Watch the chilling trailer for Netflix’s new K-drama, ‘Goodbye Earth’

K-Pop is taking over this year!

South Korean cinema continues to be a thriller forerunner in many genres, especially horror, and the new horror thriller, “Sleep,” seems to be continuing the tradition. The film is the feature-length directorial debut of Jason Yu, a second unit director on Bong Joon-Ho’s sci-fi-ish thriller “Okja.” The connections to Joon-Ho don’t end there either, as “Parasite” star Lee Sun-Kyun is among the cast members.

Queen of Tears, starring Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won, has set a new viewership record for tvN.Queen of Tears, which aired its finale yesterday (April 28), has achieved record viewership numbers for South Korean cable network tvN, with its finale episode clinching a 24.9 per cent viewership rating, per Korea JoongAng Daily.The final episode of Queen of Tears surpasses a previous record held by the popular K-drama Crash Landing On You, which peaked at 21.7 per cent viewership rating with its finale on tvN back in 2020.The figure also places Queen of Tears as the third highest viewed cable K-drama of all-time in South Korean, only beaten by the 2020 series The World of the Married (with 28.4 per cent) and Reborn Rich (with 26.9 per cent). Both those shows aired on the cable network JTBC.Queen of Tears also notably marked the acting comeback of Kim Soo-hyun, whose last project was 2021’s One Ordinary Day.

ZEROBASEONE have announced the dates for their upcoming 2024 ‘The First Tour’ tour, featuring concerts in Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and more.Today (April 29), ZEROBASEONE revealed the dates for their forthcoming 2024 ‘The First Tour’ tour, which will feature 14 concerts in seven different countries from September to December this year.The K-pop boyband will kick off their tour with a three-date show at the KSPO Dome in Seoul, South Korea from September 20 to 22. In the same month, the group will also hold a concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.In the following month, ZEROBASEONE will bring their 2024 ‘The First Tour’ tour to other cities and countries across Southeast Asia.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “The Roundup: Punishment,” the fourth film in the Don Lee-starring crime action franchise, earned $20.8 million between Friday and Sunday and punched out all competition at the South Korean box office. “Challengers,” which headed the box office this weekend in North America, with $15 million, opened fourth in Korea a 0.5% market share. “Punishment” accounted for a crushing 94% market share and collected its weekend haul from 2.92 million ticket sales, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). The film opened officially on Wednesday, when it scored $4.92 million, and followed that with a $3.25 million Thursday. Including the weekday takings and a smattering of previews from the previous weekend, the film finished Sunday with a cumulative of $29.3 million, earned from 4.25 million spectators. The stellar performance was the biggest opening this year, ahead of February’s “Exhuma,” a spooky drama that earned $14.5 million on its February first weekend and picked up pace in its second week. Giant screen systems provider, Imax reports that “Punishment” earned $770,000 of its Korean score from just 24 screens.

Some Britain's Got Talent viewers have been left asking 'what's the point' as they made a complaint about the news series following its return over the weekend. The 17th series launched on Saturday night (April 20) with a singer and a South Korean martial arts troupe quick to be awarded the coveted golden buzzer.

British holidaymakers have criticised a new rule brought in by Spanish lawmakers.

UK holidaymakers have expressed their frustration over a new £97 rule in Spain, with many stating they 'simply won't go' on holiday there anymore.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korea’s second largest generalist film event the Jeonju International Film Festival has set eight fiction films by first or second-time feature directors, for its main competition. They are “Cu Li Never Cries,” by Pham Ngoc Lan; “Junkyard Dog,” by Jean-Baptiste Durand, “La Palisiada,” by Philip Sotnychenko; “My Endless Numbered Days,” by Shaun Neo; “Oxygen Station,” by Ivan Tymchenko; “Practice,” by Laurens Perol; “The Major Tones,” by Ingrid Pokropek; and “The Permanent Picture,” by Laura Ferres. Additionally, two documentary features also compete: “After the Snowmelt,” directed by Lo Yi-Shan and “Kix,” by Balint Revesz and David Mikulan. The COVID-pandemic continues to affect filmmaking and festival selection, organizers said. “Even films planned to be made beforehand had to extend their production period due to the pandemic, and many works highlighted the limitations of the production environments, such as smaller cast numbers and minimal locations,” said chief programmer Chun Jinsu. The festival runs May 1-10 in Jeonju, a major town on South Korea’s west coast.

aespa singer Winter recently underwent what is being described as a “preventive” surgery for a collapsed lung.In a statement today (April 12), the Winter’s label SM Entertainment confirmed reports that the aespa singer recently underwent surgery for a pneumothorax, which is also commonly known as collapsed lung.Speaking to South Korean news outlet Newsen, the K-pop agency said that because the condition is “prone to recurrence”, the surgery was “carried out as a preventive measure in accordance with her doctor’s opinion, and the decision was made after plenty of discussion”, per Soompi.SM Entertainment added said that Winter is “currently recovering”, adding that the aespa singer’s recovery is their “top priority moving forward” when touching on how the surgery would affect the group’s scheduled activities.aespa are expected to drop new music in the second quarter of 2024, according to a preview of upcoming music release SM Entertainment released in February. It is currently unclear how Winter’s surgery will affect these plans.The K-pop group have also announced their upcoming 2024 ‘SYNK: Parallel Line’ world tour, featuring concerts in Asia, Australia and more.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Rights to “I, The Executioner,” which will premiere as a Midnight Screening at the Cannes Film Festival this year, have been picked up by South Korea’s CJ ENM. The crime-action film directed by Ryu Seung-wan (also written Ryoo Seung-wan) is a sequel to Ryu’s 2015 hit “Veteran” and in Korea goes by the title “Veteran 2.” Few details of the story have yet been disclosed, but CJ describes the film as “combining Ryu’s trademark action with observations and messages about social change.” Ryu last year enjoyed major box office success with crime comedy “Smugglers.” Hwang Jung-min, who recently enjoyed box office success in “12.12: The Day,” reprises his role from “Veteran.” He is joined in the sequel by Jung Hae-in (“Tune in for Love”) as a new member of the film’s Violent Crime Investigation Squad. “I, The Executioner” was produced by Filmmaker R & K, the production shingle owned by Ryu and his wife Kang Hae-jung, with CJ ENM as financier and local and international distributor. CJ ENM expects to give the film a theatrical release in South Korea at an unspecified date in the second half of the year. The original “Veteran” had its international premiere in a sidebar of the 2015 Toronto festival, was named best film at the Sitges genre festival in Spain.

There is so much going on in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 2015 novel “The Sympathizer” that it would take a team of true craftsmen even to attempt to unpack it in episodic form. HBO is lucky they hired one of the best in Park Chan-Wook, a supremely and undeniably talented director.

Welcome to , Deadline’s fortnightly strand in which we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films making noise in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track. So we’re going to do the hard work for you.

Well Go USA has landed North American rights for Dutch action thriller Invasion about a daring military operation in the wake of a hostile attack on the Caribbean islands of Aruba and Curacao.

THE BOYZ have announced their upcoming 2024 ‘Zeneration II’ world tour, featuring concerts in Asia, the US, Europe and more.Today (April 8), THE BOYZ announced the first batch of dates for their upcoming 2024 ‘Zeneration II’ world tour. The trek will follow their 2023 ‘Zeneration’ world tour, which had featured 24 dates in Asia.‘Zeneration II’ will kick-off in July with a three-date show in South, South Korea, before the boyband head to the US for a solo tour the first time since 2022.

Minho and Key of K-pop boyband SHINee have renewed their contracts with long-time label SM Entertainment.SM Entertainment announced the contract renewals of both Minho and Key in a statement to South Korean news outlet Sports Chosun, saying that the SHINee duo had re-signed due to a “strong foundation of trust” with the K-pop agency, via Soompi.“We are happy to continue our valuable relationship with Minho and Key,” SM Entertainment added. “We will provide our full support in various ways for Minho and Key to shine not only as members of SHINee but also as solo artists.”In the same statement, Minho and Key also touched on their decision to re-sign with SM Entertainment, saying that the K-pop boyband have “spent every moment together [with the agency] from our beginning until now”.“I think we are who we are today because of the agency staff that we have worked together with for a long time,” the SHINee members added.

Goodbye Earth.Today (April 9), the streamer revealed though its Netflix K-Content account on X (formerly Twitter) that Goodbye Earth will premiere April 26. The announcement was accompanied by 10 stills from the upcoming K-drama, which will star Ahn Eun-jin, Jeon Sung-woo and more.Notably, none of the stills feature actor Yoo Ah-in, who has been embroiled in controversy regarding his alleged drug use since early-2023.

Alex Ritman Banijay has acquired the format rights to “Alumni Lovers,” the school reunion dating show from MBC that first launched in South Korea last December. In a deal to be formerly announced by its global head of acquisitions Helen Greaterox at an MIPTV panel later on Monday, the French TV giant will launch the format in Netherlands via its SimpelZodiak label and France through Endemol France.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Oscar-winning Japanese animation film “The Boy and the Heron” earned a chart-topping $34.9 million between Friday and Sunday at the mainland China box office. Over its full five-day opening run, it took an even more spectacular $73 million. China was the last major territory to play the Studio Ghibli-produced fantasy in cinemas – it released in its native Japan in July and is imminently headed to streaming in many other territories – but that did not stop Chinese audiences from lapping it up. While most films release in China on a Friday, “The Boy and the Heron” was given a Wednesday outing in order to capture momentum from the Thursday-to-Saturday Qingming public holiday. Consultancy firm Artisan reports that it earned RMB248 million ($34.9 million) over the conventional Friday-to-Sunday weekend.

Emiliano De Pablos Spain’s film and TV industries are in their second wave as standout content providers for global streamers. Some of the country’s most intriguing titles will take the international stage this weekend at MipTV in Cannes. Built on a foundation of hits such as “The Red Band Society,” “Grand Hotel,” “Velvet” and “Locked Up,” a new era of internationally renowned content creation in Spain kicked off in 2018 with Alex Pina’s blockbuster series “Money Heist,” picked up by Netflix.