There are a number of South Korean period action films set in 1933, when Korea was under Japanese colonial rule. Although director Lee Hae-young’s upcoming period action film “Phantom” shares the same background, the film’s plot revolving around five protagonists is about action and mind games between characters hunting down a spy called Phantom. “I did not depend too much on the historical rec...

LONDON -- Film-maker Steven Spielberg has said he truly regrets the "decimation of the shark population" following the success of his 1975 film "Jaws". Spielberg's Oscar-winning thriller told the story of a man-eating great white shark that attacked a US seaside town, prompting a rise in sports fishing across America. "I truly and to this day regret the decimation of the shark population becaus...

Long-awaited Hollywood sci-fi film “Avatar: The Way of Water” has topped 2.4 million admissions in five days after its release, box-office data showed Sunday, breaking the record set by the original “Avatar” in 2009. Despite the film’s agonizingly long three-hour runtime, “Avatar: The Way of Water” drew 359,225 people on the first day, bringing its combined total to 1 million people in just thre...

South Korea’s film industry saw its accumulative revenue this year surpass 1 trillion won ($767 million) for the first time after movie theaters struggled to survive the COVID-19 pandemic. According to data by Korean Film Council, total revenue from January to November recorded 1.26 trillion won, mostly buoyed by a slew of movies that were released targeting moviegoers during the summer and Chus...

Have you been wondering what the film “Asia” is about? Check out our exclusive interview with the cast! This is the second episode of a three-part series, filmed on Nov.6 in Seoul. Check out the first episode if you haven’t already, and watch out for the final episode to be released on Dec. 22!

India's Anushka Sen, Thailand's Pakorn Chatborirak and Malaysia’s Daiyan Trisha and Sean Lee sat down with the Asia 101 team for an off-the-wall interview about their Korean debut film with director Lee Jung-sub. This is the first episode of a three-part series, filmed on Nov.6 in Seoul. Check back for the next episode – the final one will be released on Dec. 22!

Prey for the Devil (US) Opened Dec. 7 Mystery Directed by Daniel Stamm With a global rise in demonic possessions, the Roman Catholic Church decides to reopen schools to train priests to perform exorcisms. While nuns are not allowed to perform this ritual, Sister Ann’s gifts are noticed by a professor who decides to train her. Sister Ann soon finds herself in a battle for the soul of a young ...

Park Chan-wook's romance thriller "Decision to Leave" has been nominated for best foreign film for this year's Critics Choice Awards. According to the nominations announced by the Critics Choice Association on Wednesday (U.S. time), the Korean film starring Park Hae-il and Tang Wei was listed in the best foreign language film category, along with five other movies. "Decision to Leave" has also ...

Online video streaming, foreign shows raised bar for graphic content while parents call for more rigorous rating

Korea’s first musical-to-film maximizes plot with grand, sublime musical numbers, indispensable supporting roles

The South Korean period thriller "The Night Owl" has stayed atop the weekend box office for the third time in a row, data showed Monday. The movie topped the box office chart for last weekend beginning Friday, selling about 468,000 tickets, according to the data from the Korean Film Council. The flick has been on top of the weekend chart as well as the daily chart since it opened in South Korea...

The film festival put forth star creators in its goals for reformation into a global awards

Despite efforts to renew itself, ceremony remains lackluster, chaotic

Even If This Love Disappears Tonight (Japan) Opened Nov. 30 Romance Directed by Takahiro Miki The movie, based on the novel by the same title by the Japanese author Misaki Ichijo, tells a story of high school students Toru Kamiya (Shunsuke Michieda) and Maori Hino (Riko Fukumoto) who go on a date despite Maori suffering from a condition in which she loses all memory of the previous day upon ...

The Korean Film Council will hold the Freedom of Expression Film Festival from Friday until Dec. 18, with local independent film theaters screening 20 films that were blacklisted during previous conservative administrations. The existence of the blacklist came to light in 2016. The 20 films include director Park Chan-wook’s “Joint Security Area” (2000), “The Handmaiden” (2016), director Chung Ji...