Forecasts for the domestic film industry's sales are pessimistic, amid a weaker than expected recovery at the box office. The number of moviegoers reached 112.8 million in 2022, according to the 2022 Korean film industry's sales report released by the Korean Film Council on Thursday. That was more than double the 52.28 million of the year before, but still sharply down from 226.68 million in the...

“Mother Land,” South Korea’s first major stop-motion animated film in 45 years, did not use 3D effects in the film to better portray the mother nature story, the film’s director Park Jae-beom told reporters Tuesday. “When I first thought about the storyline of ‘Mother Land,’ it was obvious for me to turn it into a stop-motion animation. Not only because I’m a huge fan of stop-motion animation, b...

“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” (United States) Opened Jan. 4 Adventure/Comedy Directed by Joel Crawford Puss in Boots decides to live a life as a pet cat instead of a hero, after discovering that he has burnt through eight of his nine lives. Knowing that an adventure will take its toll, Puss departs for a legendary journey to find the mythical Last Wish for the Wishing Star and restore the r...

The film also sheds light on the cross-culture friendship of its Singaporean ajumma and a Korean security guard played by Jung Dong-hwan, telling a story of two seniors’ understated closeness. “I wanted to show the possibility of friendship even later in life. Making new friends can be scary for people like ajumma. I think the film shows an experience that anyone can go through in one’s life, an...

A heartwarming family movie revolving around young patients in the children’s ward, “Two Heart” began shooting on Jan. 2, production companies Miro Vision and Studio Santa Claus Entertainment said Friday. Starring Jung Man-sik and On Joo-wan, the film is expected among industry insiders to become the next touching drama film on the scale of “Miracle in Cell No. 7” for its heartrending storyline....

“The First Slam Dunk” (Japan) Opened Jan. 4 (Adventure/Comedy) Directed by Takehiko Inoue Based on the Slam Dunk manga series written and illustrated by Takehiko Inoue, the animated sports film follows Ryota Miyagi, a high school student who plays the point guard at the school’s basketball team and his journey to win the basketball championship at a nationwide basketball competition. “Gentl...

Director Lee Soo-seong released his second zombie movie “Gangnam Zombie” Thursday, 13 years after he filmed “Mr. Zombie.” The zombie apocalypse had been an omnipresent element in almost all types of arts from video games to music and movies, long before it pervaded Korean movies and dramas and became a prolific genre. And in recent years, zombies in films and dramas such as “Train to Busan,” “Ki...

Jeonju International Film Festival will support the global distribution of local indie films with a new program this year. According to the festival organizing committee, the Work in Progress program will be established this year as part of the festival’s 15-year-running networking program for indie art filmmakers, called Jeonju Project. While the committee already operates a networking program...

The film’s realistic-looking sets and backdrops were thanks to a whopping 10.9 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) investment from various Chinese film production companies. Some 600 staffers worked on devising visual effects technology and computer graphics and a total of 15 studio sets were used for shooting, one as large as 6,000 square meters. The film, which opened last year in China, made 3.1 bill...

“Many people have already told me that the movie is too cliche but that’s what I most liked about this movie. People don’t eat kimchi jjigae because they do not know what it tastes like but because want to eat it every day because it’s good. I think a good family comedy is not any different,” said Lee. “Switch” was inspired by Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” and Mark Twain's “The Prince and...

It’s here – the final episode of our three-part interview series with the cast of the film “Asia”! Check out the other episodes if you haven’t already and let us know what you think!

Director Jung Ju-ri's drama thriller, “Next Sohee” starring Bae Doo-na, will be released in local cinemas in February. “Next Sohee” is director Jung’s newest release since “A Girl at My Door” (2014) which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. "Next Sohee" sees Jung reunited with Bae after "A Girl at My Door," and features Kim Si-eun as the other protago...

The year that just ended was all about finally seeing a number of movies that began production prior to the pandemic. Despite better-than-expected ticket sales, having so many options to watch comfortably at home led many film buffs and moviegoers to stay inside. How will upcoming movies this year impact ticket sales at the cinema? From Hollywood’s megasized projects to a variety of local films ...

“Gentleman” (South Korea) Opened Dec. 28 Crime/Action Directed by Kim Kyung-won Private detective Ji Hyun-soo (Ju Ji-hoon) pretends to be a prosecutor in order to find his missing client, fight evil crimes and track down outlaws masterminded by Kwon Do-hoon (Park Sung-woong), the head of a large law firm. Together with merciless prosecutor Kim Hwa-jin (Choi Sung-eun), Ji works on solving a m...