Hyun Bin (left) and Yoo Hae-jin star in “Confidential Assignment.” (CJ Entertainment)A Korean comedy-action film about an inter-Korean secret police mission ranked No. 1 for the second weekend at the local box office, giving it a 19-day cumulative audience total of over 6 million, data showed Monday."Confidential Assignment" topped the chart for the Feb. 3-5 frame with slightly more than 1 million viewers, according to the real-time based box office tally from the Korean Film Council.Released on

NEW YORK (AP) -- At the forefront of this year’s Oscar race are two filmmakers in their 30s with seemingly limitless careers ahead of them: Damien Chazelle, the 32-year-old wunderkind behind “La La Land” and Barry Jenkins, the 37-year-old writer-director of “Moonlight.” The combined nominations of their films amount to 22 even while their ages add up to less than that of Martin Scorsese or Steven Spielberg. It’s rare for young directors to rise to such heights. If Chazelle, the favorite, were to

LOS ANGELES (AFP) -- They could have called it “Cats,” if someone hadn’t got there first, for John Hurt’s strangest movie by far is an obscure Shakespeare adaptation placing him opposite 108 feline co-stars.The British knight of the realm played some of cinema’s most iconic characters across 150 movies before his death in January, but even ardent film buffs are unlikely to have seen him in “Romeo.Juliet.”Hurt is the only human in Armondo Acosta’s 1990 movie, playing a Venetian bag lady while the

Hyun Bin and Yoo Hae-jin star in a scene from “Confidential Assignment.” (CJ Entertainment)South Korean comedy-action film "Confidential Assignment" topped 5 million in attendance in only 15 days since its release in local theaters, data from a market tracker showed on Thursday.The film passed the milestone to reach 5,046,970 on Wednesday, according to the Korean Film Council, the government agency for the promotion of Korean films.Starring Hyun Bin and Yoo Hae-jin, "Confidential Assignment" gar

Korean actress Kim Tae-ri will join the cast of the upcoming film “1987,” which will depict the pivotal year of the Korean pro-democracy movement.Kim’s agency J,Wide-Company confirmed the actress has been cast for a role in the movie and is expected to soon hold a meeting with the film’s producers to discuss the details.  Kim Tae-ri (J,Wide-Company)The flick will be directed by Jang Jun-hwan, best known for science fiction cult classic “Save the Green Planet.” The star-studded cast includes big

Award-winning Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo will attend the Berlin International Film Festival to promote his film set to compete in the event next month, industry sources said Tuesday."On the Beach at Night Alone" was invited earlier this month to compete in the main competition category of the 69th edition of the festival slated for Feb. 9-18."The screening schedules for the film have yet to be fixed," a film industry official said, requesting not to be named. "We understand Hong will attend

Hyun Bin and Yoo Hae-jin star in a scene from “Confidential Assignment.” (CJ Entertainment)A Korean comedy-action film about an inter-Korean secret police mission claimed the top spot at the box office over the weekend, dethroning a local political thriller, data showed on Tuesday."Confidential Assignment" topped the chart, amassing 1.9 million viewers in its second weekend of Jan. 27-29, according to the real-time based box office tally from the Korean Film Council."The King," which premiered o

Han Hyo-joo (left) and Park Seo-joon star in “The Beauty Inside.” (Yong Film)The American remake of the 2015 Korean film “The Beauty Inside” will star Emilia Clarke, best known as the “Game of Thrones” dragon mother, as the female lead. Fox 2000 recently acquired the film rights to remake the Korean flick in a $2 million deal, beating out five competitors, including Universal, Sony and Lionsgate.The remake will be written by “The Fault in Our Stars” writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber.

History was made across Tuesday’s 89th annual Academy Awards nominations, where the retro musical “La La Land” reaped a record-tying 14 nominations and a wave of African-American films, led by the luminous coming-of-age portrait “Moonlight,” resoundingly toppled two straight years of “so white” Oscars. The twin forces -- Damien Chazelle’s candy-colored love letter to musicals and a broad group of diverse films that also included Denzel Washington’s fiery August Wilson adaptation “Fences” and the

PARIS (AFP) – France’s minister for women’s rights said Friday she found it “surprising and shocking” that controversial Franco-Polish filmmaker Roman Polanski was chosen to preside over France’s equivalent of the Oscars.The award-winning director of “Chinatown” and “Rosemary’s Baby” has been wanted in the US for almost four decades for the rape of a 13-year-old girl in Los Angeles. The decision to honor him at France’s annual Cesars ceremony has infuriated women’s groups, with many taking to so