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Paramount+ is expanding its global Korean originals slate with two new series, A Bloody Lucky Day and Queen Woo, which the streamer will launch exclusively on its global platform. In South Korea, the series will be available on TVing, the streaming service launched by Korean powerhouse Cj Enm.

Both series were produced under the global partnership between Paramount Global and Cj Enm, which includes content licensing and distribution across Paramount+ and TVing, as well as the development of Korean original series. Paramount+ will stream the series in the U.S., Canada, UK, Australia, Latin America, Brazil, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

A Bloody Lucky Day is an action thriller series about an ordinary taxi driver who gets entangled with a customer that turns out to be a serial killer. Directed by Pil Gam-Sung (Hostage: Missing Celebrity) and written by Kim Min-sung and Song Hanna, the series is produced by...

Paramount+ revealed Thursday that it will be expanding its global Korean originals slate with the launch of two new series exclusively on the service in multiple regions around the world. Forthcoming K-dramas A Bloody Lucky Day and Queen Woo will be available on Paramount+ in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The two series are the latest projects developed by Paramount+ and Korean streamer Tving, as part of Paramount’s global partnership with Korean entertainment powerhouse Cj Enm.

The announcement comes amid some early success for Paramount+’s Korean originals, with Bargain, an upcoming K-drama from the company, winning the best screenplay prize at last night’s Canneseries Awards Ceremony in France. The service also revealed that recently launched Korean drama series Yonder has become its most-watched international series in the U.S. so far this year. Yonder, which stars Shin Ha-kyun and Han Ji-min,...

Streaming services Paramount+ and Tving have greenlighted two new jointly-developed Korean TV series. They are the product of an ongoing relationship between parent companies Paramount Global and Korea’s Cj Enm.

They are action thriller “A Bloody Lucky Day” and period drama “Queen Woo.”

Korean TV content has been a growth vector for international and regional streaming platforms in Asia. Competition for new originals is fierce and expensive, but Korean drama and increasingly, unscripted shows, continues to attract critical and commercial kudos.

Paramount+ said that new Korean drama series “Yonder” has been the most-watched international show in the U.S. in its first week of availability (since Aprile 11). Its upcoming Korean series “Bargain” earned the best screenplay award at Canneseries on Wednesday and will upload in summer this year.

“A Bloody Lucky Day” follows an ordinary taxi driver who becomes entangled with a customer that turns out to be a serial killer.

Remakes are tricky business, even when they are of features that were only moderately successful. In such cases, the makers on the new project have to figure out exactly what worked and what didn’t in the original and find a balance that keeps the essence of the original and also builds upon it to make it a better work. This is exactly the task first-time director Pil Kam-sung finds at his hands, who adapts Hong Kong production “Saving Mr. Wu”, which was itself loosely based on the real-life kidnapping of a Chinese TV actor. To make his narrative stand out, Pil came up with an innovative quirk: casting superstar Hwang Jung-min to play himself in the feature.

“Hostage: Missing Celebrity” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival

After a premiere party for his latest movie one night and with a few drinks inside him, Hwang Jung-min parks his...

The Far East Film Festival in Italy’s Udine has set Chinese-Italian co-production “The Italian Recipe” as the opening title of a revived, largely in-person event.

The film, directed by Hou Zuxin, sees an unexpected series of events bring together a Chinese reality TV show contestant and a woman already resident in Italy. The collision of personalities, connections and chemistry between stars Liu Xun and Yao Huang resemble those of “Roman Holiday,” festival organizers suggest. The film has its world premier on Friday next week, launching a nine-day event that runs until April 22-30.

The 2022 selection runs to 72 titles, selected from over 400 submissions, numbers that organizers say, is proof that Asian filmmaking was not halted by the Covid-19 pandemic. “The fear, not unreasonable, given all the halted productions, dismantled sets and release dates announced and then postponed for months, that there wouldn’t be many films to choose from was...

“Shang-Chi And The Legend of The Ten Rings” held on the top place at the South Korean box office for the second weekend. But it failed to sustain overall cinemagoing in what used to be, pre-covid, the world’s fourth largest theatrical market.

“Shang-Chi” earned $2.63 million in its second weekend for a market share of 50%. Its drop from the opening weekend was an okay 44%. And after twelve days on release, it has amassed $10.6 million according to data from the Korean Film Council’s Kobis tracking service. Kobis also shows it to be only the tenth film in Korea this year to attract more than one million spectators.

But “Shang-Chi” alone was not enough to prevent the overall weekend from dipping significantly. Nationwide aggregate cinema business amounted to just $5.26 million this weekend. That was down 35% week-on-week and was the lowest weekend score for more than two months.

The slack levels of...

“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” Marvel’s first movie with an Asian superhero, topped the South Korean box office over its first weekend. But it failed to lift Korean cinema-going to new heights.

The film grossed $4.75 million over the opening weekend, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service provided by the Korean Film Council. Released on Wednesday, it has a five-day cumulative of $6.61 million.

Its Friday to Sunday haul was achieved on 1,783 screens and represented 59% of the national box office haul. The overall weekend total was $8.05 million, a decent bounce from the previous weekend, but also short of the best weekend of the year.

Korean film “Sinkhole” has the biggest opening weekend of the year by a local film with $5.63 million. “Black Widow” earned $8.72 million over its opening weekend in July and $12.1 million in its first five days.

“Hostage: Missing Celebrity” slipped from first place to second.

“Hostage: Missing Celebrity” held on to top spot at the South Korean box office as new release “Guimoon: The Lightless Door” gave local films the top four chart places over the weekend. But business is being held back by new health measures in the Greater Seoul area that were reintroduced last week.

“Hostage,” starring Hwang Jung-min, was a comfortable winner with a 38% market share, ahead of another holdover “Sinkhole” with 24%, according to data from the Kobis data service operated by the Korean Film Council.

“Hostage” earned $2.48 million on its second weekend of release, down 38% from its debut. Since its Aug. 18. launch it has accumulated $9.59 million.

“Sinkhole” earned $1.55 million on its third weekend. Since its Aug. 11 start in cinemas, it has built a cumulative total of $16.7 million.

“Escape From Mogadishu” held on to third place with a 20% market share and a $1.37 million weekend haul. Since its July 28 debut in Korean theaters it has amassed $25.1 million.

Three local movies took the top positions at the South Korean box office over the weekend for the first time this year. The chart was headed by “Hostage Missing Celebrity,” which earned close to $4 million.

Produced by Filmmaker R&k and distributed by Next Entertainment World, “Hostage” is a comedy-action movie starring the enduringly-popular, rubber-faced Hwang Jung-min. He plays a celebrity, unimaginatively called Jung-min, who at first believes that his kidnapping is merely a prank. But as the ordeal continues, both he and his tormentors become more desperate. It was directed by first-timer Pil Gam-seong.

Data from the Kobis tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council showed “Hostage” to be followed by last week’s winner “Sinkhole” and another former chart topper “Escape From Mogadishu.” Weekend scores were $3.92 million from 1,285 screens, $2.77 million from 1,250 screens and $1.82 million from 966 screens, respectively.

After five days in cinemas “Hostage” has a $5.41 million total.

Refresh for latest…: Disney/20th Century Studios’ Free Guy leveled up to take the No. 1 spot at the international box office in its sophomore session with $17.1M from 46 markets for a $53.1M cume to date. The overseas drop was a very strong 26%, with some markets seeing increases and amid No. 1 openings in Brazil and Spain. The worldwide gross, including domestic‘s great hold, has topped the century mark with $112M through Sunday.

As we noted last weekend, reviews and word of mouth are propelling Free Guy —

as well as a turn in the weather in some parts of Northern Europe — and overseas legs can be expected with an ultimate multiple well above 4. What’s more, Free Guy on Friday scored a China release date (August 27), meaning it will be only the second Hollywood title to enter the market after this weekend’s Luca (more on that below). Disney has...

Hit Korean movie “Miracle in Cell No. 7” is set for a Spanish-language remake following a deal between sales agent Contents Panda and production company Rock and Ruz.

The 2013 original film told the fact-based tale of a man with intellectual disabilities who was wrongly jailed on theft charges. While in jail he struggles to prove his innocence, but befriends other prisoners who smuggle in his daughter to share their cell.

The film grossed $80 million on release in Korean theaters and has been successfully remade in Turkey, The Philippines, Indonesia and in Kannada for the Indian market. International rights are handled by Contents Panda, an affiliate of “Train to Busan” studio Next Entertainment World, and indie sales firm Finecut.

Rock and Ruz is a new company headed by Miguel Ruz and Jordi Roca. Ruz was previously a producer on hit Netflix sci-fi series “Black Mirror.” Korean media reports that Mario Casas,...