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Barbarian (watch it Here) writer/director Zach Cregger has assembled a strong cast for his mysterious horror project called Weapons, including Julia Garner (Ozark), Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men), Alden Ehrenreich (Solo), Benedict Wong (Doctor Strange), Amy Madigan (Antlers), Austin Abrams (Euphoria), June Diane Raphael (Grace and Frankie), and Cary Christopher (Days of Our Lives)… and we’re going to have the chance to see that cast face the horrors Cregger has conjured up when Weapons reaches theatres on August 8th. With that date not far off, the Motion Picture Association’s ratings board has had their screening and have decided to give the film an R rating! Weapons has been rated R for strong bloody violence and grisly images, language throughout, some sexual content and drug use.

Most details about Weapons are shrouded in mystery. It has been said that it’s “an interrelated, multistory horror epic...

Many romance anime focus solely on love, often reducing their protagonists to passive figures swept along by fate. Yona of the Dawn (Akatsuki no Yona) breaks this mold entirely. While romance is an integral part of the story, it does not define it.

Yona, the princess of Kouka [Pierrot]

At its heart, Yona of the Dawn is a story of a girl forced to confront the brutal realities of the world. It is about breaking free from privilege, learning to stand on one’s own, and understanding the true weight of leadership. The romance, though beautifully woven into the story, is secondary to Yona’s personal evolution.

Yona’s evolution from a sheltered princess to a fierce leader

At the beginning of the series, Yona is soft, naive, and entirely dependent on the comforts of royal life. She is the only child of King Il, a pacifist ruler who has...

Exclusive: Korean entertainment powerhouse Cj Enm is readying a bumper slate of 65 projects this year after boosting its content budget by 10% despite what its head honcho terms a “subdued” local market.

In an exclusive trade interview, CEO Yoon Sang-hyun labeled 2025 the “first official year of global expansion” and revealed that content spend will shoot up this year to $818M — up from the $750M that was announced on the sidelines of the Busan film fest last year.

In a wide-ranging discussion, Yoon provided insight into this mega content warchest, Cj’s global partnerships with the likes of Warner Bros Discovery (Wbd) and Fifth Season, preparing for a possible re-entry into the Chinese market as well as international expansion plans for Ott platform Tving. He also shared more details about Tving’s merger with domestic platform Wavve along with fresh strategies to push music content platform Mnet Plus and Cj Enm’s e-commerce arms.

This post contains spoilers from Long Bright River episode 5 from this point forward.

After the realization in the previous episode that Simon could be the connective tissue of the murders as a consistent figure at the youth center, Long Bright River episode 5 opens with Mickey understanding what Paula said about the perp. Mickey and Truman agree that Simon is a predator, but there's still questions about if he could be capable of being a serial killer. Truman worries this has turned personal for Mickey.

Truman stops by the youth center for an application for afternoon help and asks the officer is Simon still works there. He hasn't worked at this particular youth center in a while, but there are over two dozen in the city. Mickey learns that another sex worker, Emily Morris, was found with a possible connection to the others. This time, it wasn't an insulin overdose but a gunshot.

This post contains spoilers from Long Bright River episode 4 from this point forward.

Following the revelation at the end of episode 3, in which Paula recognized the perp as a cop, Long Bright River episode 4 opens with Mickey talking it over with Truman. The cop was using his power to exploit women for sexual acts, and Mickey believes Paula. She also clears the air with Truman about why she went to Dock's without him. She feared what Dock could reveal about Mickey that she hadn't shared with Truman.

In a flashback to 2005, G-Pop drops Mickey and Kacey off at the police's youth center, which Mickey doesn't want to attend. Even back then, Kacey and Paula were best friends. Mickey keeps to herself and reads a book when Officer Cleare (Matthew Del Negro) talks to her about reading Steinbeck. She seems to regret that moment where she allowed someone (Paula) to...

Writer/Director Alexander Ullom nestles an existential crisis within his genre-bending road trip thriller in his feature debut, It Ends, which he’s aptly dubbed his “horror hangout” movie. A foursome of recent college grads set out for one last hurrah before life takes them on diverging paths, but a short excursion turns into a nightmare when they find themselves instead trapped on a never-ending road. What begins as an intense horror movie settles into a meditative rhythm for an inventive slice-of-life metaphor.

The central foursome couldn’t be further apart in personality and aim. The blue collar type of the bunch and unspoken leader, Tyler (Mitchell Cole), skipped college altogether and brags about his Hvac work. Pals Day (Akira Jackson) and Fisher (Noah Toth) don’t seem to have any direction post-college, yet that doesn’t seem to bother the more free-spirited pair either. That often leaves them both...

The crafty but ultimately disappointing “It Ends,” which just premiered at SXSW, takes a familiar experience and throws into a cleverly existential horror premise: What if you were driving on a deserted, tree-lined road in the middle of the night — an already eerie scenario that plenty of filmmakers have used to freak people out — but the road just never ended? What if you just kept going and going for thousands of miles?

There are moments throughout Alexander Ullom’s debut feature that are genuinely unnerving, as four 20-somethings try to figure out just what the hell is going on from the confines of their white Jeep. Ullom uses the car’s features to his advantage, mining the uncomfortable glow of flashing hazard lights and the incessant beeping of an open door, for tension.

But while the movie is often cleverly spooky, it falls short in finding meaning in its fun gimmick of a setup.

Sony will release Columbia Pictures’ “Resident Evil” domestically on Sept. 18, 2026.

Based on Capcom’s hugely popular horror video games, Zach Cregger has written the script and will direct. Shay Hatten is co-writing.

Constantin Film is producing and co-financing the film. Constantin’s Robert Kulzer, Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee and Miri Yoon and PlayStation Productions are also producing.

Cregger’s credits as a writer-director include “Miss March,” “The Civil War on Drugs” (both alongside Trevor Moore) and, most recently, “Barbarian.” He also produced the 2025 film “Companion” and is next writing, directing and producing the Josh Brolin- and Julia Garner-led horror film “Weapons” for Warner Bros., out January 2026.

“Cregger’s instinct for suspense is so effective, it’s hard to believe that before ‘Barbarian,’ the helmer worked largely in comedy (he was a member of the Whitest Kids U’Know sketch team). Then again, a deliciously twisted sense of humor runs beneath the surface,...

Exclusive: Constantin’s Resident Evil franchise reboot, with Barbarian and Weapon filmmaker Zach Cregger directing, will stay at Sony.

Warner Bros was kicking the tires of this latest Cregger pic, but Sony isn’t letting this $1.2 billion-grossing franchise go.

A theatrical release date of September 18, 2026 has been set, which tells you how excited the studios are to get this latest rendition up on the screen. Cregger’s screenplay, which was co-written with Shay Hatten, is under wraps but apparently harkens back to the original Capcom game’s horror roots.

Constantin Film is producing and co-financing the film. Constantin’s Robert Kulzer, Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee and Miri Yoon and PlayStation Productions are also producing.

“I’ve been a rabid fan of these games for decades, and to be able to bring this amazing title to life is a true honor,...

Exclusive: Streaming platform Rakuten Viki, which specializes in Asian content, has unveiled a new Korean drama, My Girlfriend is The Man!.

Viki will co-produce the series with Korea’s Studio N, marking the streamer’s first co-production partnership with the studio.

Based on a popular webcomic of the same name with more than 379 million global views, My Girlfriend is The Man! will debut exclusively on Viki later this year.

My Girlfriend is The Man! will star K-pop artists Arin (from Oh My Girl), Yoon San-Ha (from Astro) and Chuu (formerly a part of Loona), as well as actor Yoo Jung Hoo (Who Is She).

In the drama, Arin stars as Kim Ji-eun, a young woman and university student who one day wakes up as a man (played by Yoo). Kim explains the situation to her boyfriend, Park Yun-jae (played by Yoon), and they decide to stay together until she returns to her original appearance.

South Korea’s leading entertainment company Cj Enm has appointed former Acemaker Movieworks CEO Jung Hyun-joo as its head of film business.

Jung takes the role with immediate effect and joins directly from Acemaker, a financing, distribution and production company that she founded in 2018. Cj Enm said the executive would “bolster the competitiveness” of its films, in what is an increasingly challenging market.

Previous head of film business Jerry Kyoungboum Ko has been named global project leader and will focus on Cj Enm’s global film projects in his new role.

With more than 20 years in the business, Jung is...

Here’s All You Need To Know About The Art of Negotiation (Photo Credit – Instagram)

As K-drama lovers await the list of a whole new range of exhilarating and intense series, one upcoming show that has caught their minds is The Art of Negotiation. Slated for a March 8, 2025, premiere on Jtbc, this thrilling corporate drama promises to entertain audiences with the world of mergers, acquisitions (M&a), sharp negotiations, and riveting characters. Here is everything you need to know about this highly anticipated series.

The Art Of Negotiation: Release Date & Cast

The Art of Negotiation is scheduled to premiere on March 8, 2025, airing every Saturday and Sunday at 10:30 Pm Kst. International viewers will be able to watch the series on Kocowa+, which will offer it with multi-language subtitles for broader accessibility.

With a total of 12 episodes, viewers can anticipate an intense storyline that will keep them on their toes.

As South Korean television programming, or K-dramas, continues to find success with audiences worldwide, one overlooked gem is "Song of the Bandits." A Netflix original series, "Song of the Bandits" is a period piece Western set in the 1920s during the brutal Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula. While not as popular as other K-dramas available to stream on Netflix, "Song of the Bandits" deserves its place among the best K-dramas on the platform. Moreover, "Song of the Bandits" is a fantastic Western in a region and culture not typically associated with the genre.

Incorporating actual history into its narrative, "Song of the Bandits" takes place primarily in the Gando region of China, near the Korean border. In the face of the oppressive Japanese control over Korea, many Korean refugees fled to Gando, including resistance fighters looking to liberate the peninsula from the Japanese. With the sudden influx of refugees,...

Quick LinksA Recap of Kreese and Silver in 'Cobra Kai'Kreese and Silver’s Final Moves in 'Cobra Kai'Kreese & Silver’s Journeys up to 'Cobra Kai' Season 6

Through its entire six-season run, Cobra Kai has always been about villains. At its core, the question fans had to ask is whether Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) was/is the real villain or Daniel Larusso (Ralph Macchio). The story expanded to include a new generation of kids, initially centered around Miguel (Xolo Mariduena), a young student dealing with bullies much like Daniel did, along with new bullies turned good kids like Tory (Peyton List), Robby (Tanner Buchanan), and Kenny (Dallas Dupree Young).

Of course, what would a show like Cobra Kai, which reopens wounds from The Karate Kid more than 30 years ago, be without some of its original villains? Two who returned to reprise their roles from the original franchise films definitely won’t be returning.

South Korea’s Barunson E&a has secured sales rights to The World Of Love, the next project of acclaimed Korean filmmaker Yoon Ga-eun, and is beginning talks with buyers at the EFM.

It marks the third feature by Yoon after debut The World Of Us, which premiered at the Berlinale in 2016, and The House Of Us, which screened at the BFI London Film Festival in 2019.

Her latest will focus on an enigmatic 17-year-old student named Jooin who is a cheerful friend, a shameless daughter, a mischievous girlfriend, and always hard to predict. More than anything, she is curious about and baffled by love.

When it comes to well-written shojo series, Yona of the Dawn takes the cake. Be it characters, premise, or pacing, the series is a cut above the rest in more ways than one. It is also one of the finest works by Studio Pierrot in the genre.

Be it adventure, or action, the series seamlessly blends different elements into the premise. And though it encompasses fantasy and magic, the anime took it to a whole new level in this aspect.

Princess Yona in a still from the anime | Credit: Studio Pierrot

In particular, the English dub adds to the comical aspects of the series. While dubs are looked down on by the purists, it makes the series stand out. It is one of the standalone features which deems it wholesome in every way.

But more than that, Pierrot left no stone unturned in its rendition of the manga. The animation...

A new study suggests that revenue per user on Netflix’s advertising tier will continue to be outpaced by its ad-free plans.

The journey into ad-supported streaming is a marathon, not a sprint for Netflix. The streaming service, which recently announced that it has crossed the of 300 million global customers threshold, is still not seeing explosive growth from its ad-supported “Standard with Ads” plan, first introduced in late 2022. Global advertising revenue is on the rise for Netflix, but new data from Bernstein Research shows that the streamer’s average revenue per member (Arm) on its ad plan will continue to lag behind that of its ad-free tier.

Key Details: Ad revenue for Netflix will jump to $4 billion in 2025. Bernstein doesn’t foresee the gap between ad-supported and ad-free revenue per member to close in the near future. Netflix recently announced a price increase on all of its streaming plans. Sign Up $7.99+ / month netflix.

Barbarian (watch it Here) writer/director Zach Cregger has assembled a strong cast for his mysterious horror project called Weapons, including Julia Garner (Ozark), Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men), Alden Ehrenreich (Solo), Benedict Wong (Doctor Strange), Amy Madigan (Antlers), Austin Abrams (Euphoria), June Diane Raphael (Grace and Frankie), and Cary Christopher (Days of Our Lives)… and during an interview with Collider, Garner said that we should not expect Weapons to be “a proper horror movie.”

Most details about Weapons are shrouded in mystery. It has been said that it’s “an interrelated, multistory horror epic” that’s tonally in the vein of Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, and The Hollywood Reporter adds that the story revolves around the disappearance of high schoolers in a small town.

Cregger wrote the Weapons screenplay (which Brolin has said had “a really brilliant design”) and is directing the film. He’s also...

Do you love K-Dramas and zombie series? If so, you're in luck! Prime Video is set to drop a new Korean zombie series soon, featuring some familiar faces. The show is titled Newtopia, and we're here to share everything there is to know about it, including the official trailer provided above.

Don't be fooled into thinking Newtopia is just another typical zombie series. While most zombie shows are known for their dark, tense, and gritty tone, Newtopia takes a different approach. Sure, there’s plenty of action, but it also brings a refreshing mix of romance and comedy to the table.

Based on Han Sang-woon's Influenza novel, Newtopia was directed by Yoon Sung-hyun. Yoon is best known for his coming-of-age drama film Bleak Night and his action thriller Time to Hunt. He collaborated with Han Jin-won and Ji Ho-jin, who wrote the scripts for the zombie show. Han is known...

Disney started off 2025 with a bang, unveiling on Monday a surprise merger of its multichannel video streaming service Hulu + Live TV with competitor FuboTV, forming a combined company that will continue to be publicly traded under the Fubo name, but with the Hollywood giant controlling 70 percent and a majority of the board.

Fubo will drop its lawsuit against Venu Sports, the sports streaming joint venture of Disney, Fox Corp., and Warner Bros. Discovery, as part of the transaction. And Fubo CEO and co-founder David Gandler will run the combined entity.

While experts expect more sector M&a ahead, the Fubo deal took most Wall Street experts by surprise. What is no surprise though is that analysts have chimed in on what the merger, expected to close in about 12-18 months, means for the space of virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs) and beyond. In that sector, YouTube TV reported, a year ago,...

On Friday January 3 2025, ABC broadcasts Live with Kelly and Mark!

Season 3 Episode 89 Episode Summary

The upcoming episode of “Live with Kelly and Mark” promises an exciting lineup. Airing soon on ABC, this episode features actor Glen Powell, former professional basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, and chef Joseph Yoon. Each guest brings a unique perspective and energy to the show.

Glen Powell, known for his roles in popular films and television series, is set to share insights about his latest projects. His charm and charisma are sure to engage the audience. Powell’s experiences in Hollywood often lead to entertaining stories, making his appearance a highlight of the episode.

Shaquille O’Neal, a legendary figure in the world of basketball, will also join the hosts. O’Neal’s larger-than-life personality and sense of humor make him a favorite among fans. He may discuss his transition from sports to entertainment, as well as his current ventures.

Korean drama Firefighters rose to the top of the local box office this weekend, despite a swell of political controversy linked to the director’s brother.

The film opened on December 4 and ranked second after its first weekend but has climbed to the top on its second outing, taking $4.38m from just over 657,000 admissions and a 41.9% market share from Friday to Sunday (December 13-15). The 17% uptick in sales from its opening weekend has brought its cume to $11.7m, according to Kobis, the Korean Film Council’s box office tracking service.

Awareness of the film has risen as the brother of...

Cobra Kai has always placed importance on the individual strength of each of its characters as, to many of them, their martial arts skills are a key part of their identity. Some of the strongest fighters in the series, like Daniel, Johnny, and Chozen, originate from the original Karate Kid trilogy. They are training the next generation of youngsters to carry the Miyagi-do tradition on. Meanwhile, other high-level martial artists have only just been introduced in the recently released Season 6, Part 1.

Going into Season 6, Part 2, the best fighters in Cobra Kai have finally gathered at the Sekai Taikai. As this exclusive tournament is for teenagers, none of the adult characters will be competing, but they'll no doubt seek to settle their scores outside the arena. With the series nearly over, these fighters may still be the most skilled in the series by the time it comes to a close.

Updated...

Korean filmmaker Kwak Kyung-taek has responded to calls to boycott his latest feature Firefighters, sparked by recent political unrest in the country.

The film has come under fire from an angry public as the director’s brother is Kwak Gyu-taek, a member of South Korea’s People Power Party (Ppp), who failed to attend the parliamentary vote to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol.

In a statement, director Kwak said: “Recently, my younger brother, representative Kwak Gyu-taek of the People Power Party, did not participate in the impeachment vote in accordance with the party’s stance, which has led some people to criticise the film Firefighters.

Updated with closing price. Comcast’s decision to spin off NBCUniversal cable networks into a new publicly traded entity has drawn applause in some parts of the business world, but skeptics are also making their voices heard.

Shares in Comcast, which are slightly in the red for the year to date, stayed mostly flat Wednesday but staged a late rally, climbing 1.6% to finish at $42.99. Details of the planned spin first emerged Tuesday night, and the company made it official early today.

When the company said it was exploring the scenario three weeks ago, on the day it also released third-quarter earnings, the reaction was generally positive. MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett at the time wrote in a note to clients that the spin was “a very welcome development. Investors have yearned for exactly this, or at least something close to it, for years.” Jessica Reif Ehrlich of BofA Securities interpreted the...

“A real opportunity to invest and build additional scale” and a “new growth trajectory.” Those are some of the things the Brian Roberts-run Comcast promised on Wednesday in unveiling its plan to spin off most of its cable channels, formerly a key profit growth engine, into a separate company.

The new entity, led by Mark Lazarus, will include the likes of USA Network, Syfy, MSNBC, and CNBC, while cable channel Bravo, the NBC broadcast network, and streaming service Peacock will remain part of Comcast’s entertainment arm NBCUniversal.

Wall Street stock analysts didn’t waste any time sharing their takes on the move. As of 11:50 a.m. Et, Comcast shares were slightly higher as experts had mixed reviews of the news.

Bank of America analyst Jessica Reif-Ehrlich was mostly bullish on the development. “SpinCo could be used as a consolidation vehicle for cable networks across the industry. This...

In the 21st century, South Korean cinema has experienced unprecedented success, both in terms of international acclaim and box office profits. One reason for South Korea's cultural dominance has been the country's ability to churn out high-octane action thrillers that feature formal proficiency combined with gruesome subject matters. South Korean cinema has found a cult audience in the United States among cinephiles seeking to escape the sanitized nature of mainstream Hollywood cinema.

After decades of little international attention, South Korean cinema began to make a global splash in the late 1990s through a movement now known as New Korean Cinema. This collection of films became renowned for using the genre to explore social issues affecting South Korean society. Since the birth of New Korean Cinema, directors such as Park Chan-wook, Kim Jee-woon, and Na Hong-jin have created some of the best action thrillers of the 21st century. Oldboy, I Saw the Devil,...

Cobra Kai season 6 part 2 is now streaming on Netflix. There are five new episodes of the hit Netflix original series for fans to watch. I binge-watched all five episodes of part 2, and I have to talk about the season 6 part 2 ending.

It is absolutely the most insane ending of a Cobra Kai episode since... probably ever. It's even wilder than the Cobra Kai season 2 finale when Robby (Tanner Buchanan) almost killed Miguel (Xolo Maridueña).

Spoilers ahead for the ending of Cobra Kai season 6 part 2 episode 10, "Eunjangdo."

Tory and Kwon make the Sekai Taikai semifinals Cobra Kai. (L to R) Alicia Hannah-Kim as Kim Da-Eun, Daniel Kim as Yoon, Peyton List as Tory Nichols, Brandon H. Lee as Kwon, Martin Kove as John Kreese in Cobra Kai. Cr. Curtis Bonds Baker/Netflix © 2024 | Netflix

Cobra Kai season 6 episode 10 begins innocently enough. There have been some epic fights throughout the five episodes of the Sekai Taikai,...

The stakes are higher than ever for the second part of three in the sixth and final season of Cobra Kai. Premiering on Netflix on November 15, 2024, the next batch of five episodes continues the story as the Miyagi-do dojo travels to Barcelona for the Sekai Taikai Tournament. This worldwide competition celebrates the best of the best in karate; theyre in the big leagues now. But theres a lot going on.

First, Tory defected and joined Cobra Kai, which the Miyagi-do team learns is led by John Kreese in the Season 6, Part 1 finale. Johnny and Daniel are fighting. Robby is distracted by Torys surprise appearance and Hawk and Demetri are bickering about Hawks refusal to follow their plan and apply to MIT. There are plenty of questions that fans need answers to, especially knowing that the final five episodes arent coming until sometime in 2025.

Who Wins the Sekai Taikai Tournament? There...

Johnny Lawrence, Daniel Larusso and their students are headed overseas to compete in the international Sekai Taikai tournament in a new trailer for “Cobra Kai” Season 6 Part 2, which will drop on Netflix on Nov. 15.

The trailer shows the group landing in Barcelona, Spain and the group entering the doors of the karate competition, where they’re set to face off against 15 other teams. In addition to new rivals, Miyagi-Do will also deal with the fallout of Tory Nichols (Peyton List) defecting to Cobra Kai, while also fighting to stay united as internal rivalries bubble to the surface.

“We’ve heard all this garbage going around about loyalty. Almost all of us are trained somewhere else at some point,” Lawrence says in the teaser. “What matters is where our asses are now. We’re Miyagi-Do and we’re not losing. So wipe the smirks off their ugly faces.”

Watch the trailer...

Ahead of Cobra Kai season six’s return to Netflix for part two on Nov. 15, viewers should get ready for the caliber of black belts and karate masters at the Sekai Taikai, the global tournament, to go way up.

When Miyagi-Do competes at the Sekai Taikai in Barcelona, there’ll be new challenges and old enemies as they fight to become world champions amid the usual high school and karate school rivalries.

“The first thing that you’re going to notice is we’re not in the Valley anymore. It’s a totally different environment. The competitive space is different from previous All Valley tournaments. There’s no crowd watching. This is a karate temple that they’re going to, where the only people in attendance are black belts or karate masters,” Hayden Schlossberg, who co-created the show with Josh Heald and Jon Hurwitz, told Tudum.

The second of a...

Set in early 2000s California, So Young Shelly Yo’s debut feature Smoking Tigers follows a Korean-American teenager navigating complex questions of identity. Hayoung is a 16-year-old growing up in LA, caught between the modest life with her family and the affluent world of her wealthy friends. As her parents’ marriage fractures, Hayoung feels pressure from all sides—to succeed academically, conform to expectations, and find where she truly fits in.

Yo crafts an intimate coming-of-age tale inspired by her own experiences. With subtlety and care, she explores Hayoung’s quiet struggles and the tensions many children of immigrants face. Trying to honor her heritage while embracing American culture leads Hayoung to seek answers in unexpected places. Through it all, she remains determined to understand herself and her family on her own terms.

Masterful performances and Yo’s thoughtful direction immerse us in Hayoung’s journey. Her thoughtful observations and...

Quick Links Officer Black Belt Features Two Excellent Actors Officer Black Belt Has Dark Underlying Themes Law Officers Team Up With Martial Artists in Officer Black Belt

Imagine an official president of a resounding country publicly recognizing and applauding a newly released action movie on Netflix. This surprisingly dark and emotional movie not only makes it to the number one spot on the global most-watched charts of the giant streaming platform, but that same elected official also recommends his entire cabinet to watch the same title he so openly appreciates. While all of this may sound like its ripped from a whimsical drama that focuses on the personal lives of politicians, all the above is true. On September 22, an official for Yoon Suk Yeo the 13th and current president of South Korea said that he not only watched Netflixs Officer Black Belt but also advised his aides to watch it...

South Korea’s leading entertainment company Cj Enm has revealed plans to support the challenged K-content ecosystem by maintaining its annual content investment of $750m (KRW1tn) and extending its IP across platforms.

At a dedicated forum during Busan International Film Festival (Biff) today (October 4), leading executives from the firm shared their ambition to lead the K-content industry. Yoon Sang-hyun, CEO of Cj Enm, said: “Despite the growing uncertainty in the film industry, we will continue to support creators and enable their imaginations to come to life and shine bright.”

Executives from Cj’s entertainment division subsidiaries Cj Cgv, Studio Dragon,...

Executives from Cj Enm, Korea’s largest media and entertainment conglomerate, Friday committed to investing upwards of KRW1 trillion ($750 million) per year in content.

“We continue to believe in K-content,” said group CEO Yoon Sang-hyun at an event hosted on the sidelines of the Busan International Film Festival. “By retaining our investment in content at KRW1 billion, and using our insight accumulated through global studios, theaters and Ott platforms , Cj Enm will dedicate itself to improving the film industry figures.”

Yoon and other executives from the group tried to sound optimistic about the long-term future of the business, while acknowledging severe near term headwinds.

Yoon identified the challenges as including ongoing weakness of theatrical box office in Korea (and elsewhere), changes within the streaming sector, an audience shift towards consumption of short form video and potential disruption from artificial intelligence.

“We are already making the biggest content investment of any...

Although three years have now passed since the original Solo Leveling manhwa's conclusion, it continues bringing in accolades, recently taking the Grand Prize at the all-new World Webtoon Awards.

Via The Korea Times, Solo Leveling won the Grand Prize at the inaugural World Webtoon Awards held late last month. The award was set up this year by the South Korean government's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency (Kocca) as the latest step in strengthening global awareness of webtoons -- one of the country's biggest cultural exports.

Related Solo Leveling: Arise's Traumatized Twin Hunters Return in New Limited Webtoon Series

The latest webtoon release inSolo Leveling: Arise's ongoing origin series welcomes the second part of Charlotte & Harper's tragic yet riveting story.

Solo Leveling's Global Popularity Continues With Ragnarok and Anime's Season 2

The award was held during the World Webtoon Festival, a celebration...

Released in 2022, East Bay is an intimate drama from writer-director Daniel Yoon that shines a light on life’s everyday struggles. At its center is Jack Lee, a 39-year-old Korean American man grappling with failure both personally and professionally.

As an aspiring filmmaker, Jack pours his heart into short movies yet has little to show for the efforts. Facing doubts from family and peers, he questions if he’s doomed to a dead-end job with dreams unfulfilled.

Jack’s worries are all too relatable for many trying to forge their way in a complex world. Through his eyes, we witness the anxiety of a crossroads where paths diverge between hopes and harsh reality.

Guiding the story is Yoon’s empathetic and perceptive lens, peeling back layers to reveal what gives life meaning amidst uncertainty. With wit and warmth, East Bay explores timeless themes of finding purpose, bolstering relationships, and embracing...

Tory's surprise betrayal and alignment with Kreese shakes up Cobra Kai's team dynamics. Questions remain about the remaining two fighters on Kreese's team for the Sekai Taikai tournament. Speculation arises about Yoon and Kenny potentially being the secret fighters on Kreese's team.

Cobra Kai season 6 part 1's Tory twist came with an interesting tease for Kreese's team. In a surprising turn of events, Peyton List's Tory Nichols turned her back on her friends and quit the dojo ahead of the Sekai Taikai tournament. What's worse for Cobra Kai's main characters, is that she's decided to align with her former mentor, Martin Kove's John Kreese.

As the last scene of the Cobra Kai season 6 part 1 finale has confirmed, Tory accepted Kreese's offer to join his team. From the looks of things, she'll serve the role of Cobra Kai's female captain, thus pitting her against Sam in the individual competition.

Netflix beat Wall Street expectations with strong second-quarter financial and subscriber growth (8 million subscriber adds for 277 million in total worldwide) reported on July 18. But management forecast slower growth ahead — setting expectations for lower paid net additions next quarter compared to the year prior — partly because it has already reaped gains from its successful password-sharing crackdown, launched about a year ago.

Meanwhile, co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters discussed the potential benefits of generative artificial intelligence during their earnings chat and also gave updates on Netflix’s advertising tier, which has been in place for 18 months and now accounts for 45 percent of all signups in markets with that tier.

So Wall Street analysts had much to ponder after the earnings update, especially following stock price target hikes from several heading into the report. In pre-market trading Friday, Netflix shares were little changed, trending up around 1 percent.

Many analysts came away feeling...

Real estate woes, job security anxiety and social inequality, all neatly packed into a metaphorical dystopia. No doubt about it, The Tenants is definitely a Korean film. Yet by providing a novel twist on its elements and staying true to its allegorical narrative, this brooding black-and-white parable stands out as a compelling sophomore feature from director Yoon Eun-gyeong. Following its premiere late last year at the Singapore International Film Festival, Yoon's film circles its way back for its local premiere in Bucheon, where its clear but concerning message should hit the hardest. Shin-dong is a young man just like many others in Korea. He has worked tooth and nail to land himself a job at a company, but he's still barely making ends meet while...

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You know, catching up with a post or end credit scene on Netflix is like watching sand slip through your fingers. I mean, the streaming platform itself doesn’t want you to watch that small clip hiding in the end. But thank God, a peer told me about this tiny post-credit scene in Hierarchy, which I know I had missed like most of you. So, what’s it all about? [Spoiler Alert] In the clip, we saw Yoon He-ra stumble upon the body of a fellow student soaked in blood in the classroom. By the way, the blood looks extremely tacky. I really took it for water paint or something for a minute.

Nevertheless, the face of the presumably “dead” person isn’t clearly visible, which, sorry to say, was exactly the reason I wanted to write this “thin” article. So moving forward, as soon as He-ra screamed at the top of her lungs,...

Paramount Global shares rose 7.5% to close at $12.80 Monday on the news that a long-awaited merger with Skydance Media moved closer to completion.

The company’s stock has declined markedly in recent years, falling to about one-third of its level in late-2019, when the reunion of CBS and Viacom became official. As various M&a scenarios circulated over the past three months, however, including a now-less-likely transaction involving Sony Pictures Entertainment and private equity giant Apollo, the shares have risen almost 30%. Monday’s spike, on higher-than-average trading volume, showed investor’s continued belief in the near-term upside of an acquisition.

Skydance has been in talks for months with Shari Redstone’s National Amusements Inc., which controls 77% of Paramount’s voting shares but only 10% of its equity. The David Ellison-led suitor appears to have largely satisfied many initial critics who viewed his previous offers as sweetheart deals for Redstone. According to multiple press reports,...

Older Millennials will connect with East Bay's themes of aging, existential dread, and the desire for success. The film explores the struggle of being a filmmaker while dealing with personal failures and life disappointments. East Bay offers a realistic and introspective look at the challenges of modern life, resonating with viewers in search of meaning.

The ethos of East Bay can be summed up in one line by Jack Lees elderly Korean mother, who says, You have to be successful but also happy. It's not easy to do; it's a kind of torture." This oddly heartwarming indie film may not appeal to everybody, but its personal, tender, and soul-searching atmosphere will surely connect with older Millennials who feel they have failed to reach their potential. Written, directed, and starring Daniel Yoon, East Bay feels like a quiet triumph as it seamlessly touches on aging, existential dread, race, the desire to succeed,...

In the previous episode of the series Connection, we saw Detective Jang Jae-Kyeong on a mission to take down Jang Chul Gu, the leader of the Five Spider Gang, to end the drug epidemic in the city of Anhyeon. Despite his efforts, the drug trade continued even after Jang Chul Gu was arrested. And the most shocking part was that Jang Jae-Kyeong himself was forcibly drugged by someone known as “The Doctor.” This mysterious figure had been sending threatening messages to the detective, warning him to stop investigating the case and to back off from the drug scene. We also met Oh Yoon-Jin, an investigative journalist and an old school friend of Jang Jae-Kyeong. In this second episode, we are going to explore who wanted to drug the detective. Was it Jang Chul Gu seeking revenge against the detective? Or was it Park Jun-Seo, an old friend of Jang Jae-Kyeong,...

Using music as a plot device, first-time director Choi Jung-han puts dreams and friendships under the scanner in his debut work “Galaxies”.

Eun-soo, Eun-ha and Dong-eun are three friends who form the band Eun-Ha-Soo, literally “Galaxies”. Eun-soo and Eun-ha are a couple who ran away from a music production company to showcase their individuality but, not least because of their age and said individuality, labels find them highly unmarketable and the three struggle to make ends meet. When Dong-eun, who is known to chronically invest in bad stock, takes and invests the band's savings, loses it all and runs away, the angry Eun-soo and Eun-ha, who had let him stay in their apartment when he fell behind on rent, take an old guitar of Dong-eun's and sell it on a marketplace. However, when Dong-eun returns with the money, they must trace back the guitar, which holds a lot of sentimental value to Dong-eun,...

The excitement levels around Call of Duty have reemerged with the teasers for the next Black Ops. There hasn’t been this kind of hype associated with the first-person shooter series for years, especially due to the latest Modern Warfare 3 scenario, but it feels like things may finally go on an upward spiral from here on.

Even when the title was speculated to be called Black Ops Gulf War, all the rumors surrounding the game suggested that it may be the best entry that the franchise has had in years, and that may very well be the case, according to one developer.

A Call of Duty Developer Has a Lot of Faith in the Next Black Ops Installment

The Call of Duty franchise has enjoyed some extraordinary highs thanks to the Black Ops sub-series.

It did not take long for Activision and Treyarch to officially confirm the existence of the...

A couple of months ago, it was announced that June Diane Raphael, who may be best known for playing the character Brianna Hanson for the 94 episodes that make up the Netflix series Grace and Frankie, which ran for seven seasons, is set to star in a TV series reimagining of the classic sitcom Bewitched for Sony Pictures Television. It has also been revealed (via Deadline) that Raphael has been cast in the mysterious horror project called Weapons, the new film from Barbarian (watch it Here) writer/director Zach Cregger.

Details on the character Raphael will be playing haven’t been revealed, but we do know she’ll be sharing the screen with Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men), Julia Garner (Ozark), Alden Ehrenreich (Solo), Benedict Wong (Doctor Strange), Amy Madigan (Antlers), Austin Abrams (Euphoria), and Cary Christopher (Days of Our Lives). At one point, Pedro Pascal of The Last of Us...

Last year, New Line Cinema went all-in on a partnership with Barbarian (watch it Here) writer/director Zach Cregger and the film’s producers at BoulderLight Pictures. New Line came out the winner in a bidding war over Cregger’s next film, a mysterious horror project called Weapons… which was, at one point, set to star Pedro Pascal of The Last of Us and Renate Reinsve of The Worst Person in the World. Pascal had to leave the project so he could star in the Marvel Cinematic Universe reboot of Fantastic Four instead – and even though that much larger production hasn’t started filming yet, as of right now it looks like Fantastic Four is going to beat Weapons to the screen by about six months! While that superhero movie is set to reach theatres on July 25, 2025, New Line has announced (via Deadline) that Weapons has been given a theatrical...

A group of misfits who solve traffic crimes and frauds—that’s the premise of Disney+’s new Korean drama Crash. I started watching the show with little expectations, but boy did it surprise me. Backed by an amazing ensemble cast, Crash goes from the Tci members catching small-time criminals to solving planned murders real quick. Here’s a quick recap of the events that unfolded in the first episode.

Spoilers Ahead

What does the Tci do?

Tci stands for Traffic Crime Investigations, a police division that gets little recognition from the other departments. Jung Chae-Min, a veteran detective who once worked in the crime department, founded this division. Tci’s star is undoubtedly Min-So-Hee, who is an outstanding close combat fighter and an even better driver. Her expertise behind the wheel is something that makes this department thrive. The other members are Woo Dong-Ki and Eo Hyun-Kyung, who are mostly just there,...

Lee Chang-dong set Cannes ablaze in 2018 with the uneasily beautiful “Burning,” a loose Haruki Murakami adaptation about the folie à troix between an alienated delivery man (Ah-in Yoo), the wily young woman (Jong-seo Jun) he covets, and the handsome charisma machine who blows them apart. The South Korean director’s sixth film made history as Korea’s first to make the International Feature Oscar shortlist (it wasn’t nominated) but is perhaps best remembered for two scenes: the woman, Haemi (Jun), dancing topless for them to the tune of Miles Davis’ “Elevator to the Gallows” soundtrack, and for its abruptly violent ending involving murder and arson in the nude. Then, there’s a missing cat that may have never existed — pure Murakami.

“Burning” remains a new classic of the 2010s, an elusive portrait of loneliness and desire that never spills on its narrative secrets. It grossed an impressive $718,000 at the U.