Korea’s CJ ENM Sets Jung Jhong-hwan, Fifth Season Board Member, as President of Global Content (EXCLUSIVE)

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Atlas Distribution Company, a U.S. indie distributor, has set Vietnamese-American co-production film “A Fragile Flower” on course for a theatrical release in the U.S. Produced by the duo Mai Thu Huyen and Jacqueline Thu Thao, the romantic musical drama, with a screenplay by Vietnamese singing sensation Nhat Ha, is set debut from Mar.

Drishyam,” a hit Indian thriller in which an ordinary man confounds the police in order to protect his family, is to be re-made in English. Production is by India’s Panorama Studios with U.S. companies Gulfstream Pictures and JOAT Films.

EXCLUSIVE: Fifth Season is selling more than $1B worth of Apple TV+ content including Jason Momoa-starrer See, Nicole Kidman‘s Roar and M. Night Shyamalan’s Servant at the London TV Screenings.

Emiliano De Pablos U.K.-based distributor DCD Rights has pre-sold the fourth season of New Zealand’s mystery drama “My Life Is Murder” to a raft of territories ahead of its Feb. 27 official launch at the London Screenings. Starring Lucy Lawless (“Top of the Lake,” “Spartacus,” “Xena: Warrior Princess”), the series’ brand new season rights have been secured by YLE Finland, TV2 Denmark, Quebecor Content Canada and Yes DBS Israel.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hybe, the Korean entertainment group behind BTS, saw revenues and profits both grow by more than a fifth in 2023 as album sales doubled and post-COVID conditions allowed more concerts. The company Monday reported annual revenues of KRW2.17 trillion ($1.63 billion), up 23% compared with 2022. Net profits reached KRW187 million, more that three times 2022’s depressed result and exceeding 2021’s figure.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Occult drama-thriller “Exhuma,” dominated the South Korea box office in its opening weekend with a scarily good debut approaching $17 million. The film, about two shaman, a feng shui master and a mortician who attempt to undo the mysterious events happening to a U.S.-based Korean family, grabbed $14.5 million between Friday and Sunday, representing a 77% share of the overall box office market. Including the earnings since its Wednesday debut, the film earned $16.8 million in its full opening session, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).

Jessica Kiang The shortest distance between two points is popularly believed to be a straight line. But if one of those points is the chin, cheekbone or torso of some sneering and/or psychotic Korean gangster, the shortest route is actually the arc described by either one of Korean megastar Don Lee‘s fists, here playing the fists of Detective Ma, protagonist of the ludicrously watchable “Roundup” series.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief In Berlin with “The Roundup: Punishment,” part four of the action movie series that he created and stars in, the larger-than-life Korean American Don Lee finds himself simultaneously in multiple timely and lucrative businesses. These include the Marvel superhero business, the Korea-to-Hollywood remake business, “The Roundup” franchise and its multiple spinoff possibilities. Lee may even be in the business of saving Korean cinema, which is currently having one of its periodic wobbles.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief North American digital distributor Echelon Studios has come on board “12.12: The Day,” the highest grossing film from Korea last year. The film has been on theatrical release in North America, through 815 Pictures since last year and grossed over $1 million.

The bad news might be over…. and at this point that counts as good news for the global TV drama business, analysts say.

K.J. Yossman Keshet International has acquired worldwide distribution rights for hostage drama “Conflict.” Produced by Backmann & Hoderhoff and XZY Films, “Conflict” is a six-part political thriller about an enemy force trying to incite a global conflict with a surprise attack. The series was created and produced by Andrei Alén and Aku Louhimies (“Rebellion”).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Streaming platform Disney+ will add four new Korean-language original series to its 2024 lineup. Its “Blood Free,” “Unmasked,” “The Tyrant” and “Gangnam B-Side” land in addition to a third season of “The Zone: Survival Mission” and the previously announced “Uncle Samsik” and “Light Shop” from webtoon pioneer and creator of the platform’s 2023 series hit “Moving.” “Blood Free,” which is to star Ju Jihoon (“Kingdom”) and Han Hyojoo (“Moving”), follows a former bodyguard haunted by the failures of his past. He finds himself recruited to protect the CEO of a controversial lab-grown meat company who is also a survivor of the fateful attack that changed his life. Set in modern-day Seoul, “Unmasked” follows a group of investigative journalists who are fighting for their careers after broadcasting a controversial story.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief France’s Isabelle Huppert, one of the leading actors of her age, has crafted a unique relationship with Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo. Hong’s “A Traveler’s Needs,” which premieres this week in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, is the third time that Huppert has starred in one of his unique pieces of minimalist cinema. She says she hopes the partnership can go much further. Huppert plays a footloose and intense French woman at large in Korea and vaguely making ends meet as an untrained language tutor with eccentric methods.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Production firm Movierock and rights sales outfit Hive Filmworks are in advanced production on “Hear Me: Our Summer,” a Korean remake of hit 2009 romance film “Hear Me” from Taiwan. The story involves a motorbike delivery man who falls in love with a hearing-impaired younger woman. Comparing themselves with water birds and trees the pair slowly try to break through the barriers in their relationship, pursue their dreams and take things to the next level. The retread stars Hong Kyung, who has a recent string of appearances including Netflix’s “D.P,” “TV’s Revenant” and “Hero,” and the upcoming “Troll Factory.” Co-star Roh Yoon-seo has credits in “Crash Course in Romance” and “Our Blues” and is currently one of the most ubiquitous faces in Korea thanks to her position as the face of the Paris Baguette bakery and café chain. Stylistically, the adaptation aims for the feel of Iwai Shunji’s pan-Asian hit “Love Letter,” and is directed by Jo Seon-ho, who previously made “A Day.” Movierock previously produced a 2018 Korean remake of 2004 Japanese hit “Be With You.” The film is already being pre-sold to multiple territories in Asia.

Rima Das’ upcoming “Malati, My Love.” Das, who is known for her touching dramas from Assam in Northeast India, has become a regular of the international festival circuit. Recent titles include “Village Rockstars” and “Tora’s Husband.” The new film, which was launched at last year’s Asian Project Market in Busan, will shoot by 2025.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Taipei and Los Angeles-based Organic Media Group has picked up rights to U.S.-produced classical music documentary title “Crescendo” and will be launching it at the European Film Market, which accompanies the Berlin Film Festival. The picture had its first commercial release in South Korea in December and became the highest grossing foreign documentary in the last three years.

Filmmaking duo Veronika Franz And Severin Fiala, best known Goodnight Mommy, which was Austria’s 2014 entry for Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, and the Riley Keough-led The Lodge, have signed on to direct the horror feature A Head Full of Ghosts. Production is set to begin later this year.

Meryl Streep just can’t quit Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez.

Naman Ramachandran “A Head Full of Ghosts,” an adaptation of Paul Tremblay’s Bram Stoker Award-winning novel, will be directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala. The horror feature will be adapted and directed by Franz and Fiala, the filmmaking duo best known for horror-thriller hit, “Goodnight Mommy,” which was selected as Austria’s 2014 Oscar entry, and the Riley Keough-led “The Lodge,” which premiered at Sundance and was acquired by Neon in 2019. Their next film, “The Devil’s Bath,” is competing for the Golden Bear at the ongoing Berlin Film Festival.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief U.S-Asian sales company EST N8 has picked up the international rights for “30 Minutes,” a Korean sci-fi thriller film that is currently in production. The story revolves around a middle-aged man trapped in a time loop, repeatedly reliving the Christmas Eve of his murder.