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Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area has topped Netflix’s Global Top 10 list of most-watched non-English shows for the week.According to data from the streaming platform, Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area was the most-viewed non-English show for the week of June 20 to 26, logging 33.7million hours viewed.That figure also places the brand-new K-drama series as the third most-watched show on the streaming platform overall, only bested by the fourth season of Stranger Things (76.9million hours viewed) and the newly released third season of The Umbrella Academy.Elsewhere on this week’s rankings of the most-watched Netflix shows, K-drama Our Blues ranked eighth on the non-English list with 9.2million hours viewed. It is the series’ ninth week on the list since its premiere in April.Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area is a South Korean remake of the Spanish series of the same name, and premiered on Netflix on June 24.

Stranger Things Season 4 Vol. 1 closed the 28-day window Netflix uses to measure premiere viewership for its TV series and movies with 930.3 million hours viewed. That is the most for any English-language Netflix series ever and the second largest audience overall behind the streamer’s Korean smash Squid Game, which clocked in 1.6 billion hours viewed over that period.

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures is set to remake critically acclaimed South Korean crime thriller The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil with original star Don Lee (aka Ma Dong-seok) reprising his lead role as a gang boss looking for redemption in the studio’s U.S. version.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Top Gun Maverick” flew to the top of the box office charts in South Korea over the weekend, with a supersonic $9.6 million opening loop. It replaced “The Witch: Part 2 The Other One,” which had been top dog for only a week.Tom Cruise, a regular visitor to Korea, jetted into Seoul with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and co-stars Miles Teller, Glen Powell and Greg Tarzan Davis to goose the movie’s takeoff in the country. Cruise professed himself grateful for the fan’s warm reception and talked up the importance of in-person visits to the cinema.Sub-distributed in Korea by Lotte Entertainment, the film opened on Wednesday and played on more than 1,900 screens.

Margaret Cho described feeling invisible as a bisexual woman because of the lack of representation and absence of leading figures in the media to whom she could relate as an Asian American and a  queer woman. Cho guest narrates the first episode of The Book of Queer, a five-part series that reflects on queer figures of the past, and their impact today and is a rousing celebration of queer joy. When asked what Pride Month meant to her, Cho asserted that it wasn’t about a singular parade or a short time taken out of the year to celebrate queerness. “I think that more than ever we have to celebrate ourselves and look to protecting our rights- whether that’s protecting trans kids, trans legislation or increasing our own visibility throughout the media,” she said. She declared it was vital for queer people to continue to be made visible and that through avenues like media and representation, LGBTQI -identifying individuals would be able to “maintain and advance our own rights and abilities to continue to exist and to thrive.” “My parents owned a gay bookstore in San Francisco, and I grew up in gay culture but the Korean society that we’re from doesn’t acknowledge queer culture. In fact, they still have gay pride parades in Korea but people are often not allowed to take photographs because they don’t want to have a witness to being there.

Junny has unveiled his new single ‘Color Me’, featuring Chung Ha.In the accompanying sensual video treatment, Junny is spotted performing the groovy new single in front of a seemingly abandoned strip mall at sunset, as well as in an empty warehouse alongside a female dancer. Notably, the video does not feature an appearance from Chung Ha.“I’m sorry, but without you I’m not at home / You’re too powerful for me to resist / When I’m in doubt, turn on your green light / And under the orange sunset, please sing me a song from your heart,” Chung Ha croons in her verse, with Junny harmonising with her in the background.‘Color Me’ was co-written by Junny and minGtion, who also produced the song.

aespa have released the music video for their first-ever English single, ‘Life’s Too Short’.In the 2000s-themed visual, the girl group brush off drama and negative comments and focus on the good things in their life. The quartet enjoy their lives, eschewing social media to throw a sleepover, go for karaoke and attend photoshoots.“I’m doing me regardless / No, I don’t care what you say about it / And I’mma do it any way that I want / I’m having all this fun so why would I еver stop?” aespa sing on the chorus of ‘Life’s Too Short’.‘Life’s Too Short’ is set to appear on aespa’s sophomore mini-album ‘Girls’, due out July 8.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefStars Piolo Pascual and Lovi Poe head the cast of the Philippines adaptation of Korean Series “Flower of Evil.” It begins airing across East Asia and parts of the Middle East. The romance-thriller series involves a female detective who suspects that her husband is a serial killer.The original show was produced by CJ ENM’s Studio Dragon and aired on tvN in 2020.

EXCLUSIVE: Well Go USA Entertainment has expanded its slate of Korean films, acquiring North American rights to titles including Alienoid, Hansan: Rising Dragon, Gangnam Zombie, The Ghost Station and The Assassin. While the international and indie distributor has set theatrical releases in place for Alienoid and Hansan, plans for the other three films have not yet been finalized. 

Joel Kim Booster jokes with ET about the fact that several major projects of his have debuted in June.In fact, the month first kicked off with the celebrated release of the Hulu film, which he wrote and starred in, followed by two Netflix standup specials, and, before closing out with the debut of the hilarious Apple TV+ series , in which he plays a devoted assistant to Maya Rudolph’s character, Molly. Considering June is the month when so much LGBTQ-related content is released, Booster has been a part of some of the biggest, most notable and historic ones, more or less making him the unofficial face of Pride in 2022. “No one wanted it, but everyone’s getting it,” he jokes.

BTS against embarking on their previously announced extended break.The association released a statement on June 22, per The Korea Times, where a “concerned” Lee wrote about a personal unease regarding the possible consequences for the K-pop industry stemming from BTS’ break.The K-pop boyband first announced last week that they would be “[taking] time to explore some solo projects” during a live broadcast celebrating their ninth anniversary. The boyband are set to embark on an extended break in order to pursue personal endeavours.“I’m concerned that the Korean wave centring around BTS, which has the strongest cultural soft power in Korea and the world, may fade away … Like a ‘second Beatles’ won’t arrive easily, it is unlikely for there to be a ‘second BTS,’ so I’m worried that hallyu may be cut,” the statement read.Further in the statement, Lee requested for the K-pop juggernauts to “reconsider” their decision to go on the extended break, writing: “You may have made the decision after deep deliberation, but would you reconsider [a withdrawal of the decision] for the sake of Korea’s music industry?”According to The Korea Times, Lee’s statement also posited that without the presence of BTS, there would also be a lack of their fanbase, officially named ARMYs.

KCON have unveiled a second tranche of talent joining the 10th anniversary edition of the celebration of K-pop and other aspects of South Korean pop culture.Additional acts announced Wednesday include Ateez, INI, JO1, Kep1er, Lightsum, Loona, NCT Dream and TO1. They join the previously announced stars Cravity, Enhyphen, Itzy, Nmixx, Stayc, the Boyz and WJSN.The three-day event, now branded as ‘KCON 2022 LA Presented by Toyota’ is backed by CJ ENM, the Korean entertainment conglomerate behind films including “Parasite,” “Decision to Leave” and “Broker.” CJ ENM also recently bolstered its already impressive TV production credentials by acquiring a majority stake in the scripted entertainment division of Endeavor Content. Ateez is an 8-member boy band.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticThe lights come up on four Korean American teens crowded around a hotel bed. They’re members of a So Cal church group on a mission to Bangkok, Thailand — though the location only matters is the abstract.

EXCLUSIVE: Industry tech provider Deluxe has appointed former Netflix Korea exec Samantha Kim to the role of Managing Director, Business Development, APAC.

B.I, is set to team up with LOONA member Chuu on a new song.According to a report by The Kpop Herald, the two K-pop idols are set to release the collaboration ‘Lullaby’, as part of a special project by Dingo Music. The song is reportedly slated for release on local streaming servics on June 27.Further details on the idols’ collaboration are expected to be released in the coming days.  Notably, a demo version of ‘Lullaby’ was first released by B.I onto SoundCloud in February in celebration of Valentine’s Day.[EXCLUSIVE] A big collab is coming up! @shxx131bi131 and Chuu of @loonatheworld have teamed up for Hanbin's demo song "Lullaby," which will be released on local streaming sites on June 27 as part of @dingo_official's special project! Can't wait to see the two singing together! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/lSP17nj2Uj— KpopHerald (@Kpop_Herald) June 22, 2022Earlier this year, B.I released a “global album project” titled ‘Love Or Loved (LOL)’.

SF9, P1Harmony, EVERGLOW and solo artists Chung Ha and EXO‘s Chen. For the following night’s concert, Kep1er will be joined by boybands ASTRO and ONEUS, the girl group OH MY GIRL and EXO’s Kai.Tickets go on sale at 1pm next Tuesday (June 28), while a pre-sale will run from 10am this Friday (June 24) – find details on both here.

Believer will be produced as a Netflix original.On June 20, Netflix shared that it has greenlit the production of Believer 2, the sequel to 2018’s Believer starring veteran actors Cho Jin-woong (Signal) and Our Blues’ Cha Seung-won.The streaming giant has since confirmed its casting for the forthcoming film, with Cho and Cha, along with Kim Dong-young, returning in their original roles. They will be joined by newcomers Han Hyo-joo (Happiness), Oh Seung-hoon (Bloody Heart) and Lee Joo-young (Voice).A post shared by Netflix Korea (@netflixkr)Believer (2018) revolves around a detective named Won-ho (played by Cho), who fights to bring down the leader of a multinational drug ring in Asia.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefNetflix has given a green light to “Believer 2,” a sequel to the 2018 hit crime action film “Believer.” While the first film clocked up 5.06 million spectators and amassed a gross box office of $33.6 million in its theatrical career, the sequel will play only online. The company said that the film will be directed by Baek Jong-yeol, who previously directed “The Beauty Inside,” a 2015 hit fantasy romance in which a person takes on a different physical appearance every day.

Jennifer Lopez referred to her child using gender-neutral pronouns ahead of duet at a concert this week. The singer performed on Thursday (16 June) in Los Angeles, and welcomed Emme Maribel Muñiz, 14, to the stage at the LA Dodgers Foundation Blue Diamond Gala.

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Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe theatrical debut of much-anticipated local horror-action film “The Witch: Part 2. The Other One” dominated the Korean box office chart over the latest weekend and overshadowed the simultaneous release of Pixar title “Lightyear.”Distributed by Next Entertainment World, “The Witch: Part 2” conjured up an $8.21 million opening weekend from just shy of 1,800 screens nationwide. That gave it a market share of 48%.