Indie cinemas launch #SaveOurCinema campaign

Local indie and art house cinemas are teaming up to save the low-budget film industry struggling from the impact of the prolonged coronavirus pandemic. Korean Arthouse Cinema Association on Monday announced that 22 indie and art house cinemas will participate in the #SaveOurCinema campaign, which aims to raise public awareness of indie films and encourage moviegoers to return to smaller cinemas from July 1. While the campaign will include a wide range of marketing events conducted by individua

June 29, 2020

'#Alive' posts highest weekend box office in 5 months amid pandemic

The new zombie thriller "#Alive" posted the highest weekend box office total in five months since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pandemic, data showed Monday. According to the data by the Korean Film Council, "#Alive" attracted 702,000 moviegoers over the Friday Sunday period, far outnumbering runner-up "Innocence" with 98,000 and No. 3 "Onward" with 87,000. It is the highest box office recorded by a single flick during a weekend since the drama

June 29, 2020

Cinemas gear up for reboot as daily number of moviegoers exceed 400,000

A total of 409,544 people visited local cinemas on Saturday, surpassing 400,000 for the first time in over four months since the COVID-19 outbreak earlier this year. With new summer releases and state-funded discount coupons towing the recovery, the film industry has seen audience numbers climb this month. The Korean Film Council provided discount vouchers for tickets from Thursday through Sunday in the first three weeks of this month. As the number of moviegoers during the three-week event p

June 28, 2020

[Box Office] Movies in theaters this week

Alive (Korea) Opened June 24 Thriller, Drama Directed by Cho Il-hyung An unexplainable disease spreads in the city, turning infected people into zombie-like creatures, and Jun-woo (Yoo Ah-in), a YouTuber and gamer, is stranded inside his house alone. What food he had left is soon finished, and in a matter of days, electricity and water are cut off. The creatures roam around the apartment complex, sometimes making their way inside houses. Just as Jun-woo starts to lose hope, another survivor on

June 26, 2020

[Herald Interview] Lee Bong-geun moves pansori from stage to big screen

A master of the traditional Korean music genre pansori, Lee Bong-geun is launching a new career as an actor in the upcoming film “The Singer.” In it he plays the lead, Shim Hak-gyu, also a pansori singer. Speaking with the local media on Wednesday, Lee said he vicariously experienced the original form of pansori -- a traditional form of narrative music -- during the filming. “I thought that perhaps this is how the past masters would have sung. Although pansori has now become

June 25, 2020

‘Fanfare,’ a fantastical toss and turn of five villains overnight

While the sound of fanfare precedes celebratory events these days, in the past it often marked the start of a war that would leave all dead bar the victors. To the vanquished, the sound of the fanfare would be horrific, but to the vanquisher it would mark the start of a party. Likewise, crime-thriller “Fanfare” from aspiring Korean director Lee Don-ku is an 88-minute whirlwind of blood-splattering horror and satirical humor, as five of the cruelest villains tangle with each other i

June 24, 2020

‘Negotiations’ to resume overseas shooting in July

Star-studded blockbuster “Negotiations” may become the first Korean film to restart overseas shooting since the COVID-19 pandemic virtually stopped all international travel The film’s local distributor, Megabox Plus M on Tuesday announced that the film’s producers will return to shooting in Jordan in early July. The producers of the film starring top-tier actors Hwang Jung-min and Hyun Bin halted all overseas shooting plans earlier this year, just after the global out

June 23, 2020

‘The Shaman Sorceress’ wins at Annecy animation fest

Korean director Ahn Jae-huun’s feature animation “The Shaman Sorceress” bagged the Contrechamp Jury Distinction award at the 44th Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France, Saturday. Based on a 1936 Korean novel of the same title, the film depicts the breakdown of a traditional family following a clash between shamanism and Christianity. Taking the form of an animated musical, the film features Korean singer and actor Sonya as the shaman Mohwa, who comes into con

June 22, 2020

Korean films hope to repeat Cannes success in 2020 Cannes Film Market

The 2020 Cannes Film Market, an annual marketplace where the global movie industry convenes for business opportunities, will be held online for the first time this week from Monday to Friday, featuring several Korean films attempting to follow the success of last year’s grand prize winner “Parasite” by director Bong Joon-ho. The online film market will try to mirror the offline experience by hosting online concerts, keynote talks and over 150 events, with more than 1,200 onlin

June 21, 2020

CGV introduces electronic visitor registration to combat COVID-19

CGV, South Korea's largest multiplex chain, said Friday it will introduce an electronic visitor registration system based on quick response (QR) code verification technology at all of its theaters nationwide to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. CGV's announcement came after South Korea last week mandated QR code-based registration of visitors at bars, clubs and other entertainment facilities across the country, stepping up measures against COVID-19. Those facilities are required to use

June 19, 2020

Peace film fest kicks off amid rising tension with NK

Amid tightening tension on the Korean Peninsula, the second edition of the Pyeongchang International Peace Film Festival kicked off Thursday. The festival, set to run for six-days until Tuesday, is the first local film festival to take place as usual in the presence of audiences and guests since the ongoing novel coronavirus situation broke out in the nation. Though there had been one-day film awards, it is the first film festival event to be held for multiple days. “We have had our c

June 19, 2020

[Herald Interview] Yoo Ah-in talks about being alive

Yoo Ah-in says the main theme of his life these days is being relaxed, and his acting as Jun-woo in the upcoming thriller film “#Alive” also comes in line with this relatively new attitude towards life. “(Jun-woo) Is a not-so-special guy who is pushed to the most extreme situation in the film, and I wanted to show his emotional changes rhythmically and naturally. Personally, the essence in acting Jun-woo was making him seem comfortable and loveable to the viewers. I wished pe

June 19, 2020

[Box Office] Movies in theaters this week

Baseball Girl (Korea) Opened June 18 Drama Directed by Choi Yun-tae The only female baseball player in the nation and on her high school team, Soo-in (Lee Joo-young) pitches a 130-kph fastball. She strives to make it on a professional team, but everyone around her doubts her dream. Watching her fighting a lonely challenge, the team’s new coach Choi (Lee Joon-hyuk) tells Soo-in that her goal is impossible not because of her gender, but because of her physical limits and suggests a new str

June 19, 2020

Lee Je-hoon to star in Naver’s first audio cinema

Actor Lee Je-hoon will feature in the newly launched audio cinema content from local internet giant Naver. Lee’s agency Saram Entertainment on Wednesday said Lee will be starring in the aural film “Falling Asleep Beside You” (translated title) set to launch on Naver’s audio streaming platform Audio Clip. Lee will be teaming up with actress Yoo In-na to the play the lead roles in the project. In the romance story -- which is based on the web novel of the same name by

June 17, 2020

Strange as fiction: Imaginary explosion in Kaesong treated in 2017 film 'Steel Rain'

As fearful as it may be, the conflict between the two Koreas has become one of the most tried-and-true subject matters of recent South Korean tentpole films, capturing the imagination of the people living under the constant possibility of war between the divided nations. And while most of these projects tend to strive for historical authenticity, seldom do real-world incidents, such as Tuesday's blowup of an inter-Korean office building in the Kaesong Industrial Complex, eerily echo fictional

June 17, 2020

Nolan’s time travel epic ‘Tenet’ to hit theaters in July

Warner Bros. Korea confirmed on Wednesday that “Tenet,” the latest feature from the acclaimed director Christopher Nolan, will open in local cinemas around the end of July. “Tenet” is a sci-fi action thriller about a team of spies who set out on a time-bending mission to prevent another world war. Actors David Washington and Robert Pattinson will star in the espionage flick. Michael Caine, who has appeared in five of Nolan’s films, and Kenneth Branagh from the aut

June 17, 2020

'Peninsula’ takes post-zombie apocalypse to another level

The zombies do not roam, they run -- in a massive pack, streaking across a ravaged land that has turned into a huge ground of destruction in a post-apocalyptic world four years since the epidemic broke out. Likewise, everything about “Peninsula” will be faster and fiercer compared to the original “Train to Busan,” according to the director of both films, Yeon Sang-ho. While the uninfected protagonists from the “Train to Busan” could do nothing but run from t

June 16, 2020

Korean zombies will make you feel ‘#Alive’

While most zombie genres take up half the time explaining about the behavioral patterns of the walking dead and the protagonists trying to find the source of the disease and cure, “#Alive” wastes no time in any such elements and jumps straight into survival itself. “I hope the audience can just revel in it. Rather than trying to get a message from the story, I wish they’d get a strong feeling of ‘being alive,’ the value and feeling of gratitude in just being

June 16, 2020

With fewer new films to show, cinemas turn to alternative content

Cinemas have introduced several new films since the start of June, but Korean multiplex operators continue to occupy empty screens with an assortment of alternative cultural content. Starting from June 22, major cinema operator Megabox will kick off this year’s “Popcorn Classic” program, an introductory lecture series on classic hobbies and interests, the company announced. The program began in 2017 under the Megabox curation brand “Classic Society.” According to

June 15, 2020

COVID-19 pushes back summer releases

South Korean films set for release this summer are rescheduling their release dates, as cluster infections of the novel coronavirus continue to spring up in the Seoul metropolitan area. Film distributor Merry Christmas announced last week that it has postponed the release of sci-fi flick “Space Sweepers” from summer to later this year, since the danger of COVID-19 infection lingers in the nation. The company stated that it is considering opening the film around the Chuseok holidays

June 14, 2020