A local movie about the abhorrent suffering of the Korean women who were forced into sexual enslavement by imperialist Japan during World War II topped weekend ticket sales, data showed Monday."Spirits' Homecoming" attracted 767,071 moviegoers from Feb.26-28, the first weekend after its cinema launch on Wednesday, according to cinema ticketing services. During the same period, the film was put on the silver screen 8,956 times nationwide and accounted for 30.4 percent of all weekend ticket sales.

A local movie depicting the horrendous suffering of Korean women who were sexually enslaved for Japanese soldiers during World War II has reached the break-even point in four days after its release, data showed Sunday."Spirits' Homecoming" sold 296,524 tickets on Saturday alone, taking the accumulated number of viewers to 756,665 since its release on Wednesday, according to the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). With the robust performance, the film exceeded its break-even point a day earlier, where r

Ryu Jun-yeol, the star of the hit local TV series "Reply 1988," was dubbed the rookie of 2015, star agency C-JeS Entertainment said on Friday. The 30-year-old Korean heartthrob was awarded two honors, the best rookie's award and the rising star's award, in this year's Maxmovie Best Films Awards, an annual awards ceremony hosted by online movie reviewer and reservation service provider Maxmovie, at the Universal Art Center in eastern Seoul in Thursday evening. Ryu, the latest contender for the ti

Asia's biggest film festival is drifting.The general assembly of the Busan International Film Festival on Thursday failed to breach differences between the organizing committee and the sponsoring city, casting a cloud over the prospects of the 20-year-old event.Shortly before the meeting, the committee released a statement, signed by 106 people from the film industry, demanding the committee rules be amended so as to give the film festival "independence and autonomy" which it argues were damaged

A local movie that depicts the difficult life of Koreans forced to work as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II snatched the top spot at the box office on Wednesday, data showed."Spirits' Homecoming," shown in 507 theaters and cinemas on its opening day nationwide, attracted 153,783 moviegoers, beating American superhero film "Deadpool," which garnered 138,057 viewers, according to Korean Film Council (KOFIC). Its surprise performance was not entirely unexpected as it had enjoyed

Distributing rights for South Korean director Park Chan-wook's upcoming movie "The Handmaiden" have been sold in 116 countries even before its completion, the film's distributor said Wednesday.It's the second time a South Korean movie has been sold to more than 100 countries prior to release, CJ Entertainment said, adding the first was Bong Joon-ho's "Snowpiercer" in 2013.The transactions were made through the European Film Market, with Amazon Studios having bought the distributing rights in the

A local film about the painful life of South Korean sex slaves during World War II, tops pre-sale reservation rates in the local box office, a market tracker said Wednesday."Spirits' Homecoming," released on Wednesday nationwide, enjoys a reservation rate of 27.2 percent, leading Hollywood blockbuster "Deadpool" and Disney animation "Zootopia" with a big margin, according to Korean Film Council (KOFIC). The booking rates for the two American films are 13.8 percent and 12.6 percent, respectively.

A South Korean film director is facing fraud charges for allegedly not paying back some 10 billion won ($8.1 million) he borrowed from a local bank, prosecutors said Wednesday.A former head of a local savings bank filed charges against Kwak Kyung-taek, best known for "Friend" (2001), with the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office on Tuesday, prosecutors said.In the petition, the 58-year-old former banker said Kwak borrowed some 17.5 billion won from 2008 to 2011 and did not repay about 9.2