| [TV Program] War Will Dominate TV and Movie Honoring the 60th Anniversary of the Korean War in 2010 (Source) |
2010/01/29 |
In 2010, the clock of the Korean pop culture is set for June 1950. TV and movies will be flooded with war stories as this year marks the 60th anniversary of the Korean War. TV stations are raising their stakes in war-themed mega dramas and Chungmuro, the Korean counterpart of Hollywood, is also betting high on block-buster war movies.
Ammunition (casting of top stars) is loaded and the war chest (massive budget) is huge.
The battle between two major networks KBS and MBC first grabs attention. One turns the clock back and remakes "Comrades", a hit TV series of the 1970s into a modern war drama while the other meets the challenge head-on with a block buster costing 10 billion won in budget. KBS' 20-episode series "Comrades" is the remake of a weekday TV series of the same title that was aired from 1975 to 1977. Both series are scheduled to start airing in June.
The 2010 version of "Comrades" centers on the battlefields during the Korean War, focusing on comradeship among soldiers... |More
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| Celeb Couple Seeks to Visit Haiti (Source) |
2010/01/26 |
Top actor Jang Dong-gun and actress Ko So-young want to visit quake-stricken Haiti to take part in volunteer efforts, their aides said.
Jang is currently a goodwill ambassador for the World Food Program (WFP), a branch of the United Nations, and Ko is a UNICEF envoy.
"I know Jang has plans to visit Haiti and that Ko is also considering going with him in support of his actions", an aide was quoted as saying by the Sports Hankook daily. "But it's uncertain whether it will be before or after their wedding".
They reportedly plan to tie the knot around May.
Jang is recovering from a recent knee surgery. He sustained the injury in 2003 while making the movie "Taegukgi".
The couple is seeking to visit Haiti as they have set a goal of focusing more on volunteer activities as one of their "couple projects".
"Last June, Ko took part in an international anti-AIDS campaign as a UNICEF envoy. The couple plans to actively take part in volunteer programs. Volunteering is one of the ... |More
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| "Avatar" takes sixth Korean box office win (Source) |
2010/01/25 |
Movie poster for "Avatar" [20th Century Fox]
Hollywood blockbuster "Avatar" continued to remain the most-watched movie in Korea last week, taking command of the box office for the sixth weekend in a row, according to official box office figures on Monday.
Statistics by the Korean Box Office Information System (KOBIS) showed that the sci-fi action flick drew in 633,881 viewers from January 22 to 24, totalling close to 10.3 million viewers since the film's opening in mid-December.##
The James Cameron pic, currently the sixth most-watched movie in Korea's history after "The Host", "The King and the Clown", "Taegukgi", "Haeundae" and "Silmido", is now just about 80,000 viewers away from moving a step up the chart.
Newly-released Korean comedy "Attack the Gas Station 2" entered the weekend box office in second place with 303,731 viewers while the action comedy film "JEON WOO CHI : The Taoist Wizard" dropped a spot to No. 3 with 296,978 viewers.
Rou... |More
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| Actor Jang Dong-gun Has Successful Surgery on Knee (Source) |
2010/01/17 |
Actor Jang Dong-gun underwent knee surgery at a general hospital in Seoul earlier this week and was discharged on Friday, officials from his agency said.
"Jang had surgery to repair damaged cartilage in his left knee and was discharged from the hospital as the surgery went well", an official said. "He will concentrate on rehab for a while".
Jang sustained the injury in 2003 while he was acting in the movie "Taegukgi". He previously had surgery but failed to recover from the injury completely.
The next film Jang will star in is director Kang Je-gyu's "D-Day", which will start shooting in May.... |More
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| "Avatar" becomes sixth most-watched film in Korea (Source) |
2010/01/14 |
Hollywood film "Avatar" has set another record in Korea this week, becoming the sixth most-watched film in the country's history, according to the film's distributor 20th Century Fox Korea on Friday.
As of January 14, the James Cameron pic -- which on Monday was named the most-watched foreign film in Korea -- had attracted over 8.66 million viewers since its release on December 17 to set the new box-office record.
The figures for the sci-fi action flick had surpassed notable Korean blockbusters such as "Take Off" (8.44 million viewers), "D-War" (8.42 mil.), to land at No. 6 on the list of most-watched films of all-time.
The top five spots were all claimed by Korean movies -- "The Host", "The King and the Clown", "Taegukgi", "Haeundae" and "Silmido".
"Avatar" is expected to breach the nine-million viewer mark over the weekend as it is still topping ticket reservations into its fifth week of release.
The film stars Australian actor Sam Worthington as a paraplegic war veter... |More
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