‘The Purge’ hopes to make a killing for less

If you’re a movie studio with money to burn, summer is bonfire time.Almost every week there’s a new $200-million-plus production ― Warner Bros.’ “Man of Steel” and Paramount’s “World War Z” are the next budget-busters ― and it costs almost $100 million more to market such films. All of which makes Universal Pictures’ “The Purge,” a dystopian thriller costing a little more than $3 million ― with an ad campaign just above $20 million ― look like Jonah among so many whales.Art-house studios typical

June 7, 2013

What do Spike Lee and Bob Saget have in common?

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Some of the film industry’s most illustrious talents got early confirmation they were on the right track when they won Student Academy Awards.Spike Lee, Robert Zemeckis, Pixar founder John Lasseter and “South Park’’ creator Trey Parker are just a few of the famous filmmakers who won honors from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences when they were college students.The latest crop of winners will be feted on Saturday, when the 40th annual Student Academy Awards are pre

June 6, 2013

Han Hye-jin, Ki Sung-yueng to wed in style

Swansea City soccer star Ki Sung-yueng and actress Han Hye-jin are going all-out for the couple’s upcoming wedding ceremony next month. The two will hold a private ceremony at the Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas, where they reportedly shelled out around 79 million won ($70,000) for the venue. Ki first met Han, who is eight years his senior, at a charity soccer event hosted in Vietnam two years ago. The couple met once again on a local talk show a year later and made their relationship public

June 4, 2013

Actress Kim Yun-jin to feature in InStyle magazine

Korean-born actress Kim Yun-jin will be featured in U.S. fashion magazine InStyle’s upcoming issue, according to her local agency Zion Entertainment. The actress, who is best known in the U.S. for her role as Sun on the American TV series “Lost,” is currently starring in ABC drama series “Mistresses,” which premiered on Monday. Based on the 2008-10 British series of the same title, the series features the lives of four female friends who are all having extramarital affairs. According to her agen

June 4, 2013

Get first look at latest Chinese cinema

Korean moviegoers will have the opportunity to see some of the latest Chinese films for the first time in the country, as the 2013 Chinese Film Festival kicks off this month.The festival brings 11 films this year, including nine that have never before been shown in Korea. Already, this year’s lineup is creating much buzz especially because of its closer “A Wedding Invitation,” which is a Chinese remake of Korean director Oh Ki-hwan’s 2001 tearjerker “Last Present.”“A Wedding Invitation” is also

June 3, 2013

Shining light on society’s outcasts

Actor and director Yoo Ji-tae says it is his own “taste” that draws him to the films that feature society’s isolated, rather than ones that deal with the wealthy or powerful.His feature directing debut reflects that very taste telling the story of a young, abused migrant woman in search of survival and dignity. Titled “Mai Ratima,” the romance won the Jury Prize at this year’s Deauville Asian Film Festival. “I think I’m particularly interested in stories of women who go against the odds,” Yoo sa

June 2, 2013

Box Office: World War Z, Mai Ratima, Secretly Greatly

World War ZOpening June 20Drama. Thriller. Sci-fi. Action. Horror. Directed by Marc Forster.This is an apocalyptic horror film based on the million-seller novel of the same title published in 2007 by Max Brooks. The story revolves around a former United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) who travels around the world in an attempt to find a way to stop the zombie pandemic that is defeating the armies, collapsing governments, and threatening to decimate the human race.Mai RatimaOpening June 6

May 31, 2013

‘Now You See Me,’ now you don’t

“Now You See Me” is like seeing a magician pull a rabbit out of a hat and then showing you how the trick is done, only to learn the bunny’s dead. Everything’s going reasonably well until the disappointing end.The big trick of “Now You See Me” is the criminal ways of a group of illusionists ― played by Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco ― brought together by a mysterious stranger to pull off a series of impossible crimes. Their first trick is to rob a bank in Paris with

May 31, 2013

Park Chan-wook short invited to Edinburgh

A short film co-directed by Park Chan-wook and his brother Park Chan-kyong, “Day Trip (Cheongchul-eoram),” has been invited to the 67th Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), one of the oldest running film festivals in the world. The movie, showcased in December 2012, will be screened as part of “Focus on Korea,” a special section that offers an opportunity to explore Korean movies. This is Park’s second time to show in Edinburgh after the movie “Oldboy” in 2004.  The 18-minute short feat

May 31, 2013

Actor Kim Soo-hyun mounts a new challenge in new film

Actor Kim Soo-hyun, 25, said he has attempted to elevate his acting a step further by taking the role of an elite North Korean spy named Won Ryu-hwan in the forthcoming film “Secretly Greatly.” “Won is the character who has four different colors,” said Kim in an interview. “They are the elite North Korean spy’s language, his professional South Korean, the disguised fool’s awkward talks, and his socialized language after getting used to the surroundings.” Kim said he learned the North Korean acce

May 30, 2013

Wedding imminent for Lee Min-jung, Lee Byung-hun?

The wedding of celebrity couple Lee Min-jung and Lee Byung-hun might be come sooner rather than expected, as the actress reportedly caught the bouquet at her close friend’s wedding. Lee Min-jung, 31, attended her friend’s wedding in Seoul on May 25 together with her 43-year-old boyfriend Lee Byung-hun, one of Korea’s best-known actors, with two Hollywood movies under his belt. The two actors confirmed their relationship last year, raising anticipation for another star couple. The actress’ agency

May 29, 2013

[Newsmaker] Moon writes Korean film history at Cannes

Korean director Moon Byoung-gon on Sunday won the Short Film Palme d’Or at Cannes International Film Festival, which ran May 15-26, for his film “Safe.” Moon is the first Korean to win the honor.“I am bewildered and didn’t know if I would win a prize,” the 30-year-old director was quoted as saying after the awards ceremony in France. “I am all the more happy to receive this award because I had no expectation that I’d win.”The 13-minute short is described as a grim portrait of a man addicted to g

May 27, 2013

Slush fund probe spreads to CJ E&M vice chairperson

CJ Entertainment & Media vice chairperson Lee Mi-kyung has been added to the list of CJ Group executives under investigation for allegedly establishing slush funds overseas as well as committing acts of tax evasion and fraud. CJ E&M is the widely influential media content division of the food and media powerhouse, which is the country’s 14th-largest business conglomerate.The affiliate is one of the driving forces behind hallyu and it remains to be seen what impact the current probe will have on

May 27, 2013

Explicit lesbian love epic wins Cannes top prize

CANNES, France (AFP) ― An audacious lesbian love story featuring hardcore sex, “Blue is the Warmest Colour” by French-Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche, won the top prize Sunday at the Cannes Film Festival in a watershed year for gay rights.An all-star jury at cinema’s top showcase led this year by Hollywood director Steven Spielberg crowned the graphically erotic coming-of-age story set in France and clocking in at an epic three hours.In an unusual step, Spielberg awarded the prize to Kechi

May 27, 2013

S. Korean director Moon wins short film award at Cannes

South Korean director Moon Byoung-gon won the top prize for short films for "Safe" at the 2013 Cannes International Film Festival on Sunday. It marks the first time that a Korean film has won an award for a short film at Cannes. "Safe," the winner of the Short Film Palme d'Or, draws a sad portrait of contemporary people through a female college student working part-time at an exchange booth in a gambling parlor and a gambling-addicted man."I'm bewildered and didn't know if I would win a prize. I

May 27, 2013

Documentary on Khmer Rouge hell wins award at Cannes

CANNES, France (AFP) ― A documentary on relatives wiped out in the Khmer Rouge’s tyrannical grip on Cambodia in the 1970s earned Cambodian-French director Rithy Panh a major prize at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday.Entitled “L’Image Manquante” ― “The Missing Picture” in English ― the 95-minute work earned the top award in the festival’s “Un Certain Regard” category, which showcases films by emerging directors.Panh, 49, has been previously singled out for praise for other documentaries on Ca

May 26, 2013

Box office

Secretly GreatlyOpening June 5Action. Comedy. Drama. Directed by Jang Cheol-soo.In a film based on a popular webtoon with the same title published in 2010 by Hun, three handsome North Korean spies Won Ryu-hwan (Kim soo-hyun), Rhee Hae-rang (Park Ki-woong), and Rhee Hae-jin (Lee Hyun-woo) from the elite special corps 5446 are ambitiously dispatched to South Korea. They disguise themselves as a fool, a rock star-wannabe, and a high school student. While waiting for orders from the North, they grad

May 24, 2013