‘Collectors’ to steal moviegoers’ hearts with tomb-robbery tale

Comedy crime film “Collectosr” is ready to steal moviegoers’ hearts with its original story about tomb robbery. “As the first Korean film about tomb robbery, we will present new visuals that the audience has never seen before,” director Park Jung-bae said during an online press briefing Tuesday. “Collectors” is Park’s debut feature.  　 “Collectors” introduces three robbers. Kang Dong-goo, played by Lee Je-hoon, is a genius robb

Oct. 6, 2020

‘KKUM’ wins Grand Prize and Public Prize at OIAF

Director Kim Kang-min became the first Korean to take home both the Nelvana Grand Prize for Independent Short and the Public Prize at the 44th Ottawa International Animation Festival, with his short film “KKUM” on Saturday. “KKUM,” meaning “dream” in Korean, is a black-and-white stop-motion animation about a mother who has prophetic dreams of the dangers her son will face and how the son matures in her love. “Winning the Grand Award at Ottawa was one

Oct. 6, 2020

Musical ‘Mozart!’ viewed online by 15,000 paid audience

The two-day online screening of musical “Mozart!” gathered 15,000 paid audience members in Korea over the Chuseok holiday. EMK Musical Company, the production company behind the hit musical, offered a paid online stream of its hit musical “Mozart!” on Saturday and Sunday via Naver V Live, a local video streaming platform. A total of 15,000 people purchased online tickets for the musical screening, according to EMK Musical Company Tuesday. Some 12,000 were individual t

Oct. 6, 2020

YG considers editing Blackpink ‘Lovesick Girls’ video over nurse outfit controversy

YG Entertainment is considering editing a scene in Blackpink‘s “Lovesick Girls” music video following outcry over Jennie’s nurse outfit. In the music video of “Lovesick Girls” released Thursday, Jennie is dressed as a nurse in red high heels and in a white nurse costume. Social media posts with hashtags such as #Stop_Sexualizing_Nurses and #nurse_is_profession started appearing on social media in protest. In an official statement released Tuesday morning, Y

Oct. 6, 2020

BTS' 'Dynamite' ranks No. 2 on Billboard singles chart

WASHINGTON -- South Korean boy group BTS' latest hit "Dynamite" spends the sixth week of release at the No. 2 spot on Billboard's main singles chart this week, a week after it made a surprise return to the top spot, Billboard reported Monday. "BTS' 'Dynamite' dipped to No. 2 on the Hot 100 after three nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1," it said. The Billboard Hot 100 chart, which measures all-genre streaming, radio airplay and sales data in the United States, is set to be refre

Oct. 6, 2020

S. Korean cinemas see 70% drop in revenue due to protracted coronavirus pandemic

The combined revenue for South Korean movie theaters declined by over 70 percent as the new coronavirus pandemic has continued for months, according to a lawmaker Monday. Cinemas across the country posted revenue of 415.1 billion won ($356.9 million) in the first nine months of this year, more than a 70 percent fall from 1.448 trillion won a year ago, Rep. Park Jeung of the ruling Democratic Party said. The number of moviegoers also fell by some 70 percent, from 170 million to 48 million, over

Oct. 5, 2020

Netflix to show Korean American director Caroline Suh’s Blackpink doc

Netflix on Monday said its highly anticipated K-pop documentary “Blackpink: Light Up the Sky,” directed by Korean American film director Caroline Suh, is set to premiere on Oct. 14. Once the film is released, Blackpink will be the fourth female act featured in a Netflix original documentary, following Lady Gaga, Beyonce and Taylor Swift. The documentary will mainly feature Blackpink’s short but intense journey to K-pop superstardom now from rookies in 2016. It also will hav

Oct. 5, 2020

[Herald Interview] Sohyang talks singing in ‘Begin Again,’ lesson from battle with pneumonia

After basking in the limelight of “King of Mask Singer” in 2017, Sohyang has kept a low-profile, staying away from the small screen. Over the course of her public absence, she’s battled severe pneumonia, which recurred eight times and nearly took away her voice, and made her certain, at one point, that her singing career would be over. But ironically, it was also those times of despair that helped get her head above water and led her to music variety show “Begin Again.&rd

Oct. 5, 2020

Meet the seven members of K-pop super rookie band Enhypen

Enhypen, a new boy group from Mnet’s survival show “I-Land,” is slated to make its highly anticipated debut in November. It’s only been a few weeks since the multinational seven-piece band put up its first official profile, but this sensational rookie act has already attracted the spotlight. Initially, the high-profile show -- jointly organized by South Korean entertainment giant CJ ENM and Big Hit Entertainment, home to BTS and TXT -- had a rough start due to

Oct. 5, 2020

'DNA' becomes first BTS music video to hit 1.1b views on YouTube

South Korean superstar BTS set another new record on YouTube as its music video for the song "DNA" racked up 1.1 billion views on Monday. YouTube views for the music video of "DNA," released in September 2017, passed 1.1 billion views at 7:38 a.m., becoming the septet's first video to reach the milestone, according to Big Hit Entertainment. "DNA," the main track for the group's EP album "Love Yourself: Her," was the first song by a South Korean act to si

Oct. 5, 2020

'Lt. Lee' resolves debt conflict

One of the trainers in the first season of popular YouTube show “Fake Men,” “Lieutenant” Rhee Keun, also known as Ken Rhee, uploaded a 91-second video Monday morning announcing that the monetary conflict with one of his acquaintances, identified as Kim, has been resolved and that he has paid back all debt owed to him. The conflict rose to the surface when Kim posted on Instagram on Friday accusing Rhee of not paying back 2 million won ($1,720) he had borrowed. Although&

Oct. 5, 2020

SuperM's 1st studio album debuts at No. 2 on Billboard 200

K-pop project boy band SuperM has landed at No. 2 on the Billboard's main albums chart with its first full-length album "Super One." The US-based publisher reported Sunday (local time) that the SuperM album reached second place on the Billboard 200, which ranks the most popular albums of the week in the US based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. SuperM's album sales reached 104,000 equivalent album units, including 101,000 from traditional album sal

Oct. 5, 2020

YouTube show ‘Fake Men’ goes multi-platform

The second season of reality show “Fake Men,” which was originally created for YouTube, is now also streaming through two local platforms -- Kakao TV and Watcha. The first season of the show, made by channel operator Physical Gallery with security and tactics consulting firm MUSAT, featured YouTube celebrities in extreme situations as they participated in MUSAT’s simulated Underwater Demolition Team training program. The show was initially a parody of MBC’s “Real

Oct. 4, 2020

BTS featured on remix of viral sensation 'Savage Love'

Global K-pop star BTS participated in a remix project for the hit song "Savage Love" by US pop singer Jason Deluro and New Zealand producer Jawsh 685, according to the band's agency Sunday. BTS lent its singing and rapping to "Savage Love (Laxed - Siren Beat) (BTS Remix)," the latest version of "Savage Love," which generated a viral dance challenge movement on the social media platform TikTok earlier this year, according to Big Hit Entertainment. The 17-year-old p

Oct. 4, 2020

‘Emperor of Trot’ Na Hoon-a concert proves 73-year-old’s star power

Along with eating traditional food and getting together with family, for many, one of the highlights of this year’s Chuseok holidays was watching local broadcaster KBS 2TV’s “2020 Chuseok Grand Plan Republic of Korea Again Na Hoon-a” on Wednesday. The 2-hour and 40-minute recording of 73-year-old trot singer Na Hoon-a’s first-ever online concert, which took place Sept. 23 and aired Wednesday, got a record-breaking viewership rating of 29 percent, according to mark

Oct. 4, 2020

The hearts and hopes of Blackpink in ‘The Album’

K-pop girl group Blackpink released their long-awaited first full-length album “The Album” on Friday, sending a universal message of hope to everyone who are enduring growth pains in life. 　“We wanted to show a more mature part of us through singing not only about love but diverse emotions experienced by girls growing up,” Jisoo of Blackpink said during a global press conference livestreamed following the album’s release. “All the lyrics and songs in overall

Oct. 2, 2020

BLACKPINK hopes to show growth, share positive energy with 1st full album

K-pop group BLACKPINK said Friday it wanted to show its growth as an artist and send out a message of hope and positive energy with its first-ever full-length album. Earlier in the day, the quartet unveiled the album "The Album," which includes main track "Lovesick Girls" as well as hits that have topped music charts such as "How You Like That" and "Ice Cream" featuring Selena Gomez. "We wanted to not only express various emotions on love but also s

Oct. 2, 2020

Preorders for BLACKPINK's upcoming full-length album top 1m

Preorders for K-pop girl band BLACKPINK's upcoming studio album have topped 1 million, its management agency said Friday. "The Album," set for official release later in the day, posted 670,000 preorders from South Korea and 340,000 from overseas, YG Entertainment said. It said if the album records 1 million copies in actual sales in its first week, it will be the most by a K-pop girl group in history. Eight tracks of the quartet's first full-length album will be available to the pub

Oct. 2, 2020

Horrors, zombie thrillers set to attract TV viewers in coming weeks

On chilly fall nights, monsters, ghosts and zombies are poised to thrill or even scare South Korean TV viewers and binge-watchers. The horror show "Sweet Home," based on a famous web cartoon with the same title, will be released on Netflix later this year. The series is about a student who faces scary experiences after moving into a new apartment, where its residents turn into monsters. It has drawn wide attention from viewers as the Netflix debut by renowned South Korean director L

Oct. 2, 2020

BTS teases upcoming album 'BE' on Jimmy Fallon show

K-pop superstar BTS teased its upcoming new album "BE" on Thursday (Korean time), appearing on the "BTS Week" special on NBC's "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon." The show's weeklong series running for five days through Friday is designed to showcase different music performances of the seven-member band each night, including live performances, comedy bits and virtual interviews. "The album mainly carries the grief, happiness and other feelings we have n

Oct. 1, 2020