Lotte Cultureworks (formerly Lotte Entertainment) has achieved a key breakthrough in the Vietnamese market with the successful release of their latest local Vietnamese production Hai Phuong, which has become the most successful R-rated film ever in the Southeast Asian market. After its February 22 release, the action film had welcomed 1.73 million viewers by its 10th day in theaters, far exceeding...

Culminating a stellar turnaround over the past two years, Lotte Cultureworks (previously known as Lotte Entertainment) took the top rank on the Korean distributor chart for 2018, a spot usually occupied by rival CJ Entertainment, after a stellar year on the charts. Boasting an 18% market share for the year, the company’s roster included homegrown hits such as Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days,...

The Seoul Awards, honoring achievement on both the big and small screens in Korea, held their 2nd edition on October 27. Taking the Grand Prize in the film section was YOON Jong-bin’s espionage drama The Spy Gone North. Premiering in the midnight lineup of the Cannes Film Festival this year, The Spy Gone North features HWANG Jung-min as an undercover South Korean operative posing as a business man...

Despite a major new tent-pole opening following a week that was dominated by holdovers, business dropped around 20% as admissions reached just 1.88 million. The local industry also lost its market advantage, with its share dropping to 29%. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, the second installment in the Warner Bros Harry Potter prequel series, had little trouble topping the weekend box o...

Despite a major new local release hoping to drum up sales, the pre-Chuseok weekend was a quiet one at the big office with a third-week release topping the charts and sales dipping again to 1.34 million admissions. The local industry rallied to 47% but still fell short of Hollywood’s 51% market share. After climbing to the first rank last weekend, the sleeper hit Searching defied the odds to hang o...

The Korean box office ended on a bang last year when December delivered by far the best results for Korean and overall sales for the month since records began. Some of that momentum carried through into the early weeks of 2018, but the first quarter of the year has been one of highs and lows, as a strong January was followed by a disappointing Lunar New Year holiday season in February, while March...