A total of 13 out of 42 skiers isolated on ski chairlifts have been rescued at Aplensia ski resort in Gangwon Province, the country’s fire authorities said Monday. The reason for the chairlift malfunction remains unclear as of 6:30 p.m., fire authorities said. They said there were no reported casualties. Passengers on the lift included children, who were rescued first. Cold protection supplies...

There are a number of South Korean period action films set in 1933, when Korea was under Japanese colonial rule. Although director Lee Hae-young’s upcoming period action film “Phantom” shares the same background, the film’s plot revolving around five protagonists is about action and mind games between characters hunting down a spy called Phantom. “I did not depend too much on the historical rec...

Long-awaited Hollywood sci-fi film “Avatar: The Way of Water” has topped 2.4 million admissions in five days after its release, box-office data showed Sunday, breaking the record set by the original “Avatar” in 2009. Despite the film’s agonizingly long three-hour runtime, “Avatar: The Way of Water” drew 359,225 people on the first day, bringing its combined total to 1 million people in just thre...

South Korea’s film industry saw its accumulative revenue this year surpass 1 trillion won ($767 million) for the first time after movie theaters struggled to survive the COVID-19 pandemic. According to data by Korean Film Council, total revenue from January to November recorded 1.26 trillion won, mostly buoyed by a slew of movies that were released targeting moviegoers during the summer and Chus...

Prey for the Devil (US) Opened Dec. 7 Mystery Directed by Daniel Stamm With a global rise in demonic possessions, the Roman Catholic Church decides to reopen schools to train priests to perform exorcisms. While nuns are not allowed to perform this ritual, Sister Ann’s gifts are noticed by a professor who decides to train her. Sister Ann soon finds herself in a battle for the soul of a young ...

Despite the gravity of the plot, supporting independence fighter roles played by Cho Jae-yoon, Bae Jung-nam, Lee Hyun-woo and Park Jin-joo add excitement to the movie. “My favorite scene was when independence fighters and extra actors gathered to sing in chorus the famous track ‘Promising the Day.’ We all worked really hard to deliver the emotions while singing and even calling ourselves trainee...

In an attempt to bring it back to its former glory, the 58th Daejong Film Awards was held Friday in Seoul in a smaller scale with only a few actors in attendance. Film director Park Chan-wook’s Cannes-winning romance-thriller “Decision to Leave” won the most coveted best picture and scenario award at this year’s Daejong Film Awards, also known as the Grand Bell Awards. Park, who is currently wo...

Even If This Love Disappears Tonight (Japan) Opened Nov. 30 Romance Directed by Takahiro Miki The movie, based on the novel by the same title by the Japanese author Misaki Ichijo, tells a story of high school students Toru Kamiya (Shunsuke Michieda) and Maori Hino (Riko Fukumoto) who go on a date despite Maori suffering from a condition in which she loses all memory of the previous day upon ...

The Korean Film Council will hold the Freedom of Expression Film Festival from Friday until Dec. 18, with local independent film theaters screening 20 films that were blacklisted during previous conservative administrations. The existence of the blacklist came to light in 2016. The 20 films include director Park Chan-wook’s “Joint Security Area” (2000), “The Handmaiden” (2016), director Chung Ji...

Following the dire, years-long pandemic-related difficulties, local theaters are hoping the box office records will get a year-end boost with a slew of new releases -- from the much-anticipated James Cameron blockbuster “Avatar: The Way of Water” to South Korea’s first ever musical-to-screen movie “Hero.” Will those films bring back to theaters people who have been streaming Netflix in the comfo...

Italian luxury fashion house Gucci said Tuesday it will hold its Cruise 2024 collection show in Seoul on May 15, without revealing the specific venue. The brand said it had picked South Korea for being the center of dynamic heritage, culture and creativity, which is in line with Gucci’s core values. Just last month, Gucci had to call off its fashion show titled “Gucci Cosmogonie Collection Seou...

Oscar-winning film director Bong Joon-ho’s next movie, “Mickey 17,” will hit theaters on March 29, 2024, Warner Bros. Pictures confirmed Tuesday. The movie is based on Edward Ashton’s 2022 sci-fi novel “Mickey7,” which tells the story of Mickey7, an expendable employee who is sent on a dangerous mission to colonize an ice world called Niflheim. “Twilight” series’ Robert Pattinson plays the lead...

Veteran actor Youn Yuh-jung is leaving her agency Hook Entertainment following the expiration of her contract, according to the company on Tuesday. The Oscar-winning actor signed on with Hook Entertainment in March 2017. The company earlier denied news reports of Youn's departure, claiming that Youn was not leaving the company although their exclusive contract had expired. Youn is reportedly u...

The fourth annual Jongno Culture Diversity Film Festival will kick off Thursday to share the meaning and value of diversity through film, according to the Jongno Foundation for Arts & Culture on Monday. Established in 2019, the annual event will take place Dec. 8-20 at Emu Arts Space in Jongno under the slogan “Stories of Yours, Mine and Ours.” Eight films designated as "films of the year" by t...

Men of Plastic (Korea) Opened Nov. 30 Comedy Directed by Lim Jin-sun Born and raised in the posh, affluent Apgujeong-dong in southern Seoul, Dae-guk (Don Lee) is familiar with plastic surgery and skin care shops, as so many are located in Apgujeong-dong. To realize his business idea to start his own plastic surgery clinic, he meets the area’s most renowned plastic surgeon Ji-woo (Jung Kyung-...