Company Behind THE PRIESTS Sold to Korean Internet GiantTop Korean production company ZIP CINEMA has been bought by Kakao Entertainment, a subsidiary of the local internet giant Kakao. Spackman Entertainment, the Singapore-based previous owner, sold the company for KRW 18 billion (USD 15.3 million).ZIP CINEMA, which is run by top producer Lee Eugene, emerged in 2007 as the company behind the hit V...

Bae Doona, Song Kangho, Gang Dongwon and More Appear in Latest from Japanese AuteurBroker (working title), the highly anticipated Korean feature debut of acclaimed filmmaker Koreeda Hirokazu, completed production on June 22. The project has drawn considerable attention for its cast of Korean stars, including Bae Doona, who previously appeared in Koreeda’s Air Doll, Song Kangho, Gang Dongwon and IU...

Korean star IU (aka LEE Ji-eun), one of the biggest names in the country’s entertainment scene, has set her sights on the arthouse world after signing on to appear in Broker, the Korean language debut of acclaimed Japanese filmmaker KOREEDA Hirokazu. The singer-turned-actress joins a cast that already includes big names such as SONG Kang-ho, BAE Doo-na, and GANG Dong-won. Broker will concern sever...

Korean film industry in 2015 has made USD　1.7 billion sales in two years in a row. According to the Final Report on 2015 Korean Film Industry by　Korean Film Council (KOFIC), the domestic film sales has reached USD 1.76 billion, including ticket sales and derivative market sales, which is 4.2% higher than the previous year. The box office sales in 2015 has increased by 3.1% to USD 1.42 billion, as...

Last November, The Priests and Inside Men. were the favorites among the domestic film audience. According to the November monthly report on Korean film industry by Korean Film Council (KOFIC), the domestic film share last month was 69.5% and the foreign film share was 30.5%. Here, The Priests and Inside Men are known to have played a crucial role. The total number of viewers in November w...

Local titles continued to impress in the first quarter of 2019 as sales were down only slightly to 2.26 million while the market share for Korean films swelled to 79%. A Hollywood tentpole is sure to reverse that next month, but until then local holdovers look set to mop up the spoils. Debuting in first place was CJ Entertainment’s SVAHA : THE SIXTH FINGER, the second film from The Priests (2015) ...

After a few years of major growth at the beginning of the decade, the Korean box office has remained flat once again, with this year’s total to date staying at the same level as 2015. However, where gains have been made is in the local industry, which has churned out several major hits and found itself with a significantly better market share than last year. Local Hits Edge Out Hollywood as Box Of...

Hollywood Claims Edge in Slow Weekend After six weeks of local dominance during Korea’s biggest moviegoing season, local films lost the majority market share for the first time as business cooled off significantly, yet with the Chuseok(Korean Thanksgiving Day) holiday and a pair of homegrown tentpoles on the way this is likely to be a short-lived win for Hollywood, which accounted for 56% of sale...