Tang Wei returns to Korean theaters as pregnant woman

Chinese actress Tang Wei has a huge fan base in Korea, especially after the release of her 2010 film “Late Autumn,” in which she co-starred with popular Korean actor Hyun Bin.In the romance film directed by Korean director Kim Tae-yong ― the film is also a remake of Korean director Lee Man-hee’s iconic 1966 movie of the same title ― Tang starred as Anna, a Chinese-American prisoner who murdered her husband years ago and is released from jail for three days to attend her mother’s funeral in Seatt

Dec. 25, 2013

Pomp, amoral ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ is rich, humorous

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Digging into deep-pocket gluttony, Martin Scorsese’s dark comedy “The Wolf of Wall Street” highlights a world rich in drugs, fast cars and private jets. The American dream is amplified, yet those indulging in it are never satisfied.In the film’s opening segment, trading tycoon Jordan Belfort, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, declares, “Money is the best drug. It makes you a better person.” This was the motto fueling a host of hustling stockbrokers in the late 1980s and early 1990s

Dec. 24, 2013

Lawrence tops AP entertainer list

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― The battle for AP entertainer of the year came down to the Girl on Fire and the Queen of Twerk.Jennifer Lawrence edged out Miley Cyrus by one vote in the Associated Press’ annual survey of its newspaper and broadcast members and subscribers for Entertainer of the Year.There were 70 ballots submitted by U.S. editors and news directors. Voters were asked to consider who had the most influence on entertainment and culture in 2013.Lawrence won 15 votes. Cyrus had 14. Netflix was a

Dec. 24, 2013

‘The Attorney’ attracts more than 540,000 in single day, sets record

“The Attorney,” loosely based on the early years of the late President Roh Moo-hyun, set a Korean box office record for attracting more than 540,000 movie goers on Saturday, the highest gross attendance for a single day in December.According to the Korean Film Council, the directorial debut film of webtoon artist Yang Woo-seok drew 541,614 movie watchers on the day, far outnumbering its competitors “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” and “About Time,” which marked 151,839 and 132,722, respecti

Dec. 22, 2013

Box Office: The Attorney , The Hobbit, Way Back Home

The Attorney Opened Dec. 18Drama. Directed by Yang Woo-seokIn 1981, Busan-based tax lawyer Song Woo-seok ends up defending young students who have been tortured for possession of “illegal” literature and suspicion of being communist sympathizers. Before getting involved in the case, Song had been very successful as a tax lawyer, but his experience defending the young men makes him consider specializing in human rights cases. The movie is loosely based on late President Roh Moo-hyun’s early years

Dec. 20, 2013

Spike Jonze opens up about ‘Her’ ― sort of

Spike Jonze is reluctant to call his new film “Her” ― a melancholy romance about a man who falls in love with a sentient, learning and loving operating system ― “science fiction.”He doesn’t want to talk about technology and the modest leap it makes from our cloud- and smart phone-obsessed present to a digitally romantic future.“It’s not about technology,” he says. Then he corrects himself. “It is, obviously, ‘about’ technology. Just not to me. It’s such a big idea ― that you could, one day, have

Dec. 20, 2013

Film on Roh Moo-hyun tops box office

A film inspired by former President Roh Moo-hyun has topped the local box office in just the first two days since its release, according to data released by the Korean Film Council on Friday.The data showed that “The Attorney” drew some 372,256 viewers on Wednesday and Thursday. The fictional film also accounted for 34.6 percent of movie reservations for this weekend, followed by Hollywood blockbuster film “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” which only took 15.4 percent of reservations.The fil

Dec. 20, 2013

‘Mary Poppins’ among 25 U.S. films to be preserved

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Just in time for a new movie about the making of “Mary Poppins,” the 1964 Disney classic starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke has been selected for preservation at the Library of Congress so future generations of Americans can see it.On Wednesday, the library inducted 25 films into the National Film Registry to be preserved for their cultural, historical or cinematic significance. This year’s selections include Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction,” the space race film “The Ri

Dec. 19, 2013

‘Love Child’ to shed light on Korea’s ‘wired’ society at Sundance

As the world’s most wired nation, Korea is hard-pressed to adapt itself under the ever-so-rapidly progressing merger of the online and offline worlds. With one of the highest numbers of smartphone users and where online game rooms are on almost every corner, Korea has become one of the leading forces in global technology. Valerie Veatch, an American director, writer, editor and producer, came to Korea for the first time in 2012 for the sole purpose of attempting to capture the extent of technolo

Dec. 19, 2013

[Graphic News] 200 million go to the movies

More than 200 million people were expected to have watched films in theaters this year as of Wednesday, setting a record in Korean cinema history. Last year, a total of 194,890,587 people hit theaters to watch films in Korea. Korean films alone attracted 118,160,000 viewers this year, exceeding last year’s record of 114,613,190. The market share of Korean movies also reached 59.1 percent this year, surpassing that of foreign films, which stood at 40.9 percent. This year saw releases of English-l

Dec. 18, 2013

Korean theaters welcome 200m viewers this year

More than 200 million tickets have been sold in movie theaters this year as of Wednesday, according to the state-run Korean Film Council. It is the first time that Korean theaters welcomed such a high number of local viewers.Last year, a total of 194,890,587 people hit theaters to watch films in Korea. Korean films alone attracted 118,160,000 viewers this year, exceeding last year’s record of 114,613,190. The market share of Korean movies also reached 59.1 percent in 2013, surpassing that of for

Dec. 18, 2013

Cameron to film three Avatar sequels in New Zealand

WELLINGTON (AFP) ― Director James Cameron announced Monday he will film three sequels to his record-breaking epic “Avatar” in New Zealand after striking a deal with the government for increased production subsidies.Cameron said the movies, with a combined budget of at least NZ$500 million ($415 million), would be shot back-to-back and released from late 2016.Aside from an increased subsidy that will account for up to 25 percent of the films’ budget, Cameron said New Zealand offered highly skille

Dec. 16, 2013

Korean film industry set to surpass 200 million mark this year

The number of moviegoers is expected to break the 200 million mark this year, the Korean Film Commission said on Monday. The commission said local movie theaters sold 199.3 million tickets as of Dec. 15 and the figure would likely exceed 200 million by the end of this week, based on the average ticket sales on weekdays. Korean movies performed strongly this year, securing close to a 60 percent share in competition against big-budget Hollywood films.“Miracle in Cell No.7” emerged as the biggest K

Dec. 16, 2013

Cameron to shoot 3 'Avatar' sequels in New Zealand

James Cameron will be returning to New Zealand to film three sequels to ``Avatar,'' his enormously popular movie about the blue inhabitants of Pandora.The director made the announcement Monday in the capital Wellington with producer Jon Landau and Prime Minister John Key. The films will be made by Lightstorm Entertainment and Twentieth Century Fox.``Avatar,'' released in 2009 and shot in New Zealand, won three Academy Awards and is the highest-grossing film in history, with an international box

Dec. 16, 2013

Box Office: The Hobbit, Way Back Home, The Fake

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Opened Dec. 12 Adventure. Drama. Fantasy. Directed by Peter JacksonHobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) and the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) join 13 dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) to travel into the Kingdom of Erebor. The group is on a mission to defeat the fierce and greedy dragon Smaug in order to reclaim the dwarves’ homeland, Erebor. The dwarves were once prosperous and lived with great wealth but their kingdom was sacked by Smaug,

Dec. 13, 2013

Stately ‘Mandela’ humanizes an African icon

As Nelson Mandela, Idris Elba towers over the rest of the cast in “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.” That’s literally true and perfectly accurate. Mandela was tall, as is Elba (of the “Thor” movies and “Takers”). And Elba manages both the voice and a hint of the presence of the great man.He tends to tower over the movie, as well, in this comprehensive but generally dry account of one man’s journey from upwardly mobile attorney to activist to revolutionary to statesman. There are no “name” actors a

Dec. 13, 2013

Documentary filmmaker dies of cancer at age 50

Documentary filmmaker Lee Seong-gyou, who is best known for his 2010 film “My Barefoot Friend,” died on Friday. He was 50.He started shooting “My Barefoot Friend,” a film documenting the life of a 50-something rickshaw operator named Shalim living in Calcutta, India, in 1999. It took him more than 10 years to complete the film, which became the first Asian feature-length documentary to be nominated in the competition lineup of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam in 2010.Lee was

Dec. 13, 2013

Jeon Do-yeon speaks about her latest movie, motherhood

Even after winning the Best Actress Award in Cannes in 2007, celebrated actress Jeon Do-yeon says she still struggles with self-doubt. “I think that is why I work hard,” the 40-year-old actress said in an interview with reporters in Seoul, Wednesday. “I don’t think I ever started something with confidence. My close friends tell me, whenever I tell them I feel insecure, ‘You’ll be fine, you know you’ll do fine. You are just saying this.’ “And I usually end up doing fine, I usually pull it off. Bu

Dec. 12, 2013

CGV, Lotte refuse to show new ‘Hobbit’ film in fee dispute

The latest installment of “The Hobbit” topped the charts Wednesday, even though Korean audiences cannot watch the film at theaters in Seoul run by CGV and Lotte Cinema. CGV posted an apology on their official website on the problems with screening the film: “The distributor of the film Warner Bros demanded a raise in the profit-sharing ratio in theaters in Seoul and we have refused.” Lotte Cinema also refused, meaning the film was not shown at its theaters in the capital area. With CGV and Lotte

Dec. 11, 2013