"Mr. Queen," a historical comedic drama series that drew both popularity and controversy, has wrapped up on a strong note, with the final episode becoming the fifth most-watched drama on cable channel tvN. The series' 20th episode aired Sunday and recorded 17.4 percent in viewership, according to data by Nielson Korea. The figure marks the fifth-highest rating among tvN's drama series, following 21.7 percent by the romantic comedy "Crash Landing On You" (2019), 20.5 percent

Lingering concerns over COVID-19 kept South Korean people from going to cinemas during the Lunar New Year holiday, but recently eased social distancing is expected to brighten prospects for the virus-hit film industry, box office data showed Monday. The number of moviegoers reached a total of 707,000 during the four-day lunar New Year holiday weekend that began on Thursday, according to the data from the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). It is just one seventh of more than 4.9 million attendees tal

Spotify Technology SA, which opened its service in South Korea early this month, is expected to face fierce competition in the music streaming market currently dominated by local players. While the Swedish company is one of the top audio streaming services in the world, with 345 million users across 93 markets, it is up against established homegrown services in South Korea -- the sixth-largest music market in the world -- such as tech giant Kakao Corp.'s Melon, Genie Music under telecom operato

Despite the trade war between Korea and Japan and restrictions posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, up-and-coming K-pop acts are enjoying a strong presence in the Japanese entertainment industry, topping the local music charts. 　While hit K-pop groups such as Twice and IZ*ONE have already risen to major stardom in Japan, more K-pop groups are making their way in Japan, releasing Japanese-language albums targeted to the wider public.   　Big Hit Entertainment’s TXT, also known as Tomorrow

  In a country where enlisting in the military for two years is mandatory for all able-bodied men, the rule has long been an unavoidable hurdle for singers and actors in their 20s who are flourishing in their career heyday.    In that sense, having completed the two-year service can be an advantage for entertainers who are now eligible to plan long-term career goals. In the music industry, some major K-pop acts are set to return to the stage after members have successfully serve

MBC’s TV documentary special, ‘Meeting you,’ sheds light on the tragic death of a contract worker by using virtual reality technology

Films that aim to refresh moviegoers who are exhausted by the pandemic are dominating the screens during the Lunar New Year holiday, widely known as Seollal. The Disney-Pixar animated film “Soul,” which opened Jan. 20 and became the first movie of 2021to reach more than 1.2 million viewers here, comforts viewers with its colorful images, its music, and its hopeful and relatable message. “Soul” follows schoolteacher Joe, who dreams of becoming a jazz musician. One day,

Rock musician Han Kyung-rock, a bassist in the legendary punk rock band Crying Nut, is celebrating his birthday Thursday with a 17-hour virtual concert. Han will be hosting “2021 Kyungrockjeol in the House,” which starts Thursday at noon and features 83 music acts. The lineup includes rock bands Crying Nut, No Brain, Galaxy Express, Broccoli You Too, Romantic Punch and Jannabi, along with hip-hop singer Jay Park, singer Seonwoo Jung A, Glen Matlock from the Sex Pistols, Japanese p

Local video streaming platform Wavve announced that it is providing 140 movies for free as compensation for network failures this year. Wavve, which has the highest number of users of all Korean OTTs, faced network problems on Jan. 27 that lasted over a week and prevented users from viewing much of its content. Another network failure on Jan. 29 led to adult content being shown for several seconds during the children‘s film “Pororo Movie,” further infuriating users. “W

  Rose of Blackpink’s solo debut is likely to happen very soon, according to a local media on Wednesday. She has been signaling for a solo gig since last year and she unveiled “Gone,” thought to be the sub-title track from her upcoming own album, at the band’s first online streaming concert on Jan. 31.  Her company YG Entertainment confirmed that the musician has already finished shooting the music video for the title song from the album. It has spent one of t

K-pop megastar BLACKPINK's debut studio album has rebounded big on Billboard's main albums chart this week following its first online concert held late last month. "The Album" has resurged to No. 59 on the Billboard 200 chart updated Tuesday (US time), ascending 89 notches from a week before. It marks the 18th consecutive week the four-member band has stayed on the chart with its album since debuting at No. 2 in October, making history as a South Korean girl group. The album also sw

YG Entertainment and Universal Music Group have joined hands with Big Hit Entertainment and Kiswe to grow VenewLive into a global-scale digital livestreaming platform. YG Entertainment and Universal Music Group announced Wednesday that they had invested an undisclosed amount in KBYK Live, a joint venture founded last year by Big Hit Entertainment and Kiswe. KBYK Live created digital livestreaming concert service platform VenewLive last year, to much success, emphasizing the use of cutting-edge

The drama film "Minari" about a Korean American immigrant family was shortlisted for two music categories in the upcoming Academy Awards, organizers said Wednesday. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) revealed shortlists for nine categories for the Oscars, including international feature, original score, original song and animated short film. In the original score section, music from the American film "Minari," composed by Emile Mosseri, was among the 15

Global superstars BTS will be appearing on "MTV Unplugged" later this month, becoming the first Korean act to perform on the iconic music program produced by American broadcaster MTV. "On Feb. 23, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V and Jungkook will bring their collective energy to an update of the storied series straight from Seoul, South Korea," MTV reported on Tuesday (US time). While the broadcaster did not elaborate on the songs that BTS will perform, it said the "sp

  The bandmates of BTS talked about their first venture into the original soundtrack for a movie.  “Your Eyes Tell,” a song from “Map of the Soul: 7 The Journey,” the band’s fourth studio album in Japan, also became a part of original score for the same-titled movie. This is the first time the septet’s song is used for an OST. “I think you will be able to feel what feelings we have put in the song,” said Jungkook. He participated in w