Warner Bros. will pull out of the South Korean market after years of weaker-than-expected performances, officials from its local unit said Wednesday. “We've already stopped making fresh investments in Korean films,” an official from Warner Bros Korea said. “We will also wrap up projects that are in post production or in production.” The South Korean production and distribution unit of the major US film studio is now handling three titles, including “Josee,”

“When I first read the script, I was puzzled,” Lee Mi-do, one of the main actors in the upcoming science fiction comedy “Night of the Undead,” said during a press conference held at the CGV Yongsan movie theater in Seoul on Tuesday. The conference was held through livestreaming, with reporters and actors in separate parts of the theater due to the ongoing spread of COVID-19. Lee’s reaction was understandable as the film’s director, Shin Jung-won, was not a

Actor Yoo Ah-in’s second film of the year has him playing a character with no lines. In the upcoming criminal drama “Voice of Silence,” Yoo plays Tae-in, whose job is to dispose of corpses and clean up crime scenes for an organized crime syndicate. “As an actor, a character without any lines was easy to act but at the same time challenging,” Yoo said during an online press conference Monday. “My character does make some noise in the movie, so I think he ca

Actor returns to big screen as a diver in upcoming thriller

The Korea Queer Film Festival is being held online on the streaming platform Purplay from Friday to Sept. 29, showing 20 films related to queer life. KQFF, now in its 20th year, aims to share the diverse lives of sexual minorities through the screenings while providing a place for queer people in the film industry to network and contribute to the development of queer movies. Although the festival is usually held around June, it was postponed due to the spread of COVID-19. The slogan for this

The Walt Disney Co.’s live-action adaptation of animation “Mulan” hit local cinemas Thursday amid boycotts connected with the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong and the treatment of Uighur Muslims in northwestern China. The film topped the local box office chart ahead of its release, according to Korean Film Council data, with ticket sales apparently unaffected by the growing global movement against the film. “The success of the movie itself is unrelated to our moveme

The number of film productions in South Korea decreased more than 20 percent in the first eight months of this year due to the protracted novel coronavirus pandemic, a report showed Thursday. A total of 18 films were shot from January through August, down 22 percent from 23 over the same period last year, according to the monthly report by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). The fantasy drama "Our Season" and the crime movie "Bogota," starring Song Joong-ki, started filming i

With the South Korean release of Walt Disney's live-action remake "Mulan" just a day away, refreshed calls to boycott the film have been growing here on social media due to a few controversies. The film has been under fire since its lead actress Liu Yifei posted comments supporting Hong Kong's police in their crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations last year. Recently, a second phase of debate has been rekindled as "Mulan," already released on Disney+ in the United State

After a week of repeated changes of plan due to the resurgence of COVID-19, the 12th DMZ International Documentary Festival released its final schedule Tuesday, two days ahead of the kickoff. Originally slated to take place entirely on-site with members of the general public in the audience, the weeklong festival will now have closed-door screenings, with each screening limited to 30 people. The official festival lineup -- comprising 122 films from 33 countries -- will be screened at the Mega

Actor Oh In-hye died in the hospital Monday after beign found unconscious at her home. Incheon Yeonsu Police on Tuesday confirmed the death of the 36-year-old actor, who was hospitalized after being discovered in a state of cardiac arrest at her home around 5 a.m. on Monday. The police said there were no signs of foul play. An investigation into the circumstances leading to her death will be conducted, the police said. Oh made her film debut in 2011 with “Sin of a Family” and la

The 25th Busan International Film Festival is ready to showcase 192 titles from 68 countries, including 23 cinematic works from the 73rd Cannes Film Festival’s official selection. The details of this year‘s festival slated for Oct. 21-30 in Busan were announced Monday during an online press conference held by the BIFF organizing committee. On Friday, the committee announced it would proceed with an onsite festival, but that it would be pushed back two weeks and be significantly down

Korean zombie thriller “#Alive,” by director Cho Il-hyung, continues to be one of the most streamed movies on Netflix in many countries around the globe, currently standing at No. 2 in global Netflix movie rankings worldwide, according to streaming analytics firm FlixPatrol. “#Alive,” starring Yoo Ah-in and Park Shin-hye, is a story about two survivors trapped in an apartment complex during a zombie apocalypse. It was the first movie released since March to sell more th

Director Yoon Dan-bi’s “Moving On” won the Uncaged Award for Best Feature Film, for which freshman and sophomore directors are eligible, at the New York Asian Film Festival on Saturday evening. Now in its 19th year, the film festival celebrating Asian films across genres was held online from Aug. 29 to Saturday due to the spread of COVID-19. In previous years, the two-week festival had been held around June. Several Korean films were presented at the online festival, includ

The 25th Busan International Film Festival has been postponed two weeks and scaled down considerably as the new coronavirus cases continues to spike in number nationwide. The board members of the festival’s organizing committee on Friday afternoon held an extraordinary general meeting and decided to delay the festival two weeks from Oct. 7-16 to Oct. 21-30. The decision was made out of concerns over further spread of COVID-19 following the Chuseok holiday season that is set to start on S

Arthouse auteur Hong Sang-soo continues his placid yet subtle meditation about life, love