premieres are Ning Yuanyuan’s Chinese title An Insignificant Affair; Daigo Matsui’s Japanese...

The festival will play 46 features from eight Asian countries.

Udine’s Far East Film Festival (Feff) has revealed a lineup of 46 features including four world premieres, for the online-only 22nd edition of the event (June 26-July 4).

It will open with the international premiere of Lee Hae-jun and Kim Byung-seo’s disaster action film Ashfall, available to viewers in Europe only.

The film was a blockbuster hit in South Korea over Christmas, grossing almost $60m (£47.9m) by the end of January.

The world premieres are Ning Yuanyuan’s Chinese title An Insignificant Affair; Daigo Matsui’s Japanese sports comedy #HandballStrive; Layla...

Bong Joon-ho’s multi-Oscar winning “Parasite” keeps winning. A year after its triumphant Cannes debut, the film took home five trophies at Korea’s Daejong Awards (a.k.a Grand Bell Awards) held in Seoul on Wednesday.

Awards included best film; best director for Bong; best supporting actress for Lee Jung-eun; best script for Bong and Han Jin-won; and best original music score for Jung Jae-il. The awards ceremony was held without public audience, due to coronavirus prevention measures.

“I miss the audiences that were filling up the cinemas [for “Parasite” at this time last year],” said “Parasite” producer Kwak Sin-ae as she accepted the best film prize. “I hope we can overcome the hard time and meet again, with cinema screens in front of us.”

Best actor and actress went to Lee Byung-hun for disaster drama “Ashfall” and Jung Yu-mi for feminist drama “Kim Ji-young, Born 1982,” respectively. It was the...

"You really believe that absurd plan will work?" Nothing better to forget about the real world than an epic disaster movie. Ashfall is a Korean volcano disaster epic that first premiered last fall in Korea. Somehow we missed this entirely, but we're catching up now with these trailers anyway. Mt. Paektu, an active volcano straddling the China–North Korea border, suddenly erupts, causing severe earthquakes in both North and South Korea. Pandemonium ensues on the Korean peninsula, so the government puts together an elite team of specialists to figure out how to stop and destroy the volcano before it causes more desturction. The team includes both North and South Korean members, who must overcome their differences and unite the entire peninsula. Starring Lee Byung-hun, Ha Jung-woo, Ma Dong-seok, Bae Suzy, and also Jeon Hye-jin. This looks cool! The quality VFX make this stand out, along with some solid production value.

Cj Enm, one of Asia’s leading entertainment companies and the outfit behind Bong Joon Ho’s Oscar-winning sensation Parasite, is taking a significant stake in fellow South Korean company Dexter Studios.

Founded by Kim Yong-Hwa, Dexter is the producer of numerous mega-grossing Korean blockbusters including Along With The Gods: The Two Worlds, which took more than $100m in Korea, and its 2018 sequel Along With The Gods: The Last 49 Days, which grossed north of $90M in its home market. Its most recent in-house production was disaster movie Ashfall, which has grossed $60M locally.

The company is also one of the leading visual effects makers in the region, with credits including the 2013 comedy Mr. Go, for which they created a gorilla that becomes a Korean baseball star, and more recently effects work on Parasite and Burning.

Cj is buying a significant part of the company to become its second-largest shareholder...

“Parasite” star Song Kang-ho will head the cast of airborne disaster action move “Emergency Declaration.” Jeon Do-yeon and Lee Byung-hun co-star, making “Declaration” one of the powerful casts ever assembled in a Korean movie.

The film is in pre-production and aiming for an end-of-year release. Leading studio Showbox will begin pre-sales during this week’s European Film Market.

Showbox pitches it as ”an airborne blockbuster about an aircraft forced to declare an emergency when an unprecedented terror incident occurs in-flight.” It is to be directed by Han Jae-rim, who previously enjoyed success with “The King” and the Song-starring 2013 drama “The Face Reader.”

Jeon won a best actor award at Cannes in 2007 for “Secret Sunshine,” and has other credits that include “Untold Scandal” and “The Housemaid.” Lee is one of Korea’s finest thespians and a rarity who has managed to build a career on both sides of the Pacific. His...

Exclusive: Martin Schreier’s Dreamfactory, the period romantic drama that grossed close to $1m in its local market last year, has sold to the U.S. with German company Capelight partnering with Mpi for the North American release.

The deal, struck with Berlin-based agent Picture Tree International, is a similar one to Capelight’s earlier acquisition of German pic The Collini Case, which it will release this year again in collaboration with Mpi. Capelight also recently handled the U.S. release of South Korean action blockbuster Ashfall in December, grossing close to $400,000.

The distributor is planning an English language dub of Dreamfactory. Set in 1961, the movie follows a young studio extra’s ambitious efforts to reunite with the French girl he loves after being separated by the construction of the Berlin Wall.

Dreamfactory (German title Traumfabrik) comes from German outfit Traumfabrik Babelsberg, founded by Tom Zickler with Christoph Fisser, Vice...

Fear of the coronavirus increased its impact on the South Korean cinema industry. Films were cancelled and box office revenues dropped for a second weekend.

Ticket sales fell by some 10%, compared to the previous weekend, which itself followed an already depressed previous session and a slow January.

That caused Megabox to delay its Jeon Do-yeon- and Jung Woo-sung-starring crime thriller “Beasts Clawing at Straws,” from Feb. 12 to Feb. 19. Ukrainian animation “The Stolen Princess,” which had been scheduled to release on Feb. 5, is indefinitely halted.

Cj Entertainment’s “Closet” managed $5.04 million from 681,000 admissions in five days to open on top. Showing on 1,192 screens nationwide, the local mystery drama accounted for 48% of the total weekend box office. Starring Ha Jung-woo (“Ashfall”) and Kim Nam-gil (“The Shameless”), “Closet” is the story of a father who engages an exorcist to help find his missing daughter.

Another Wednesday opener, “Birds of Prey” landed in second.

There is something about apocalyptic nightmares that makes disaster movies quite popular at the box office. Add to that the fact that “Ashfall”, the new film from the directors that made the surveillance thriller “Cold Eyes” and the heart-warming romantic comedy “Castaway on the Moon” separately, finally brings together on the screen superstars Lee Byung-hun and Ha Jung-woo for the first time, and you have a sure-shot recipe for a box office success and expectations were naturally high. But questions about just how good the film could actually be have been raised since the first promotional trailers were released. That still didn’t stop the movie from becoming a runaway financial success, one of the highest grossing films last year.

As the world’s eyes are glued to the televisions for the impending denuclearisation of North Korea, a massive earthquake rocks the Korean peninsula. As it turns out, Mt. Baekdu,...

Opening on Wednesday (Jan. 15), Korean-made comedy “Secret Zoo” landed on top of the South Korean box office. The Son Jae-gon (“My Scary Girl”) film earned $5.95 million from 813,000 admissions over its opening five days, including $4.3 million earned over the weekend. That was enough for a 38% share of the country’s total weekend box office. Distributed by Acemaker Movieworks, “Secret Zoo” sees the story of a couple who try to save a zoo from being shut down.

Another Wednesday opener, “Bad Boys for Life” debuted in second. The Sony release earned $3.15 million from 403,000 admissions between Wednesday and Sunday, including $2.33 million earned over the weekend, and accounted for 21% of total weekend box office.

“Dolittle,” which had opened on top the previous week, slipped to third place. The Upi release earned $1.99 million from 271,000 admissions between Friday and Sunday for a total of $10.5 million after two weekends.

Korean volcano disaster flick, “Ashfall” took fourth place,...

(January 16, 2019) – After seeing a successful opening during the holidays, Korean hit “Ashfall” will be expanding to multiple additional theaters this weekend. “Ashfall” opened in the Us on December 26th and brought in over $36,000 domestically on opening weekend with a cumulative worldwide gross of over $60,000,000. The film has continued to see solid numbers on just two screens with an overall domestic box office of over $260,000, which led to a significant expansion into multiple theaters starting January 17th. “Ashfall” will be released by by capelight pictures and Cj Entertainment.

Film Synopsis

In the face of a disaster that will engulf both North and South Korea, a mission is put into action to stop a super volcanic eruption. An unexpected eruption of Korea’s tallest volcano, which straddles the China-North Korea border, leaves the Korean peninsula in shambles. Seismologists warn this is only the preliminary eruption — A devastating super-eruption is still to come.

Universal’s “Dolittle” crushed “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” in an unusual opening weekend clash at the South Korean box office.

“Dolittle” accounted for 40% of the nationwide theatrical total as it earned $5.37 million over the weekend from 718,000 tickets. That put it in first place and knocked Korean volcano disaster movie “Ashfall” from the top spot that it had occupied for three weeks. “Dolittle” had opened on Wednesday, and, including the week days, its five-day cumulative score was $6.84 million.

Korea was one of the first territories to get “Dolittle” and one of the last major markets to open Disney’s “Skywalker.” The two films enjoyed 1,290 screens and 948 screens respectively, pointing to an inferior per screen average for “Skywalker.”

“Skywalker” earned $2.16 million from 262,000 admissions over the weekend, and $3.09 million from 381,000 ticket sales over five days, having made the same Wednesday opening as “Dolittle.” Over the weekend “Skywalker” ranked second by admissions,...

South Korean disaster film “Ashfall” remained on top of the local box office in the first weekend of 2020. The Cj Entertainment release earned $4.25 million from 565,000 admissions between Friday and Sunday, accounting for 30% of the country’s total weekend box office. The volcano disaster flick has earned $54.1 million from 7.48 million admissions after three weekends on release.

Since its Dec. 26 release, costume drama “Forbidden Dream” has remained in second place for two weekends. The Lotte Cultureworks release earned $2.54 million between Friday and Sunday for a total of $11.4 million after two weekends on release. Starring Choi Min-shik (“Lucy”) and Hand Suk-kyu (“The Royal Taylor”), the Joseon dynasty-set period drama revolves around King Sejong and an inventor who develop a 20-year relationship while advancing the field of astronomy.

With an unusual Tuesday release, American action drama “Midway” debuted in second. It earned $4.97 million from 340,000 admissions over six days between Tuesday and Sunday.

Korean drama...

Welcome back one and all to the weekly box office report! As is always the case, each and every Sunday you can expect a look at what made the most money in theaters, as well as just how all of the new releases fared. This week, our crop of new releases goes up against the third week of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Competing against that blockbuster? We have…The Grudge. Not much of a fair fight, it seems. How did they do? Read on to see how the weekend turned out… This won’t surprise anyone, but Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker remains in the top spot this weekend. After somewhat of a soft opening, the conclusion to the Star Wars Saga continues to make plenty of money, though again, at a somewhat smaller clip than would have been expected. This time around, it was only a $33.7 million haul.

South Korean production giants Cj Entertainment had quite a successful 2019. Beginning the year with “Extreme Job”, which benefitted from such a strong word-of-mouth that it went on two become the second most successful Korean film of all time at the domestic box office, their hit record continued later in the year with the record-breaking “Parasite” and furthered their commercial success for the year with the disaster comedy “Exit”. Their last film of the year, “Ashfall”, is still running successfully in the cinemas when promotions have already started for their next release and it looks as though they will be beginning 2020 as they ended 2019: with a film starring Ha Jung-woo.

Synopsis

After his daughter disappears without a trace in the new home, a mysterious man who claims to know secrets approaches the desperate man who searches for his daughter.

Fresh from trying to save Korea from a volcanic eruption in...