Korea Box Office: Military Comedy ‘6/45’ Takes Top Spot as Weekend Total Retreats

Celeste Barber had fans in stitches in her latest stunt on road.The Australian influencer, who boasts 9.2million followers on Instagram, has made her fame thanks to her hilarious take on famous models' snaps and videos.In her latest clip, she was seen trying to mimic biker model "Panda", who rode her two-wheeler in a neon yellow swimsuit while performing a dangerous stunt.READ MORE: Mum rips into Kendall Jenner's skimpy bikini snap as fans prefer her take on itPanda, from US, placed her feet on the seat and lifted one leg up in the air as she held onto the motorbike handles on the road.Celeste, 40, tried her best to copy the move but admitted: "We all lie on our resume."In the video, the mum-of-two put on her swimsuit and instead of hopping on a bike, chose a safer option and rode on an electric scooter.Despite her best efforts, she lifted her legs up and strolled down the road while screaming at the top of her lungs.Her video has racked up 331,000 likes and fans all said the same thing about her.One wrote: "This is my favourite, you're ridiculous.""Stop it, this is too hilarious!" a second commented and a third said: "She is just so funny.""Oh my God, I was so relieved that you didn't actually attempt this crazy stunt!" a fourth added.Fashion model Miranda Kerr also commented under Celeste's post with a fire emoji.Celeste has since posted a new video to show the harsh reality of "staying hydrated and fresh faced while on the road".She took advice from actress-turned-entrepreneur Jessica Alba, who posted her skincare routine on a plane.Jessica wrote: "Skincare in the airplane bathroom on the way to London - no shame in my game."And when she realised Celeste had done a parody of her video, she commented: "I love you

Netflix with a bang this week with presenter Raphael Rowe back at the hosting helm once more.In the nail-biting series, the 54-year-old journalist will step inside four new prisons across the globe – Bosnia, Cyprus, Moldovia and Greece – to speak to prisoners and guards about their gruelling experiences inside these difficult institutes.Over the years, the broadcaster has spoken to some of the most wicked criminals to walk the earth as well as those who have been wrongly convicted and incarcerated for minor crimes.READ MORE: Netflix's Blonde faces backlash over graphic sex scenes and talking aborted foetusBut arguably one of his most memorable interviews on the show was with Russian serial killer Serhiy Tkach who was convicted for the deaths of 38 women and children and suspected to have killed over a hundred. While filming in Zhytomyr Prison maximum-security facility, Ukraine, the journalist managed to secure a rare interview with the convict inside of a gated prison cell.

STI test is good practice for anyone who has unprotected or casual sex as it can pick up an infection before it progresses, or before it is passed on to someone else. However, there is one relatively common STI that is rarely detected, known to resist most antibiotics, and is a cause of painful urethritis and infertility.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Family comedy “Table For Six” has set an opening day local record for a comedy film in Hong Kong, to the relief of producers who were forced to digest a releasing delay of six months. The Sunny Chan-directed film opened Wednesday in Hong Kong and Macau at 61 theatres, playing a total of 608 sessions. That gave it an accumulated box office of HK$1,986,701 ($255,000). “Table for Six,” which chronicles a family’s holiday gathering where food, love, friendship, jealousy and relationships are on the menu, had originally been planned as a dish to be served at Chinese New Year, in February. And producers had assembled a cast of major Hong Kong and regional talents, including Dayo Wong, Stephy Tang, Louise Cheung, Ivana Wong, Lin Min-Chen and Chan Charm Man.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief 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.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Prolific Japanese film director Miike Takashi and Indonesian genre specialist Kimo Stamboel will be among the star names in the ‘On Screen’ section of the Busan International Film Festival given over to TV series. Miike has made “Connect,” a Korean-language crime fantasy thriller about a man who is kidnapped and has one of his eyes removed by a gang of organ harvesters and transplanted into the body of a notorious serial killer. The unwilling donor now has terrible visions as he witnesses terrifying attacks on the residents of Seoul. The show was written by Nakamura Masaru and Heo Dam (“Monstrum”). It features Korean talent including Jung Haein (“Snowdrop,” “Start-Up,” “Tune in for Love”) in the lead role and Ko Kyungpyo (“Decision to Leave,” “Seoul Vibe,”) as the serial killer, and Kim Hyejun (“Inspector Koo,” “Kingdom,” “Sinkhole”) as the mysterious Irang.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief A weekend concert by Hong Kong acting and singing superstar Andy Lau Tak-wah attracted a record-breaking 350 million viewers on Douyin, the mainland Chinese sister company of TikTok. The concert ran for two hours and attracted 100 million viewers in the first 30 minutes, with tens of millions more joining by the end. The figures beat Lau’s own previous record on the platform, which he set in July last year at a concert to celebrate his 40 years in the business. The South China Morning Post said the record numbers were swelled by a recent wave of nostalgia for Canto-pop or Cantonese-language contemporary music, though the paper also noted that Lau also performed a couple of Mandarin-language classics.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Art-house title “Return to Dust” was a surprise weekend winner, topping the mainland China box office in its ninth weekend of release. The astonishing feat occurred on an otherwise depressed weekend in which China’s cinema box office dipped to a three-month low. This reflected the summer season winding to an end and anti-COVID measures once again forcing major Chinese cities into retreat. Data from consultancy Artisan Gateway showed “Return” grossing $5.3 million (RMB36.2 million) between Friday and Sunday. Those three days accounted for nearly half of the $12.7 million (RMB87.4 million) cumulative total it has earned since release on July 8, 2022.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Two Korean and two Indian movies make the cut in the Busan International Film Festival’s New Currents main competition section. Thet are joined by one each from Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Germany. The section has a track record of making significant discoveries among new Asian films and directors.The selected titles are eligible for multiple awards, including the New Currents Award, the FIPRESCI Award, the NETPAC Award, and the KB New Currents Audience Award. The selection comprises: “Ajooma,” directed by Hu Shuming (Singapore-Korea); “Blue Again” from Thailand’s Thapanee Loosuwan; “Hail to Hell,” by Korea’s Lim Oh-jeong; “Memento Mori: Earth,” by Vietnam’s Marcus Vu Manh Cuong; “No End,” directed by Nader Saeivar and flying the flags of Germany, Iran and Turkey; “A Place Called Silence,” by Malaysia’s Sam Quah; “Shivamma,” fromIndia’s Jaishankar Aryar; Japanese director Kubota Nao’s “One Thousand and One Nights”; “A Wild Roomer,” from Korea’s Lee Jeong-hong; and The Winter Within,” directed by Aamir Bashir, and structured as a co-production between India, France and Qatar.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Kore-eda Hirokazu will be the star turn at Emerging Japanese Films, a Los Angeles showcase organized by Japan’s Visual Industry Promotion Organization. The event, running Sept. 27 – Oct. 1, 2022, at the Harmony Gold Preview House, consists of four newly-released, dramatic and awards-worthy Japanese feature films and a retrospective night that honors Kore-eda, whose “Shoplifters” won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2018. Kore-eda will take part in a live video conversation after the screening of his “Like Father, Like Son,” a child-swap drama film that Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks previously optioned for remake.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief 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.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Busan International Film Festival will further honor its co-founder and former programmer Kim Jiseok, who died suddenly in 2017, by expanding the existing prize in his name into a fully-fledged competitive section. Previously, the Kim Jiseok Award was given to one of ten films selected from the ‘A Window on Asian Cinema’ sidebar which introduces new films from significant Asian directors, defined as those who have each made more than three films.  “Starting this year, the Kim Jiseok Award nominees have been sorted into a section of their own, namely the ‘Jiseok’ section. Also, Korean films will be included in the ‘Jiseok’ section,” Busan organizers said. “This program section aims to both reinforce the spirit and determination of [Kim], who devoted himself to the growth and support of Asian films, and direct attention to the nominated works.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Smart phone usage is key to music listeners in parts of East Asia, but only a minority of users are committed subscribers to streaming services. That apparent contradiction may explain the rise of mini-subscriptions in the region. “Some 81% of music listeners in Malaysia use smartphones as their go-to music listening devices in a typical month, yet only 31% of music streamers in Malaysia pay for a streaming subscription,” says new report from consultancy firm Luminate. The firm’s latest Music 360 Study examines music consumption habits and preferences in a selection of Asia-Pacific markets, including South Korea, Japan, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia, but excluding China, India, Singapore and Australia. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Song Kang-ho, known for his roles in “Memories of Murder” and “Parasite,” has signed up to make his TV series debut. He will star in indie-produced drama “Uncle Sam Shik.” “Uncle Sam Shik” is a 1960s-set tale of two men, their pride, greed and bromance, local Korean media reports. Song’s co-lead actor has not been disclosed. The series is to be directed by Shin Yeon-shick, with whom Song has recently shot feature films “Coweb” and “One Win.” Both films have completed physical production but have not yet been released. The series is reported to be a ten-episode drama, produced by Slingshot Studio. A broadcast or streaming partner has not yet been announced.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief More than 600 buyers from companies in 30 countries are expected to be in Seoul, South Korea from Wednesday for the in-person return of the Broadcast WorldWide convention, better known as BCWW. Although BCWW bills itself as Asia’s largest broadcasting content market, given the strength of the Korean wave, much of the focus will be on Korean content and the business of working with Korean companies. Registered buyers and potential partners include Amazon Prime, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBCUniversal, PCCW the Hong Kong-based owner of Viu, and China’s iQiyi, all of which have already become purveyors of K-programming. “For the past 22 years, BCWW has served as a foundation for K-content to garner the global attention it is getting today,” said Cho Hyun-rae, president of the government-backed Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA). He added that he expects KOCCA and BCWW to “provide continuous support for K-content.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese animation film “New Gods: Yang Jian” was the top film at the mainland China box office for the second successive weekend. Unchallenged by major new releases, the film earned $13.0 (RMB88.3 million) between Friday and Sunday, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. That was a drop of 34% compared with its $19.8 million opening session. Some $1.5 million of the weekend total was scored from the film’s outing on Imax screens. After ten days on release “Yang Jian” has a cumulative total of $43.7 million (RMB297 million). Of that, its Imax total is now $4 million.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Intra-Korean espionage actioner “Hunt” claimed a third weekend as the top film at the South Korea box office, while “Bullet Train” managed only a fourth-place opening. “Hunt,” directed by and starring “Squid Game” star Lee Jung-jae, earned a lowly $2.91 million in its third weekend of release. The figure was a 48% weekend-on-weekend decline and saw the film’s market share decline to 33%, down from 47% the previous weekend. “Hunt” now has a cumulative of $28.7 million, making it the fifth-highest grossing film of the year to date and the third biggest Korean title.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Lee Jung-jae, the star of hit Netflix series “Squid Game,” is to reprise his role as a manic killer in “Ray,” a TV series spun off from 2020 Korean action-horror film “Deliver Us From Evil.” Korean media sources report that Lee will star in and co-produce the series through his own Artist Studio company and Hive Media, producer of “Deliver Us From Evil.” Variety has reached out for further details. In the original movie, Hwang Jung-min played In-Nam, a former black ops agent who travels to Thailand to investigate an abduction. There he is pursued by Lee’s character Ray, a Korean-Japanese ruffian whose brother had been killed by In-Nam. Both heavily tattooed and charming, Ray embarks on a bloody rampage of revenge.