‘The Policeman’s Lineage’ to be first Korean film in theaters next year

“The Policeman’s Lineage,” directed by Lee Kyu-man, will be the first Korean film in the theaters next year, according to the film’s distributor Acemaker Movieworks on Monday. “Despite the toughened Level 4 social distancing rules this summer, Korean films like ‘Escape from Mogadishu,’ ‘Sinkhole’ and ‘Hostage: Missing Celebrity’ were screened,” the distributor said in a statement. “Although we are in a pandemic situat

Dec. 20, 2021

Nine independent films to be screened for free at Cinematech KOFA

The Korean Film Archive on Monday announced it will screen nine Korean independent films that were well received between December last year and November this year at Cinematech KOFA in Sangam-dong, Seoul. The nine films are “Happy Children” by Lee Ji-won, “I Don’t Fire Myself” by Lee Tae-gyeom, “Snowball” by Lee Woo-jung, “Festival” by Kim Rok-kyung, “Black Light” by Bae Jong-dae, “Short Vacation” by Kwon Min-pyo and

Dec. 20, 2021

'Spider-Man' smashes S. Korea box office in its 1st week

"Spider-Man: No Way Home," Marvel's latest Spider-Man series film, is smashing the South Korean box office to become the most-watched movie in the first week since the pandemic, data showed Monday. The blockbuster attracted 1.74 million people from Friday-Sunday, bringing its cumulative total to 2.27 million in the five days following its release, according to the data by the Korea Film Council. It is the largest five-day record by a film released since the COVID-19 pandemic started

Dec. 20, 2021

[Box Office] Movies in theaters this week

Don’t Look Up (US) Opened Dec. 8 Comedy Directed by Adam McKay Astronomy graduate student Kate Dibiaski (Jennifer Lawrence) and professor Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) discover a comet headed straight for Earth on a devastating collision course. However, no one cares about the news of an approaching comet that can destroy the planet. The two decide to go on a giant media tour to warn mankind of an approaching comet that will destroy everything. Encanto (US) Opened Nov. 24 Animati

Dec. 17, 2021

‘The Apartment with Two Women’ invited to Berlin film festival

Korean director Kim Se-in’s “The Apartment With Two Women” will be screened during the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival’s Panorama program in February. The panorama program is a noncompetition category of the annual film festival. This year, 13 titles will be screened in the program alongside Kim’s 140-minute film. The 72nd edition of the film festival will kick off Feb. 10. Kim’s debut feature was created through a feature film production program

Dec. 16, 2021

'Spider-Man' sets opening-day record since pandemic

"Spider-Man: No Way Home," Marvel's latest Spider-Man series film, has set the best opening-day record at the South Korean box office since the new coronavirus broke out, data showed Thursday. The blockbuster garnered about 635,000 viewers upon its debut Wednesday, accounting for 96.9 percent of the tickets sold on the day, according to the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). It marked the largest first-day score for a film since the COVID-19 pandemic started early last year, outnumbering t

Dec. 16, 2021

Netflix’s 'D.P.' to return with season 2

Netflix on Tuesday confirmed the return of its Korean original series “D.P.” with a second season. Short for “Deserter Pursuit,” the series presents the life of Pvt. Jun-ho (played by Jung Hae-in) and Cpl. Ho-yeol (played by Koo Kyo-hwan) and reveals the reasons that some soldiers try to escape the army. The series, helmed by “Coinlocker Girl” and “Hit-and-Run Squad” director Han Jun-hee, is an adaptation of a webtoon of the same title by Kim B

Dec. 14, 2021

Political film ‘Kingmaker’ throws question mark on ethical dilemma

While the South Korean presidential election is less than three months away, the fact-based political drama “Kingmaker” aims to raise a question about using unjust means to achieve a goal. Set in the 1960s-70s, “Kingmaker” revolves around an opposition party politician who dreams of becoming president and his excellent strategist. It was motivated by mysterious election strategist Eom Chang-rok, who worked for former President Kim Dae-jung, who became president in 1998

Dec. 14, 2021

Korean voice actors say Netflix, Disney+ have not improved their lives

After the success of Netflix’s “Squid Game,” a local news outlet reported that the expansion of global streaming services has improved Korean voice actors’ lives as such platforms can provide more jobs. The article noted that there are more jobs for voice actors, especially after Disney+, which has a lot of animation content that needs to be dubbed into Korean, entered the Korean market this year. However, Korean voice actor Choi Jae-ho says global streaming servic

Dec. 13, 2021

[Box Office] Movies in theaters this week

Don’t Look Up (US) Opened Dec. 8 Science fiction Directed by Adam McKay Astronomy graduate student Kate Dibiaski (Jennifer Lawrence) and professor Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) discover a comet headed straight for Earth on a devastating collision course. However, no one cares about the news of an approaching comet that can destroy the planet. The two decide to go on a giant media tour to warn mankind of an approaching comet that will destroy everything. Spiritwalker (Korea) Open

Dec. 10, 2021

'Squid Game' wins special award from American Film Institute

South Korean television series "Squid Game" has won a special honor from the American Film Institute (AFI). The AFI announced the top 10 movies and TV shows of the year on Wednesday (US time), and "Squid Game" was one of the three special award winners, along with "Belfast" and "Summer of Soul…(Or, When the Revolution Could Not be Televised)," although they fell outside the institute's criteria for American film and TV. This year's top awards for

Dec. 9, 2021

'Squid Game' wins three nominations at Critics Choice Awards

South Korea's sensational survival drama "Squid Game" has been nominated in three categories, including best drama series, at the 27th Critics Choice Awards. According to the nominations announced by the Critics Choice Association Monday (US time), "Squid Game," a Netflix original, was listed in the categories best drama series, best actor in drama series and best foreign language series. In the best drama series section, "Squid Game" will compete with seven other

Dec. 7, 2021

Four movie stars become directors of their own story

Korean movie stars Park Jeong-min, Lee Je-hoon, Son Suk-ku and Choi Hee-seo are stepping behind the camera to direct a slate of short films for Korean streaming platform Watcha’s “Unframed” project. The omnibus short film project is jointly organized by Watcha and HardCut, a new production company co-founded by actor Lee Je-hoon, film producer Kim Yoo-kyung and film director Yang Kyung-mo. The project aims to gather unique and unconventional stories and marks the directorial

Dec. 6, 2021

[Herald Interview] Actor Yoo Ah-in believes our world is not much different from ‘Hellbound’

“Having blind faith about unverified information and online-offline bullying with that knowledge are very common in our modern society,” Yoo Ah-in said in an online interview with a group of reporters Wednesday. “There were reviews about ‘Hellbound’ less than an hour into its release. People were making a huge fuss about the information that they heard from a five-minute YouTube video, believing that was the absolute truth. The collective madness, hatred and viole

Dec. 3, 2021

[Box Office] Movies in theaters this week

Spiritwalker (Korea) Opened Nov. 24 Action Directed by Yoon Jae-keun I-an (Yoon Kye-sang) is an intelligence agent. One day he gets into a car accident. When he wakes up he is in a different body and also finds out that he cannot remember anything. After that day, he keeps losing his memory regularly and also wakes up in a different body every 12 hours. I-an figures out that he has to find his original body to solve this situation and starts looking for it. Nothing Serious (US) Opened Nov. 24 Ro

Dec. 3, 2021

COVID-19 resurgence halts local filmmaking industry

The COVID-19 pandemic is once again shaking the Korean filmmaking industry, as two star actors -- Jung Woo-sung and Go Kyung-pyo -- tested positive for the COVID-19 virus on Tuesday. Other actors and crew who worked with Jung and Go now find themselves in a situation in which they have to halt their current projects and undergo COVID-19 PCR tests. According to Jung’s agency Artist Company, the actor went into self-quarantine after being confirmed as a COVID-19 patient on Monday night.

Dec. 1, 2021

Master of romance returns with ‘Happy New Year’ starring 14 actors

Korean director Kwak Jae-yong, a master of the romance genre, is releasing “Happy New Year,” a romantic film with an ensemble cast of 14 actors. Kwak, 62, has created many hit romance films, including “My Sassy Girl” and “The Classic.” The film’s format is similar to UK film “Love Actually,” which presents a large cast and tells intertwined love stories between characters. Kwak’s film includes young big-name actors like Han Ji-min

Dec. 1, 2021

[Herald Interview] Park Jeong-min is puzzled by global attention to ‘Hellbound’

For actor Park Jeong-min, the global popularity of “Hellbound” was unexpected. “Because I was simply a huge fan of the original webtoon, I was excited to play the television producer Bae Young-jae. Though I never took the role lightly, I did not have the pressure of turning the project into a smash hit series. I enjoyed working with amazing colleagues and director Yeon Sang-ho,” Park said in an online interview with a group of reporters on Tuesday. “Hearing the n

Dec. 1, 2021

‘Squid Game’ wins breakthrough series prize at Gotham Awards

“Squid Game” was announced the winner of the breakthrough series’ long format category at the 2021 Gotham Awards on Tuesday. Five other TV series, including Amazon Studios’ “Small Axe” and HBO Max’s “It’s A Sin,” vied for the prize in the over 40-minute category at the annual US awards ceremony for lower-budget indie movies and TV series. The award ceremony took place on Tuesday in New York and “Squid Game” director Hwan

Nov. 30, 2021

Actor Lee Chae-young returns as gambler in 'Tazza: The Poker Queen'

When Korean actor Lee Chae-young first heard the title of the upcoming film “Tazza: The Poker Queen,” it immediately reminded her of Korean film “The War of Flower,” which had the Korean title “Tazza.” Lee said she was hesitant to accept the role out of worry she could not outperform the 2006 hit. “However, after reading Kim Se-young’s comic that the film is created based on, I became to think that there is a story about woman gamblers that could

Nov. 27, 2021