Disaster-comedy film "Sinkhole" has attracted over 147,000 moviegoers on the first day of its release, marking this year's highest opening-day attendance for a South Korean movie, data showed Thursday. The film drew 147,304 viewers upon its debut on Wednesday, pushing two-week box office leader "Escape from Mogadishu" to No. 2, according to data compiled by the Korean Film Council. "Sinkhole" logged the third-highest first-day score among all movies released this

Kang Shin-sung shares experience of joining North Koreans in flight during Somalia's civil war, frustrations with movie

Television director Kim Tae-ho is producing a Netflix original entertainment series titled “The Hungry and the Hairy,” starring the artist Rain and comedian Ro Hong-chul, Netflix said in a press release Monday. According to the global streaming giant, while the release date has yet to be decided the program will be another variety show. Kim previously produced two of South Korea’s longest-running and most successful variety shows, “Infinite Challenge” and “H

Tomorrow X Together shared a preview of its repackaged second studio album on Wednesday. 　 The video snippet included samples of three songs from the repackaged album titled “The Chaos Chapter: Fight or Escape” -- title track “LO$ER=LO♡ER,” “Exchange Diary” and “0X1=LOVESONG (I Know I Love You) feat. Seori (Emocore Mix).” 　 The focus track is about a boy who may look like a loser but hopes to love someone who means the world to him. “Excha

"Permission to Dance," K-pop sensation BTS' latest release, has ranked No. 27 on this week's Billboard main singles chart, spending its fourth consecutive week on the popular American music chart. The septet's third English number dropped 18 notches to No. 27 on the Hot 100 chart, refreshed Tuesday (US time), a month after its release. The song had topped the Billboard chart in the fourth week of July, replacing BTS' previous release "Butter," allowing the group to score ba

The musical “Hades Town” has postponed its opening for a week after 23 members of its cast and crew tested positive for COVID-19. S&Co, the producer of the licensed Broadway show, announced Tuesday that the opening would be postponed from Aug. 24 to Sept. 7. On Thursday Xiumin of EXO, who plays Orpheus in the show, tested positive, which put a halt to rehearsals. Staffers and actors then went into self-quarantine and were tested from Saturday to Monday. A total of 23 peopl

The Boyz landed atop iTunes songs charts in 16 regions with “Thrill Ride” from its sixth EP, “Thrill-ing,” said agency Cre.ker Entertainment on Tuesday. 　 The song ranked high on major music charts, and the other five tracks from the EP all entered charts as well. 　 Sunwoo and Eric participated in writing the lyrics for the hip-hop number. “There already was a definitive theme and I participated only by coming up with a better idea within the frame,” said S

Prosecutors on Tuesday demanded a 10 million-won ($8,700) fine for actor Ha Jung-woo, who admitted to illegal use of propofol in 2019. The 43-year-old screen star has been indicted on charges of taking shots of the anesthesia-inducing medication for non-medical purposes between January and September in 2019. The prosecution requested the Seoul Central District Court impose a monetary penalty as the actor has no previous record of drug abuse and admitted to his crime. Earlier in the hearing, H

Terrestrial network MBC plans to retrieve the viewer’s trust by installing a new committee, the company said in a press release on Monday. According to the public broadcaster, MBC seeks to make sure all of its content respects universal values, which the company lacked in its coverage of Tokyo Olympics. “The broadcasting fiasco was from all members’ callousness and insensitivity. We will recover our trust and reputation by initiating a new organization, the Public Interest R

Korean entertainment giant CJ ENM on Tuesday announced that a movie about k-pop titled “K-Pop: Lost in America (working title)” will be created jointly with Hollywood producer Lynda Obst. Obst is known for collaborating with director Christopher Nolan to co-produce the science fiction film “Interstellar.” She also produced many hit movies including “Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging” directed by Gurinder Chadha and “Sleepless in Seattle “ direct

South Korean cinema chain operators remained in a slump in the second quarter of 2021 but found a glimmer of hope for a rebound amid the protracted novel coronavirus pandemic, financial data showed Tuesday. CJ CGV, the No. 1 multiplex operator under the wing of entertainment giant CJ Group, said its operating loss reached 57.3 billion won ($49.9 million) over the April-June period, narrowing from an operating deficit of 130.5 billion won a year ago. Its sales shot up 288 percent to 161.7 billi

South Korean superband BTS' Billboard-topping hit "Butter" came in at No. 4 on this week's Billboard main singles chart, slipping from last week's top spot. "BTS' "Butter" drops to No. 4 after nine weeks atop the Hot 100," Billboard said on its website on Monday (US time). "It posts a 10th week at No. 1 on Digital Song Sales (79,200, down 30%) and returns to its No. 20 high on Radio Songs (31.6 million, up 4%)," it added. The summery song had sat atop t

The Boyz broadcast a live media showcase Monday as they rolled out their sixth EP, “Thrill-ing.” 　 The bandmates acknowledged that they couldn’t believe it had been almost a year since their previous EP, saying they were even happier and more excited after all this time. It is also the first album from the band since it came in second in “Kingdom: Legendary War,” a contest for boy bands that ended in June. 　 “We’ve put on strong and narrative-heavy perf

Rookie singer-songwriter Lee Mu-jin has topped the country’s biggest streaming platform Melon with his digital single “Traffic Light,” which was released in early May. “Traffic Light,” written and composed by Lee, sits atop the 24 hits and daily chart beating out other hit songs such as MSG Wannabe’s “Foolish Love,” Aespa’s “Next Level” and BTS’ latest single “Permission to Dance.” Unlike most chart-topping so

Up-and-coming K-pop act seeking recognition through theatrical performances, broad musical tastes