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SEOUL, South Korea -- What could have been the biggest marriage in Korean movie history is off. CJ Entertainment said Friday that it has ceased attempts to take over rival […]

SEOUL, South -- The Korean and French film industries have moved closer together with the announcement of an accord of cooperation between the Korean Film Commission (KOFIC) and le Centre […]

SEOUL, South Korea -- Three years since action film blockbuster 'Shin' redefined the Korean film industry, its director, Kang Je-gyu, is ready to step behind the camera with a new [...]

SEOUL, South Korea -- After returning from a budding production-design career in the United States to pursue greater opportunities in Korean film, Ryu Seong-hee had nearly had enough. The films […]

Since 1999 Seoul filmmakers in South Korea have been churning out Asia's first critically acclaimed blockbusters, and "Silmido" and "Taegukgi"--featuring battle scenes that rival "Saving Private Ryan's" are the most stunningly good examples to date. Korean leading men like Won Bin of "Taegukgi" and Sol Gyeong-gu of "Silmido" have bright side careers promoting Korean products all over Asia. Korean heartthrob Bae Yong Joon, star of a clever remake of "Dangerous Liaisons" set in 18th-century Korea and called "Untold Scandal," is mobbed like a rock star all over Asia. In the way Americans tour Hollywood, Asians visit Korea to see sites featured in their favorite movies. The Seoul government and industry leaders are working to position the Pusan Film Festival as Cannes East, the festival where deals get gone, a one-stop venue where moviemakers can shop for financing, exports, even locations. In preparation for the next Pusan festival this fall, delegations from Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and all over Asia have been flocking to Seoul to study the Korean film renaissance. Today's success is an outgrowth of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. Before the crisis, Korea's big conglomerates, or chaebol dominated the industry--churning out B movies on tiny budgets. The chaebol were leaders in the production of blank videotape and VCRs worldwide, and often owned video distributorships at home; their main interest was to fill empty tapes, video-store shelves and theater screens with cheap entertainment. When the International Monetary Fund bailed out South Korea in 1997, it demanded that debt-soaked conglomerates like Hyundai, Daewoo and Samsung retreat from peripheral businesses. Most spun off filmmaking subsidiaries, ending the chaebol hold on film financing. Small, family-run and chaebol-backed production companies began to give way to independent firms that function like Hollywood studios: each produces multiple films each year and distributes them nationally.

The article reports about the deal signed between South Korea's CJ Entertainment and China Film Group Corp. on September 21, 2007, which is said to be a milestone in promoting the relationship between the Chinese and Korean film sectors. Both have agreed to work together to develop young Chinese filmmakers. To further this relation, the Korea Film Council and the Asian Film Market will hold the "2007 China Biz-camp" during the Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea.

This article reports on the motion picture industry in Asia. For 2005, ticket sales are down 5%-15% year-over-year across all key Asian markets, and industry participants says it's the December 2005 release of Universal's "King Kong," from director Peter Jackson, that is the kind of potentially monstrous hit film needed to break the drought. Mike Selwyn, United International Pictures' supervisor for Australia/New Zealand, said that "King Kong" is the key. The reality is that 2005 is becoming a difficult year at the Asian boxoffice, with distributors saying many major releases are not meeting expectations, echoing the lament of their European counterparts.

The article reports about the low box-office collections in the South Korea's film industry in February 2008. According to Korea's multiplex chain CJ CGV Co. Ltd., admissions for February stood at 13.2 million, down 3.6% from 2007. The top film of the month was the thriller "The Chaser," which pulled in 2.36 million admissions.

The article reports that Korean entertainment company iHQ has entered into co-production deal with companies in China and Hong Kong. The co-production partners of the 6 million yuan project "Let's Fall in Love," include iHQ and its Beijing affiliate, Beijing iHQ SK, Chinese film studio Beijing PolyBona Film Distribution, Hong Kong's October Pictures and Korean production house Nabi Pictures. IHQ will supply 3 million yuan of the budget, PolyBona 2.5 million yuan and Nabi 500,000 yuan.

The article reports on the Korean Film Council's data which showed a 2.5 percent decline in the overall January to June 2007 box-office receipts from the 93 percent of the South Korea's theaters reporting through a computerized network. The data showed that boxoffice revenue from local films dropped more than 22 percent from 2006 despite a record output of new titles. Theater chain, CJ GGV's nationwide attendance declined 11 percent in the same period.

The article focuses on the presence of several South Korean film distribution firms at the American Film Market being held in Santa Monica, California. The country's motion picture industry is slated to produce more than 100 movies this year, the most since 1991. The Korean wave is headed by Showbox, one of the country's largest entertainment companies. Other companies include CJ Entertainment and Cineclick Asia.

The article reports that South Korea's Ministry of Culture and Tourism, along with the ruling Uri Party, on October 23, 2006 announced the Movie Industry Medium-Long-Term Development Plan. The plan will provide a $521 million package over five years to cement and continue gains made by the local film industry over the past several years. The South Korean government has pledged to improve and enforce copyrights, tax support and regulations against unfair competition.

The article focuses on issues related to talent management in the Asian motion picture industry. With the Asian Film Market featuring a large series of events showcasing Asian actors for the first time in 2006, talent management has suddenly taken on new prominence at the Pusan International Film Festival in Pusan, Korea.

The article focuses on the 11th annual Pusan International Film Festival in Seoul, South Korea in fall 2006. Thousands of people will attend the 10-day event including film exhibitions, parties and film business fun. It is the largest film festival in Asia showcasing 245 movies from 63 countries, with more premieres than ever. Also, the Busan International Film Commission & Industry Showcase, a location and technology exhibition is in its sixth year.

This article reports that the South Korean film industry has set records for boxoffice revenue and market share for the fifth year in a row, according to a recent report by IM Pictures. But the report also cautions that, despite the success, the industry would have been in the red if not for overseas sales revenue. IM Pictures predicts that for 2004 Korean films will comprise 58% of the national boxoffice, up from a year-earlier 53%. Korean films will account for 20.5 million ticket sales, up 22.5%. The report also noted that the industry has been weakened by the virtual collapse of the home video market. DVDs have not caught on widely in Korea, where officials reported many people prefer to stream their films illegally from the Internet.

This article reports that a television station in Argentina, forced to shave costs because of dwindling advertising revenue, decides the best way to achieve that is to stop buying movies. In places as far-flung as Thailand and Tokyo, London and Lisbon, Portugal, decisions are being made with dramatic effect on the global feature film business. Among this year's local feature success stories, the first Zulu-language film,"Yesterday," produced by South African powerhouse Videovision was snapped up by HBO after wowing audiences at the recent Toronto and Venice film festivals.

This article presents information about the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF). Once again PIFF is boasting more films from more countries than ever before. After nine years of being Korea's largest festival and becoming one of Asia's key film events, organizers have taken a if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it attitude. Announcing its program, organizers said this year's festival will have 266 films from 63 countries, including 39 world premieres, nearly twice as many as last year, along with 16 international premieres and 50 Asian premieres. Opening film will be the reedited re-release of Wong Kar Wai's "2046," which made its debut at Cannes as a work in progress.

In a change of policy, Korea's Ministry of Culture and Tourism has indicated that it might support a reduction of the nation's screen quota. Korea has long maintained a quota that requires all movie screens in the country show locally made films at least 146 days each year. When trade representatives of the U.S. in negotiations for a bilateral investment treaty with Korea, insisted in 1997 that Korea scrap its screen quota, the film industry and public reacted with a flurry of demonstrations. Korean films have been in a dead heat with Hollywood for the past three years, and in the first five months of 2004, Korean movies accounted for 68.1% of the boxoffice, according to IM Pictures, a local film company that also conducts research on the industry.

A Korean law firm that represents several movie companies said it is taking on Korea's alleged online copyright violators in an effort to prevent the film industry from being devastated by illegal downloading. Hanmac Films' Jonathan Kim said he has been pressing the government to crack down on Internet copyright violations for two years. The courts have also been reluctant to intervene against file-sharing services, saying they are not liable for violations of their users. According to the Recording Industry Association of Korea, sales of cassettes and compact discs plummeted from $357 million to $159 million last year, a decline it blames largely on the rise of online piracy and CD-Rs.

Korea's top movie and entertainment companies—Cinema Service and CJ Entertainment—are in the midst of talks about a strategic alliance that could reshape the entire entertainment industry here. CJ Entertainment, through parent company CJ Corp., announced Thursday that it has acquired 18.8% of Korea's leading online gaming company, Plenus Entertainment, for 80 billion won. Cinema Service confirmed last week that it is spinning off from Plenus to become a separate entity embracing various film related interests of the group.

Barely a year after one of Korea's leading film companies, Cinema Service (CS), merged with one of the country's largest online gaming companies, Net Marble, to create an entertainment giant, Menus Entertainment, the two groups are separating elective May 28. A senior CS executive confirmed over the weekend that under the separation, CS will take with it film-related divisions of Plenus, including studio facility Art Service and cinema circuit Primus.

The Korean government appears poised to provide major tax relief to the film industry under a proposal that would cut taxes on film production by 50%, as well as providing other unspecified benefits to producers. The move is a bid by the Ministry of Finance and Economy to target five sectors for tax cuts. The film industry, while appreciative of the potential benefits, is guarded, however, about whether the proposal will make it into law. When the National Assembly reconvenes after the elections, the Ministry of Finance and Economy's Kim Ji-hun said that it will try to get the governing body to pass a law lowering the taxes by autumn, although it's possible that the changes could be delayed until next year.

In a sign of how South Korea's movie market is continuing to mature and grow rapidly, an industry-led movement toward creating completion bonds was launched Monday. The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) kicked off the first meeting of the Special Committee on Cultural Industries as part of its attempts to get the government to create a 200 billion won fund, a proposal it tentatively calls Culture Industry Completion Guarantee Insurance. The completion guaranty insurance system for the culture industry that FKI has proposed works as follows: A completion guaranty insurance company enters into a guaranty contract with a production company and issues a completion guaranty certificate to a financial institution for the guaranty of liability.

Korea's crowded movie scene just got a little more crowded as a brand new entity declared that it was joining the ranks of local entertainment conglomerates. I+Alliance is the name of a group looking to form a vertically integrated entertainment powerhouse in hopes of offering a full gamut of services, including film production and distribution, exhibition, a theme park and talent management. It joins the already thriving CJ Corp., Plenus and Orion Group. I+Alliance says that it plans to open 50-60 theaters across Korea during the next three years under the name of Paramount.

Korean films have enjoyed yet another record-setting year in 2003, beating last year's admissions record by 5%, according to preliminary figures just released by IM Pictures (IMP), a local film investment company that annually compiles statistics on filmgoing. IMP's figures, released late last week, are based on Seoul-located cinemas, which account for the lion's share of the market. The biggest month this year for local films was October, when, buoyed by "Untold Scandal," Korean films accounted for a massive 70% of the box office. One of the most striking trends in the most successful Korean films this year was their reliance on previous sources, with several films based on pre-existing material.

Korea's film community, bolstered by members of civic action groups, demonstrated last week to affirm its support for Korea's screen quota system that has faced intense pressure in recent months. The group called for further rounds of talks between Korean and American government representatives, the MPA and other key figures, insisting that screen quotas are protected by international law and that U.S. demands violate the sovereign rights of Korea. The always-volatile issue of Korea's screen quota flamed back to life in October when President Roh Moo-hyun suggested at the Asia Pacific Economic Forum in Thailand that he considers it urgent that some sort of compromise on the screen quota be reached. At present, the screen quota system requires all screens in Korea to show locally made films for at least 40% of the year, although that number can drop to 106 days depending on circumstances.

Afghanistan, Chinese independent films, Iran's Farrukhzad Furugh and Canadian films will all get special prominence at the eighth Pusan International Film Festival, which runs in the southern harbor city of Pusan, South Korea during October 2-10, 2003. The showcase will feature Denys Arcand's "Les Invasions Barbares," as well as 12 major Canadian films made since 1986. Iran's Farrukhzad, often called the "big sister" of modern Iranian cinema, will receive a special section looking at the late poet's films and written works.

Korean films have again increased their share of the local boxoffice in the first six months of the year, rising 1% to 47%. According to IM Pictures, a local production company that collects data on the cinema sector, Korean boxoffice overall boasted a record-breaking 20.2 million tickets sold in the Seoul region alone. Of that tally, 9.5 million tickets were sold for Korean films, by far the strongest first-half result that domestic films have ever scored.

Plenus Entertainment, parent company of major Korean distributor-producer Cinema Service, has announced that it will completely fund Korean director Kang Woo-suk's new film 'Silmi Island' (working title) after Columbia TriStar removed in investing in the picture for acquisitions purposes. Barbara Robinson, head of Columbia TriStar's Asian production arm, which has invested in such projects as 'Crouching Tiger,' also emphasized that the pullout from Kang's film did not reflect, in any way, on the regional unit's ongoing strategy to foster local production. 'Silmi Island' is based on a true story of South Korean agents trained to infiltrate North Korea who in 1971 rebelled against the harsh training conditions they were subject to on Silmi Island, set out to Seoul to assassinate South Korea's president and very nearly succeeded.

Focuses on performance of domestic motion pictures as opposed to foreign films in South Korea in 2002. Local film which generated highest revenues in 2002; Number of local films in top ten films of 2002; Losses faced by the Korean film industry in 2002.

The article reports about the expansion plans of the film production company Barunson Co. Barunson, which has in its store directors like Kim Jiwoon, Bong Joon-Ho and Im Pil-Sung, is planning to establish itself in South Korea. The company is also planning to screen its film "The Good, the Bad, and the Weird," during Korea's lunar New Year holidays early in February 2008. According to Choi Jae-Won, head of film division, one way to improve company's position is to focus on overseas projects.

The article focuses on the confusion over the name of a film festival to be held in Busan, South Korea. The signs and posters say Pusan International Film Festival, but the city government calls itself Busan. Due to the confusion created in the minds of Korean Internet users, the Korean government decided to change to a new system in 2002. Among the many changes, "k" became "g" "ch" became "j" and "p." As stated, both Busan and Pusan are correct.

The article presents information on the box office performance of various films across the world. It is mentioned that for the first time in industry history, five major film studios including Sony, Warner Bros., Disney, Fox and Paramount have registered more than $1 billion each in foreign boxoffice earnings in one year. Fox's "The Simpsons Movie" led the weekend overseas charge with a gross of $46.7 million from 6,500 screens in 75 markets, lifting its international earning to $183.6 million.

The article focuses on the growing film industry in Korea. It states that the Korean film industry has started developing and learning how to compete with foreign film industries and outperform blockbuster Hollywood movies. However, movies and television projects are getting more expensive and investors are throwing big budgets with the high risk of failure. According to Prime Entertainment Inc. CEO Lee Seungjae, Korea's film industry has prospered, but return on investment remains poor.

The article reports on international production specialist Lewis Kim's decision to move to upstart film production house Barunson Co. in Seoul, Korea. Kim will be responsible for managing international projects, promoting international co-productions and managing Barunson's directors abroad. Kim was the former head of Chungeorahm's international business.

The article focuses on the international box office performance of various motion pictures during September 26, 2006. The German film "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer," was ranked No. 1 in the category of international films with an estimated collection of $11.3 million. Buena Vista International Inc.'s "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," generated a foreign gross of $625.3 million from 3,372 screens in 34 countries.

Discusses how many motion pictures made in the United States are actually remakes of Asian films. How successful Asian films are used by Hollywood filmmakers; Efforts of Roy Lee in buying remake rights of Asian films for American movie studios; Desire of Asian directors to have their original work to be more available in the American market.

This article presents information on the box-office earnings of several motion pictures around the world, as of September 13, 2005. New arrivals are moving into the market, although such summer hits films as "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," and "Madagascar," continue to dominate as they reach the end of their offshore runs. Film director Ron Howard's film "Cinderella Man," has grossed $5.1 million from 2,200 screens in 13 countries. The film "Broken Flowers," directed by Jim Jarmusch, is at the number 1 spot with $2.1 million from 229 screens.

The article focuses on trends in the motion picture industry in Korea. As crowds from across Asia thronged the Megabox theater in southern Seoul last Tuesday, desperately hoping for the slightest glimpse of their idol, Bae Yong-joon, Korea's biggest star, one would never know the Korean movie industry is--or was--in a slump. After months of mediocre boxoffice for local features, Korean films have rebounded spectacularly in August, with two genuine blockbusters and several other solid hits dominating screens. Korea's best seasons include the summer vacation season, the tall harvest holiday Chuseok, and the lunar new year holiday Scollal.

This article focuses on the efforts of revive the Indian film industry by Neville Tuli and Aruna Vesudev, the two people behind Osian's Cinefan, the Festival of Asian Cinema held each year in New Delhi, India. At this year's CineFan, held in July 15 to 24, 120 films were shown to eager young Indians looking for something different. With sections on Indian, Arab and Asian films; seminars and workshops on filmmaking; and even an auction of movie memorabilia, thousands of Indians and guests from abroad enjoyed a broad range of films from around Asia.

This article asserts that while most film festivals in South Korea are constantly pursuing growth, the sixth annual Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF), which runs April 28 to May 6, is taking the road less traveled by reducing the number of films it will screen this year. To that end, JIFF will open once again with a movie it has specially commissioned, a triptych of short digital films made by three leading Asian directors, Japan's Shinya Tsukamoto and Thailand's Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

The article focuses on issues related to the motion picture industry in Mongolia. After 14 years of difficult transition from communism, this landlocked nation is having a bit of a rebirth, learning how to combine its traditional film culture with the challenges of modernity to create something alive and new. Mongolia used to rely heavily on subsidies from the Soviet Union, a tie that began after the country became the second communist nation in the world in 1924. When the Soviet Union fell apart in 1990 and Mongolia turned into a democracy the same year, its movie business crashed hard.

Looks at the new filmmaker, Byambasuren Davaa, who put Mongolia on the map. Challenges to the cast and crew during the filming of her new movie "Mongolian Dog"; Importance of dogs in Mongolian culture; How dogs symbolize the changes her homeland is going through; Her first film "The Story of the Weeping Camel", which captured audiences; Globalization as one of Davaa's favorite themes; Film talent in Mongolia.

The article presents news clippings related to motion picture industry. It will be some time before Hong Kong recovers fully from the SARS outbreak that took place in April and May. In the wake of last year's disastrous local box-office performance, which saw India's cinema industry lose an estimated $33.1 million, 2003 has witnessed a minor comeback. With production companies holding down spending and exhibitors continuing to expand at a fantastic rate, the South Korean film industry appears stronger than ever before.

Like pretty much everything about the kingdom of North Korea, little is known about the country's film industry. Even more rare than information about the film industry from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea are films themselves. It had taken five years of negotiations between North Korea and South Korea to get permission to show films, with talks going down to the wire. Government officials apparently had serious problems with two of these films on the program and wanted them scuttled.

This article reports that this year's edition of the Pusan Promotion Plan (PPP), 5-7 October 2003, started as a full-fledged Asian film market, with filmmakers and sales companies from around the region ready to get down to business. But despite its growth, or maybe because of it, organizers are determined to maintain the PPP's small, informal feel, an atmosphere they feel is key to the PPP's success and crucial for ensuring that the market is of maximum usefulness for all participants. In many ways, the rise of the Pusan Promotion Plan mirrors the rise of Korean cinema in general.

The recently released animated Korean feature film "Wonderful Days" took more than five years and a record-setting 13 billion to make it to the big screen. But despite a huge marketing and merchandising campaign, the futuristic epic about an environmental dystopia failed at the boxoffice. It opened in fifth place, behind the second week of "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas," and was gone from theaters in just two weeks. One of the biggest complaints about "Wonderful Days" is that, despite the quality of the animation, the film's plot is not nearly as compelling as the visuals.

"Save the Green Planet" was the big winner at the closing ceremonies Friday night of the seventh Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival, taking home the Puchon Choice award for best picture and the best actor award for Back Yoon-shik. "Robot Stories" won the best director award for American Greg Pak, as well as the best actress award for Wai Ching Ho, with the jury citing the film "for a great directorial debut in the science fiction category pursuing ideas rather than special effects." Vincenzo Natali's "Cypher" was the closing film Friday night, and Saturday's second closing film was Yoon Jae-yeon's "Yeou Gyedan," the third film in a horror series about an all-girl high school.

The Korean film industry continues to experience unprecedented growth, and the country's exhibition sector is leading the way. That total could very well double yet again, according to S.S. Lee, CEO of Primus Cinema, the newly formed exhibition wing of Plenus Entertainment. Although Primus was just set up in August, 2002 it already has five sites and 32 screens, with plans to expand to 27 theaters and 212 screens by the end of 2005. The current multiplex leader, CGV, currently has 110 screens, with 100 more to come by 2005. Lotte Cinema, a major chain, has concentrated on installing multiplexes in its department stores around the peninsula. It currently has 53 screens, with nearly 40 more coming in the next year. With large multiplex chains making so much headway, independent theaters in Korea are increasingly feeling threatened. With so many multiplexes covering Seoul, many feel that the market is just about tapped. However, the smaller cities around Korea are still highly underscreened, and exhibitors will be targeting these areas in the coming years.