City Seoul Showbiz Latest News and Updates

XG have announced their 2024 ‘The First Howl’ world tour, featuring concerts in Asia, North America, Europe and more.On March 18, XG announced that they would be embarking on their first-ever world tour, title ‘The First Howl’, which will include shows and concerts in Asia, North America, Europe and more.The girl group will kick-off their trek with a two-date show at the Osaka-Jo Hall in Osaka, Japan on May 18. In the same month, they will also play concerts in the Japanese city of Yokohama.While the dates for the rest of XG’s 2024 ‘The First Howl’ world tour in Asia have yet to be announced, they have teased concerts in cities such as Bangkok, Singapore, Taipei, Seoul and more.The girl group have also revealed upcoming legs in North America and Europe, set to take place in October and November this year.

Big Hit Music has uploaded footage from TXT’s recent fan concert, including that of Taehyun’s exclusive cover of Bruno Mars’ ‘Finesse’.The 2024 TXT ‘Fanlive Present X Together’ was held in person early this month, at Seoul’s Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium from March 2 to 3. The concert also received a Japanese edition, held at Tokyo’s Tokyo Garden Theater on March 8.Last night (March 17), an official video of singer Taehyun’s special solo stage was uploaded to the group’s YouTube channel, which saw him perform an abridged cover of Bruno Mars’ ‘Finesse’.

Sara Cox, the presenter of BBC Radio 2, has had quite a journey from being shockingly stalked by a paedophile to securing herself an impressive net worth.The 49 year old, who hails from Bolton, is now taking on her next venture as she joins this series of The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer.The radio star will tackle technicals and showstoppers as she masters baking in the iconic GBBO tent alongside the likes of Danny Dyer, Paloma Faith, Oti Mabuse and Spencer Matthews.The 2024 celebrity series will kick off from 7.40pm on Sunday, 17 March on Channel 4 with Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith returning as judges and Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond as hosts. As we watch Sara mix her way to become Star Baker, we've taken a look at her life away from the spotlight.

Zendaya’s impressive 2024 is just starting. Her year, which kicked off with the premiere of “Dune 2,” an appearance at the Oscars, and innumerable stunning looks, continues with a new project. “Challengers,” her new film, will be released in April 26th, with a new teaser being released.Zendaya’s best looks at the ‘Dune: Part 2’ press tour: From vintage Givenchy in Seoul to Mugler in LondonZendaya looks angelic in vintage Roberto Cavalli during her latest fashion momentA post shared by Challengers Movie (@challengersmovie)“Challengers” stars Zendaya as Tashi, a promising tennis player who loses her career after experiencing an injury.

Here’s a first look at J-Hope‘s Prime Video doc, Hope on the Street.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Pleasant Outcast,” a 10-part Korean series that is set to appear at Canneseries next month, is a companion piece to “Concrete Utopia,” the hit film from last year that was selected as South Korea’s Oscar contender. Both the Lotte Cultureworks series and “Concrete Utopia,” a dystopian drama-thriller set in a post-apocalyptic Seoul, are adapted from best-selling webtoon “Cheerful Outcast,” by Kim Soong Nyung. The film was frequently compared to William Golding’s seminal novel from the 1954 “Lord of the Flies” and its 1964 film adaptation. Using the first part of the webtoon, the series follows Dong-hyun, a high school junior, who barely survives his day-to-day bullying at school.

Best Picture nominee “Past Lives,” wore a turtle pin to the 2024 Oscars in memory of his pet tortoise that died in August 2023. “OK, so my pet tortoise passed away last year and I had him for 10 years,” Yoo, 42, explained to a Variety reporter on the Los Angeles red carpet Sunday.In the video, the South Korean actor revealed that he named his reptile Momo after a children’s fantasy novel of the same name written by German author Michael Ende. The novel was published in 1973.Yoo, who was born in Germany, joked that his fan club back home named themselves “Momos” after the turtle.

Attrakt has been cleared of charges in a lawsuit filed by former FIFTY FIFTY members over alleged breach of trust.This is according to a statement given to South Korean news outlet Yonhap News today (March 11) by a representative from Attrakt, who said that the Gangnam Police Station in Seoul has “decided not to transfer the case of breach of trust filed by former FIFTY FIFTY members Saena, Sio and Aran [with no charges]”, as translated by Soompi. The K-pop agency also said that it would “hold those who deceived the members, who do not understand the accounting principles of corporate funds and encouraged them to file a complaint accountable for their actions of tampering [with their contracts] until the end”.On the same day, Attrakt also announced the upcoming return of FIFTY FIFTY, with new faces set to join remaining original member Keena in “June or July this year”, per Korea JoongAng Daily. More details about the group’s new line-up and music are expected to arrive in the coming months.In August last year, FIFTY FIFTY’s legal counsel – led by law firm Barun – officially announced that the idols had filed a criminal complaint against Attrakt CEO Jeon Hong-joon for “violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc.

Seoul-based sales company Finecut has boarded international sales on the action-comedy Boss and will launch sales at this week’s Filmart in Hong Kong. 

Karina and Lee Jae Wook are making major headlines right now.

TOMORROW X TOGETHER, otherwise known as TXT, are coming back!

EXCLUSIVE: Veteran unscripted agent and producer Bill Thompson, former Head Of Unscripted Television at Verve, is launching his own management and production company, Artists Group | Unscripted.

Black Country, New Road have performed a variety of new songs at a show in Shanghai. Check out footage below.The live show took place on Monday (February 26), when the band took to the stage at the Bandai Namco Dream Hall in Shanghai.During the set – which comprised 12 songs from across their discography – the band also treated fans to three unreleased songs: ‘For The Cold Country’, ‘Socks’, and ‘Geese’.The first was used to open the setlist on Monday, although didn’t mark the first time that the track had been played live.

“I’m happy and I’m gon’ get up / Sweet and bitter memories / With everything behind, just look forward, I am glad to take a step ahead,” they belt on the song’s affecting chorus.The ongoing ‘H1-KEYnote’ project started with the release of the single ‘Thinkin’ About You’ late last month, which sports a similar style to ‘Deeper’ in terms of vocal emphasis. It remains unclear if both singles will appear on a larger body of work in the near future.Comprising Seoi, Riina, Hwiseo and Yel, H1-KEY made their official debut in early 2022 with the single album ‘Athletic Girl’, and have released one other single album and two mini-albums in the time since.

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.

ITZY member Lia has made her first public appearance since she went on hiatus at the band’s ‘Born To Be’ concert in Seoul this past weekend.The JYP Entertainment girl group held the first kick-off concerts over the course of two nights last weekend (February 24 to 25) at Seoul’s Jamsil Indoor Stadium. Notably, the concerts were attended by Lia, a member of the group who has been on hiatus since September 2023 after experiencing “extreme levels of anxiety”.The Korean-Canadian idol was seen among the audience and was later shown on the venue’s LED screens on stage, marking her first-ever public appearance in approximately five months.

has taken the juggernaut to Korea, where she’s supporting local talent through the lens of her current sci-fi style. Those that assumed she’d tap out of the method-dressing game after wriggling into for the London premiere have been put back in their boxes, thanks to a Juun.J look that says sandstorm chic is still very much it for spring/summer 2024.Zendaya and her “image architect” Law Roach have taken method dressing into a new league on the Dune: Part Two promo moment.Insiders will know that Seoul-based Juun.J and his deconstructed tailoring have been on the scene since the late ’90s, when he founded his first brand Lone Costume, but that he pivoted and moved his eponymous 2007-born label to Paris to demonstrate his skills at splicing and dicing, cutting and construction on the European fashion stage.

Lee Hi will be holding a “mini-live performance” in Singapore next month, as part of Marquee Singapore’s ‘OH-K!’ event.The nightclub announced the details for its ‘OH-K!’ event today (February 20), revealing Lee Hi as its special guest performer. The event is being billed as one that “spotlights a diverse and eclectic mix of Korean artists and DJs”.Lee Hi will be performing at Marquee Singapore on March 16, with tickets on sale now via the nightclub’s official website.

Korean director Hong Sang-soo is such a Berlinale favorite that his film in competition, featuring Isabelle Huppert as an apparently penniless tourist trying to scrape together a living in Seoul, is his sixth film to be invited to the festival since 2020 — remarkably, that’s not even his entire output over that time. He hits this pace by keeping things simple, shooting each film in just a couple of weeks with very few crew and small casts, most of whom have been his collaborators for years, and covering many of the key technical jobs himself.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Iris, the petite enigma at the center of “A Traveler’s Needs,” dresses at once to be noticed, and to disappear. Over a bright sundress, spattered all over with red and violet blossoms, she wears a cardigan of a most assertive, eye-searing green.

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.

BTS‘ J-Hope will be launching his docuseries, Hope on the Street, March 28 on Prime Video, with episodes released weekly every Thursday and Friday.

Disney+ has unveiled a slate of Korean originals, as the streaming platform opts for a more targeted strategy in Asia.

Unmasked, Blood Free, The Tyrant, Gangnam B-Side, Uncle Samsik and Light Shop, as well as the long-awaited third season of reality programme The Zone: Survival Mission. Blood Free will star Ju Ji-hoon (Kingdom) and Han Hyo-joo (Moving) in a tale of a former bodyguard haunted by the failures of his past, Meawhile, Unmasked, set in contemporary Seoul, follows a team of investigative journalists fighting for their careers as they reckon with the aftermath of 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.

and we are breathless. Her presence could not be missed, after all, she is nominated for best actress in a leading for Barbie.

Bob Edwards, a Peabody-winning National Radio Hall of Famer who anchored NPR’s Morning Edition for nearly a quarter-century before moving to satellite radio, died Saturday. He was 76. National Public Radio announced his death but did not provide details.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Concrete Utopia,” the highly regarded drama-thriller that was South Korea’s Oscars contender and one of the biggest box office hits of 2023, has scored a streaming release in North America. Rakuten Viki, which specializes in Asian content, has licensed exclusive rights to the film in the U.S. and Canada and will begin streaming it to North American audiences from Friday.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Lotte Cultureworks will launch “Holy Night: Demon Hunters,” likely to be one of the biggest Korean movies of the year, at next month’s European Film Market in Berlin. The occult-themed action movie stars Don Lee, the Korean-American superstar who also fronts “The Roundup” comedy-action franchise. The fourth instalment in that series “The Roundup: Punishment” will have its world premiere in the Berlin festival’s Berlinale Special section, with Lee expected to be in attendance, giving Lotte some additional momentum with the new title launch.

NCT member Ten has shared more details about his upcoming solo debut.Today (January 26) at midnight KST, NCT’s Ten announced the release date and new details for his forthcoming solo debut. Titled ‘TEN’, his first mini-album will be released on February 13 at 6pm KST.Released alongside the announcement was a teaser poster that seems to tease the lyrics of an upcoming song: “When the midnight comes / Pulling the strings / Beautiful monster royalty energy / I am yours”NCT TENThe 1st Mini Album ‘TEN’【TEN – The 1st Mini Album】➫ 2024.02.13 6PM (KST)#TEN #李永钦 #텐#NCT #WayV #威神V#TEN_TEN #NCT_TEN_TEN pic.twitter.com/7WYHbxSI4H— NCT (@NCTsmtown) January 25, 2024Ten has previously released several solo tracks, mainly through SM Entertainment’s SM Station project, the first being 2017’s ‘Dream in a Dream’.