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As some of the lists of the previous years were not on par with the ones we have been publishing lately, we decided to take a closer look at some of the years that were not as covered at the time. In that fashion, here is a list with the 50 of the Best Asian movies of 2015, in completely random order.

1. Monster Hunt

Raman Hui evidently shot a film to indulge every demographic category in the country. In that fashion, the movie entails elements of RPGs, comics, martial arts, comedy, musicals, romance, some drama and a plethora of action scenes. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

on Amazon by clicking on the image below 2. Spl 2: A Time for Consequences

The action scenes are magnificent, with Tony Jaa as Chatchai and Wu Jing as Kit giving their best selves. Furthermore, the film excels in the technical department, both in cinematography and special effects,...

Exclusive: Korea’s Cj Enm is off to a strong start in the international arena in 2023, with its U.S. co-production Past Lives emerging as one of the biggest hits of Sundance and Berlin, and Vietnamese family comedy House Of No Man becoming the highest-grossing film of all time in its home territory.

In addition to overseeing global distribution of Korean hits such as Parasite, Decision To Leave and Broker, Cj Enm’s Head Of Film Business Jerry Kyoungboum Ko is spearheading an ambitious international strategy that involves English-language production in the U.S., as well as local-language content across several territories.

Celine Song’s Past Lives, which Cj co-produced and co-financed with A24, garnered rave reviews when it premiered at this year’s Sundance film festival and went on to win more acclaim in Berlin. Produced by U.S. labels Killer Films and 2Am, the film stars Greta Lee,...

South Korea’s box office continued its “Avatar”-powered strong run into a fourth weekend, with overall takings exceeding 15 million during the first normal Friday to Sunday of the new year.

“Avatar: The Way of Water” remained in the top position that it has enjoyed since release in mid-December. But there were good showings for local holdover title “Hero” and for new release “The First Slam Dunk.”

“Avatar 2” took 6.42 million in its fourth weekend of release, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). That was a 51 weekend-on-weekend drop after two previous weekends when the film had held extremely strongly and benefited from the Christmas and New Year holiday seasons. Since releasing on Dec. 14, 2022, the title has now accumulated a total of 87.8 million. Its market share dropped to 42 over the weekend, the first time it has been below half since its debut.

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Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer, who earlier this year nabbed the writing gig for Marvel Studios’ Fantastic Four reboot, have signed with CAA.

The duo wrote the 2013 indie comedy Bert and Arnie’s Guide to Friendship, which Kaplan directed, and have set up several projects around town, all in the comedy sphere. They have Disaster Wedding, with End Cue and Jon Watts producing and Palm Springs filmmaker Max Barbakow directing at Warner Bros. as well as K-Pop: Lost in America, with Charles Melton and Rebel Wilson attached to star, Jk Youn directing and Cj Entertainment producing.

The young scribes first met at a Boston University high school summer program and then later reconnected at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. They have been friends and collaborators now for over a decade.

Matt Shakman is directing the Fantastic Four project, which has a Feb.

Cj Enm, which includes Korea’s largest film producer and distributor, is using the Asian Contents & Film Market this week to launch a handful of new titles while basking in its recent box office and festival successes.

“The Boys” gets its premiere as a special screening withing the Busan International Film Festival’s expanded Korean Cinema Today section. This crime drama delves into the lives of three teenage boys, falsely accused and jailed for a brutal robbery-murder case. Fifteen years later, they seek a retrial in a bid to prove their innocence.

The veteran cast line-up includes Seol Kyung Gu (“Kingmaker”), Yu Jun Sang (“Along With The Gods: Two Worlds”), Jin Kyung (“Beasts Clawing At Straws”), Heo Sung Tae and Yeom Hye Ran (“Special Delivery”). “The Boys” was directed by Chung Ji Young, whose notable works include “National Security” and “Black Money.”

History has proven freedom comes at a price.

For the second weekend running, comedy action film “Confidential Assignment 2: International” held top spot at the South Korean box office. And it did so with a massive 75 share of the market.

But as the Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) holiday retreated into the rear-view mirror numbers, both for the sequel film and the nationwide box office, came crashing down.

“Confidential Assignment 2” earned 6.89 million over the latest Friday to Sunday period, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). That figure was down 57 compared with its opening salvo of 21.0 million a week earlier.

Still, since opening on Sept. 7, the film has already amassed 35.2 million. That makes it the fifth highest grossing film of the year to date, ahead of “Hunt” and behind “Dr Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.”

The film was directed by Lee Seok-hoon and executive produced by hitmaker Jk Youn. It stars Hyun bin,...

Make no mistake: Cj Enm is on the move.

The South Korean conglomerate that has done as much as any company to build out the nation’s entertainment ecosystem is actively looking to expand its “production capability and competency.”

That’s the word from Kang Ho-sung, CEO of the cluster of film, TV and music companies that now share the Cj Enm banner. Kang gave a rare, extensive interview to Variety on Aug. 21 in downtown Los Angeles on the sidelines of Cj Enm’s Kcon LA pop culture convention, which brought in close to 100,000 fans from across the U.S.

Kang Ho-sung, CEO of Cj Enm.

Despite the palpable teen spirit that Kcon brought to two packed concerts at Crypto.com Arena, Kang describes Cj Enm’s current mission in terms that are both humble and loftily ambitious.

“Our core bread-and-butter business is as a content provider. Our biggest goal...

After an unexpectedly robust summer at the international box office, there is a near-term question mark about what will happen next: Will recovery stall due to a paucity of Hollywood tentpole movies? Or will international theatrical decouple and find new drivers to maintain the momentum?

The good news is that most of the international market’s top territories are now fully open and operating without significant restrictions on seating capacity. These include the U.K. and Ireland, Japan, France, Germany, Spain, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and Brazil. The smaller number of territories still laboring under restrictions nevertheless include some valuable ones: China, Turkey, Argentina, Hong Kong and Russia.

Hollywood movies that have driven the recent international recovery include “Jurassic World Dominion” (611 million internationally); “Minions: The Rise of Gru” (486 million); “Thor: Love and Thunder” (405 million); and “Elvis” (126 million).

“Top Gun: Maverick,” with 1.4 billion worldwide to date, including 720 million internationally,...

South Korea’s leading entertainment group Cj Enm has appointed Steve W. Chung as its global chief growth officer. He will be based in Los Angeles.

Previously, Chung served as chief growth officer at Fox Corporation. Prior to that Chung was the founder and CEO of Frankly, a publicly-traded media tech company based in San Francisco. He was also a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley and an executive producer in China.

Chung currently serves as a board member of the non-profit National Asia Pacific Center on Aging (Napca) and received his B.A from Harvard College and an M.B.A. from Stanford University.

Chung will be working together with all (related) divisions to create synergy for global growth — based on our company’s vision to position Enm as a global total entertainment company,” a Cj source told Variety. “At the same time, growth in the Americas will be one...

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Two of South Korea’s leading domestic streaming services, Tving and Seezn, have unveiled plans to merge, forming a single platform that’s better equipped to take on global rivals like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+.

Powerhouse Korean entertainment company Cj Enm, which holds the controlling stake in Tving, confirmed the merger via a regulatory filing, indicating that its streaming subsidiary will absorb Seezn. The deal represents just the latest strategic move by Cj Enm to both beef up its position within the local Korean entertainment ecosystem and to grow into a more competitive global player.

The Seoul-based company bought a controlling position in Hollywood studio Endeavor Content late last year for 775 million. A recent partnership with Paramount saw Paramount+ launch atop Tving in June, as both companies seek greater scale to compete with incumbent streaming giants.

Seezn is controlled by KT Studio Genie,...

Exclusive: Another star-studded package looks to have hit the market right before the holiday weekend. Sources tell Deadline that Rebel Wilson and Charles Melton are attached to star in K-Pop: Lost in America for producers Lynda Obst and Cj Entertainment’s Miky Lee. South Korean filmmaker Jk Youn is directing and was written by Jeff Kaplan & Ian Springer, with a current draft by Karen McCullah & Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith.

The package just hit the market and already is drawing interest from suitors.

The story follows a breaking K-pop group that finds themselves mistakenly stranded in Waco, Texas, just days before their American debut at Madison Square Garden. Left with no phones, no money and no transportation, the group must overcome their differences and a host of crazy obstacles to make it to New York City. Along the way, they learn to love Texas, and Texas learns to love them back.

Filming...

Producer Lynda Obst and Miky Lee (executive producer of “Parasite”) have joined forces to tap into the Korean music wave. They will produce “K-Pop: Lost in America,” a feature-length road movie to be released in 2023.

The Cj Enm production has tapped Jk Youn, director of two of the biggest Korean movies of all time, to helm the project. With disaster action movie “Haeundae” in 2009 and melodrama “Ode to My Father” in 2014, Youn was the first person to direct two films that each scored 10 million admissions, the mark of a mega blockbuster, at the Korean box office.

The narrative in “Lost in America” revolves around a K-pop boy group that mistakenly lands in Texas with only two days left until their global debut in the New York. With no money and little time, they must make their way to New York to perform on their dream stage.

“We plan to cast...

There is no doubt that director Jk Youn is a man who has the potential to make massively successful film. Six years ago, he made “Ode to My Father”, a film which after all these years still remains the fourth highest-grossing domestic film at the Korean box-office. His film prior to that was just as successful, with 2009’s “Haeundae” still well within the top 20 in the same list. After a long wait, he is finally back with his newest film “Hero” and it is an interesting project for various reasons.

Synopsis

Ahn Jung-geun is a fighter for the Korean independence movement. Seol-hee used to be a court lady for Queen Myeongseong, but, after Queen Myseongseong was assassinated by the Japanese, Seol-hee takes part in Korean independence activity. She becomes a geisha and gains the favor of Hirobumi Ito, who is the Japanese Resident-General of Korea. He travels to Manchuria and Seol-hee accompanies him.

South Korea celebrated the centennial of the country’s cinema in style. “Parasite” became the first film to win the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival as well as the first film to be nominated for and win a Golden Globe award after being nominated for both Best Director and Best Foreign Language Film, eventually being awarded the Best Foreign Language Film of the year. Commercially as well, Korean films enjoyed a successful year, with both “Extreme Job” and “Exit” benefiting from a strong word of mouth to secure their places among the highest grossing Korean films of all time at the domestic box office. Simultaneously, independent cinema also flourished last year, with several smaller films winning big at various international film festivals around the globe, sending hopeful signs for the country’s independent cinema.

Naturally, expectations are high from what Korean cinema has to offer this year.

The film stars Ha Jung-woo, Cha Tae-hyun, Ju Ji-hoon and Kim Hyang-gi.

Source: Pan Media and Entertainment

‘Along With The Gods: The Two Worlds’

In South Korea, director Kim Yong-hwa’s fantasy film Along With The Gods: The Two Worlds has become the third biggest box office hit in the country’s history.

Based on a hugely popular web comic of the same title, the CGI-driven tearjerker has clocked up 13,542,327 admissions and more than $101.6m as of today (22 Jan), according to the Korean Film Council (Kofic).

The film’s star-studded cast is led by Ha Jung-woo (The Chaser), Cha Tae-hyun (My Sassy Girl), Ju Ji-hoon (Asura: The City Of Madness) and Kim Hyang-gi (Proof Of Innocence).

Cha plays a firefighter who suddenly dies and finds himself going with three guardians (Ha, Ju and Kim) through seven circles of hell to pass trials and prove he is worthy of reincarnation.

Produced by [link=co...

Exclusive: India’s Reel Life Production takes remake rights to Korean epic Ode To My Father from Cj Entertainment.

Cj Entertainment has sold remake rights for its South Korean epic Ode To My Father to India’s Reel Life Production Pvt. Ltd.

Salman Khan (below) will feature in the remake.

Korea’s second biggest hit to date, the original took in over 14 million admissions and grossed over $96.6m at the local box office after its release in December 2014.

Directed by Jk Youn and starring Hwang Jung-min, Ode To My Father is about a young boy’s promise made during the chaos of the Korean War to take care of his family, which ends up spanning 60 years of turbulent modern history.

Filmmaker Atul Agnihotri, who picked up the Hindi-language rights to the film, will be the producer on the remake.

“Some stories fill you with sense of purpose. Ode To My Father is one such story and a fine...

South Korea’s Dexter Studios and Wanda Pictures, the film production division of China’s Wanda Group, are set to co-produce big-budget sci-fi film Kung Fu Robot.

Jk Youn, Korean director and producer of hits such as Haeundae and Ode To My Father, is attached to direct.

Youn’s company Jk Film is also attached to co-produce, while Cj Entertainment is investing and distributing in Korea.

Taking place in the near future, the Chinese-language film is a set to be a humanistic sci-fi comedy about what happens when a cleaning robot starts to learn kung-fu. The project has been two years in development and pre-production and is aiming to start shooting this year.

Founded by hit director Kim Yong-hwa (Take Off, 200 Pounds Beauty), Dexter Studios is known for baseball player gorilla film Mr Go (2013) – Korea’s first film to be shot fully in 3D, which Kim produced and directed.

Since its early days, the company...

★★★★☆ The tenth edition of the London Korean Film Festival got under way on Monday night at the British Film Institute with a star-studded gala premiere of Jk Youn's Ode to My Father (2014). Already a gargantuan enormous box office smash back home, it is a sweeping melodrama that grafts the travails of one man onto several defining moments in Korean history over the course of the 20th century's latter half. It's by turns tear-jerkingly sentimental and laugh-out-loud hilarious, while also paying tribute to Youn's own late father.

Exclusive: New festival plans launch in 2016; preview event this month will open with the European premiere of Korean box office hit Veteran.

Plans have been revealed to launch a new annual event in London dedicated to East Asian film.

The inaugural London East Asia Film Festival (Leaff) will launch in 2016 with a programme of titles from emerging and established directors, attended by filmmakers and stars.

The new festival - founded by former London Korean Film Festival director Hye-jung Jeon – has recruited Chris Fujiwara as chief programmer.

Fujiwara stepped down as artistic director of Edinburgh International Film Festival after three festivals in September 2014. An independent film critic and programmer, Fujiwara had previously developed film festival programmes for Jeonju, Sydney and Mar del Plata among others.

Three film festival advisors, Ji-seok Kim from Busan International Film Festival, Roger Garcia from Hong Kong International Film Festival, and Simon Ward from Independent Cinema Office (Ico), have advised Leaff on its vision...

Directed by: Ji-hoon Kim

Written by: Je-gyun Yun

Starring: Ji-won Ha, Sung-kee Ahn, Ji-ho Oh, Ae-ryeon Cha

In the 1981 TV movie The Intruder Within, Medical Center's Chad Everett plays the commander of an oil rig who inadvertently discovers some prehistoric eggs. One of the eggs hatches, releasing a snake-like malevolent creature that begins to hunt down the crew one by one. Directed by Peter Carter (Rituals), The Intruder Within has the dubious distinction of being one of the first full-on Alien rip-offs on television or film. (Roger Corman’s first attempt, the surreal Galaxy of Terror, would be released theatrically later that year.) It’s a typical early-eighties television yarn with flat visuals, story points timed for commercial breaks and very little onscreen violence. Joseph Bottoms (The Black Hole) is the “Ash” of the piece, attempting to study the life form at any price. There's also a “chest burster” counterpart which is shown,...

Sector 7 (Mining Area 7) a Korean monster movie that looks very promising does not have a Us release date yet, but we do have a English subtitled trailer to share with you. Sector 7 is directed by Kim Ji-Hoon, written by Je-gyun Yun (Tidal Wave) and stars Ji-won Ha (Phone, Tidal Wave), Sung-kee Ahn (The Warrior) and Ji-ho Oh (Strangers 8). Check out the synopsis and English subtitled trailer below. Synopsis: “The film is about a group of workers on a deep sea oil prospecting platform called ‘Eclipse’, located south of Jeju Island>>...

2009 Blue Dragon Awards 2009 Blue Dragon Awards – Nominations: Nov. 14, 2009 2009 Blue Dragon Award Winners: Kbs Hall in Seoul on Dec. 2, 2009 ("*" denotes the winner in each category) Directed by Joon-ho Bong, Mother chronicles the fight of a middle-aged mother to clear the name of her son, accused of a vicious crime. Mother is South Korea’s submission for the 2010 best foreign language film Academy Awards. Best Film Take Off – Yong-hwa Kim Good Morning President – Jang Jin * Mother – Joon-ho Bong Thirst – Chan-wook Park Haeundae – Je-gyun Yun Best Director * Yong-hwa Kim – Take Off Jang Jin – Good Morning President Joon-ho Bong – Mother Chan-wook Park – Thirst Je-gyun Yun – Haeundae Best New Director * Hyeong-cheol Kang – Scandal Makers Keon-hong Park – Lifting [...]...

Director: Je-gyun Yun. Review: Adam Wing. Each and every summer millions of tourists flock to Busan City on the East Coast of Korea, and pretty much every summer, major film studios release a big budget disaster movie onto unsuspecting cinema audiences. Hollywood has made a habit of it, drowning us in volcanic lava, invading aliens and soul-destroying earthquakes. So it’s a big warm welcome from the Busan City tourist board, they hope you enjoy your stay at Haeundae Beach, a popular holiday resort for anyone seeking sun, fun and romance. The Korean Film Board on the other hand, well they just hope you enjoy the mayhem as director Je-gyun Yun delivers one of the most successful box office hits in Korean movie history.