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South Korea’s Acemaker movieworks is set to launch international sales on horror thriller Gory: A Horror Tale and romantic comedy Dreams Of You at the upcoming Asian Contents & Film Market in Busan.

Gory: A Horror Tale is directed by Hong Won-ki, whose credits include 2020 series Goedam and its spin-off feature Urban Myths, horror anthologies based on popular Korean urban legends that feature K-pop idols.

The feature stars Yoo Jae-Myung of period action film Harbin, which premiered earlier this month at Toronto, and Moon Chae-Won of TV series Payback: Money And Power and features Fengshui and Mood Of The Day.

Two of Korea’s A-listers, Hyun Bin and Jung Woosung, are set to appear in Disney+ original Made in Korea. The series will premiere next year.

Set in the turbulent 1970s, crime thriller Made in Korea follows Kitae, a man consumed with a desire for wealth and power, and Geonyoung, a stalwart prosecutor that stands in his way. Constantly at loggerheads, the pair find themselves involved in an era-defining incident that will forever change their futures.

Hyun Bin, who has starred in hits like Crash Landing On You and Confidential Assignment, will play the role of Kitae. After featuring in 12.12: The Day and Hunt, Jung will play the role of Geonyoung.

Made in Korea will be director Woo Min-ho’s first series. He also recently collaborated with Hyun Bin on biographical period film Harbin, which will premiere in the Gala section of the Toronto International Film Festival on September...

’The Woman King’ topped North American box office with a confirmed debut of 19m.

World box office September 16-18 Rank Film (distributor)3-day (world) Cume (world)3-day (int’l)Cume (int’l)Territories 1 The Woman King (Sony) 19m 19m Na Na 1 2 Ticket To Paradise (Universal) 12m 14.7m 12m 14.7m 46 3 Confidential Assignment 2: International (various) 8m 27.8m 8m 27.8m 5 4 Brahmastra Part One: Shiva (Disney) 7.4m 38.3m 6.3m 31.6m 3 5 DC League Of Super Pets (Warner Bros) 7m 177.5m 4.9m 89.7m 77 6 Give Me Five (various) 6.9m 35.6m 6.9m 35.6m 1 7 Barbarian (Disney) 6.8m 21.9m 0.5m 1m 13 8 Bullet Train (Sony) 6.3m 222m 3.8m 125.7m 65 9 Top Gun: Maverick...

For the second weekend running, comedy action film “Confidential Assignment 2: International” held top spot at the South Korean box office. And it did so with a massive 75 share of the market.

But as the Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) holiday retreated into the rear-view mirror numbers, both for the sequel film and the nationwide box office, came crashing down.

“Confidential Assignment 2” earned 6.89 million over the latest Friday to Sunday period, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). That figure was down 57 compared with its opening salvo of 21.0 million a week earlier.

Still, since opening on Sept. 7, the film has already amassed 35.2 million. That makes it the fifth highest grossing film of the year to date, ahead of “Hunt” and behind “Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.”

The film was directed by Lee Seok-hoon and executive produced by hitmaker Jk Youn. It stars Hyun bin,...

’Minions: The Rise Of Gru’ crosses 900m.

World box office September 9-11 Rank Film (distributor) 3-day (world)Cume (world) 3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Brahmastra Part One: Shiva (Disney) 23.9m 23.9m 19.5m 19.5m 3 2. Give Me Five (Wanda) 20.9m 20.9m 20.9m 20.9m 1 3. Confidential Assignment 2: International (Various) 16.6m 16.6m 16.6m 16.6m 4 4. Barbarian (Disney) 10.5m 10.5m 500,000 500,000 8 5. Bullet Train (Sony) 8.9m 211.8m 5.7m 119.3m 65 6. Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount) 7.8m 1.453bn 4.6m 747.8m 63 7. Minions: The Rise of Gru (Universal) 7.4m 903.6m 5.8m 541.6m 85 8. The Invitation (Sony) 5m 25.1m 2.4m 6.3m 37 9. DC League Of Super Pets (Warner Bros) 4.3m 168m 1.5m 82.6m 76 10. Where...

Many films have told the story of the hitman who wants out after “one last job”, a plan that never quite seems to work out for him. But what happens when one is successfully able to leave such a life behind and actually settle down? This premise is explored in director Choi Won-sub’s new film “Hitman”.

Synopsis

Joon was once a legendary hitman agent for the Nis. His true passion was writing webcomics. To pursue his dream, Joon quit his work with the Nis. Now, Joon writes webcomics, but they are not very popular. He has difficulty writing new material. One night after drinking, Joon writes about his past as an Nis agent. He posts the story online, but his story contains classified material for the Nis. Joon is in a whole lot of trouble.

The film stars Kwon Sang-woo, who seems to have found a liking for action films,...

One of the finest Hong Kong cop thrillers of the previous decade, Johnnie To’s celebrated “Drug War” was a major success when it was released and continued his stance as one of the country’s finest modern directors. Now four years later, South Korea has opted for a remake of the film that takes the core essence of the same story into a new direction with Lee Hae-yeong’s new effort “Believer”.

“Believer” is screening at the Udine Far East Film Festival

After a friend is killed, determined cop Won-ho now has more ammunition than ever to nail the drug kingpin at the centre of the past two years of his life. After getting further clues to his identity, he and his squad begin an operation with the survivor of one of the attacks, Rak, a low-level employee in the operation, and begin to work through the organisation, in order to reach the top.

One of the finest Hong Kong cop thrillers of the previous decade, Johnnie To’s celebrated “Drug War” was a major success when it was released and continued his stance as one of the country’s finest modern directors. Now four years later, South Korea has opted for a remake of the film that takes the core essence of the same story into a new direction with Lee Hae-yeong’s new effort “Believer”.

After a friend is killed, determined cop Won-ho now has more ammunition than ever to nail the drug kingpin at the center of the past two years of his life. After getting further clues to his identity, he and his squad begin an operation with the survivor of one of the attacks, Rak, a low-level employee in the operation, and begin to work through the organization, in order to reach the top. Complicated by...

It seems to be the current trend in South Korean films to take a modern-day disaster movie setting and place it in the Joseon period. After seeing a giant creature attack the country in the upcoming “Monstrum”, the Joseon period will now be having to fight the undead in director Kim Sung-hoon’s next film “Rampant“.

Synopsis

Yi Chung is a Prince of Joseon, but he has been given as a political hostage to the Qing Dynasty. He enjoys boozing, womanizing and gambling. He is also an excellent swordsman. His older brother Yi Young will succeed to the throne and brings Yi Chung back to Joseon. He returns after more than 10 years. Soon, Yi Chung faces monsters that run rampant in the night.

Hyun Bin is likely to see the year out with a bang, having the hostage thriller “The Negotiation” releasing in September followed swiftly by “Rampant” in October,...

South Korea hasn’t really done an exciting hostage negotiation film so far. Here to change that is hit-making production house Jk Films, whose latest film “The Negotiation” pits popular actors Son Ye-jin and Hyun Bin against each other in a game of cat-and-mouse.

Synopsis

Not much is known about the plot at the moment, except that it is a criminal thriller movie about a kidnapper and a negotiator whose superior has been kidnapped.

Hyun Bin, who was last seen in the conman drama “The Swindlers“, stars in his first negative role as the kidnapper while Son Ye-jin, who last appeared in the romantic melodrama “Be With You“, plays the lead negotiator trying to secure the release of the hostages from the kidnapper’s clutches. Directed by Lee Jong-suk, who has previously worked as an assistant director on Jk Films’s hugely popular “Ode to My Father“, “The Negotiation” also...

Cj E&M, South Korea’s leading entertainment studio, is to move into the the local film production scene in Turkey in a big way. The company is to invest in and distribute 25 film titles from production houses Bkm and Taff.

The pair are Turkey’s two leading production companies, and produced six of 2017’s top ten local films. “It makes us an all-round studio that finances, produces and distributes films in Turkey,” said Cj in a statement.

The first film to be released by Cj is Bkm-produced road comedy, “Yol Arkadasim 2.” Set for an October release, the film is a sequel to 2017 hit “Yol Arkadasim” which managed to sell 2.05 million tickets. A Taff production, “Dance With the Jackals 5″ (aka “Cakallarla Dans 5” will be released in theaters in December. “Magic Carpet RIde 2” (aka “Organize Isler 2″) by director-actor Yilmaz Erdogan, is set for a January release next year. The original film...

After taking a back seat to Joseon Era dramas and then Japanese Colonial Era films over the last few years, tales of North Korean spies are ramping up to make a big comeback on screens in 2017. The first of four big-budget Korean spy action-thrillers on the way, Confidential Assignment landed just in time for the busy Lunar New Year holiday and has proven to be another smash success for hit making production house Jk Films. But like their previous efforts, the commercial calculation of this multi-genre gambit dilutes the effectiveness of its familiar moving pieces. Superstar Hyun Bin plays a crack North Korean agent who is tasked with traveling below the border and partnering with a South Korean officer to track down a rogue...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Local films have recently led the charge at the Korean box office and not just your typical Korean thriller either. We’ve been spoilt with great films covering a wide range of genres.

Here are 4 stand out films that are currently battling it out for first place at the Korean box office plus 1 film that is surely to set truly shake up the chart.

Pandora

Director: Park Jung-woo

Distributor: Next Entertainment World

Cast: Kim Nam-gil, Moon Jeong-hee, Jung Jin-young, Kim Myung-min

On the heels of ‘The Tunnel’ and ‘Train to Busan’, disaster blockbuster Pandora brings emotional catharsis and is intertwined with political relevance.

Plot: A nuclear power plant is built in a small town in South Korea and gradually corrodes. With an unexpected earthquake, old pipes in the nuclear power plant break and hydrogen gas explodes. Jae-hyuk (played by Kim Nam-gil) risks his life to save his family...