Korea Box Office: Comatose Weekend Sees ‘Sleep’ Walk to Third Session Win

A devastated mother has spoken of her heartbreaking final conversation with her son just hours before he was stabbed to death in a nightclub.

We've been tracking the prices of shopping essentials like bread and milk at six leading supermarkets for more than a year and a half now.

Strictly Come Dancing fans are demanding an 'update' after they expressed concern over one of the show's professional dancers. There was excitement all around on Saturday night (October 21) for Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola as they arguably pulled off their best dance to date.

From bobs to pixie cuts, layers to extensions – the average woman is said to change their hairstyle up to 36 times in their lifetime.

A 21-year-old student whose heart stopped six times in a DAY said he is using his second chance at life to join the NHS.

Rory McIlroy would consider the possibility of investing in Manchester United. Sir Jim Ratcliffe looks set to buy an initial 25 per cent stake in the club and could be joined by the four-time major-winning golfer.

#SagAftraMembers:As we mark the 100th day of our strike, we are pleased to confirm the company executives have asked us to return to the table. Official Negotiations will resume on Tuesday, October 24th. (1/5) pic.twitter.com/m5llCsTqxq— SAG-AFTRA (@sagaftra) October 21, 2023The strike began on July 14, when SAG-AFTRA – the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists – failed to come to an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) over increased pay, a share of streaming revenues and protection against actors’ images and voices being replicated by AI.Talks between the two parties broke down on October 11, in a move that senior figures in SAG-AFTRA described as a “surprise move”.“It is clear that the strength and solidarity shown by our members has sent an unmistakable message to the CEOs,” continued SAG-AFTRA’s statement.

Caroline Polachek has released a line of limited-edition merch to raise money for Palestinian refugees.The merchandise is available for a week and is inspired by her new single ‘Dang’, which was released earlier this week.Polachek performed the track for the first time on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in the style of a surreal Ted Talk, using a bewildering PowerPoint performance to set the tone.

Saturday Night Live‘s newest episode featured surprise cameos from Mick Jagger and Lady Gaga – watch the footage below.Yesterday’s episode (October 21), which saw Bad Bunny acting as both host and musical guest, aired two sketch cameos featuring the Rolling Stones frontman. In the first sketch, Bad Bunny and SNL cast member Marcello Hernandez starred as actors in a telenovela, filming a scene that ends in a slap.

Denise Fergus is happy. You can hear it in her voice, see it in her eyes and feel it in the easy, loving banter between her and husband Stuart. Little wonder, given that the pair have just celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary with a renewal of their vows in the same church they got married in, followed afterwards by a big party for family and friends.

A mum-of-three who was left 'mortified' after being told she was too big to go down a waterslide turned her life around by losing eight stone in eight months.

Denise Fergus has opened up about her relationship with husband Stuart, admitting that when she first met him she told him that he “had an opportunity to walk away”. Denise, who is the mother of James Bulger, has spent decades fighting for justice for her son after he was led away from her and murdered by two 10-year-old boys in 1993.Three decades on, Denise has reached a level of acceptance about what she and her family have gone through. “I feel the happiest I have been for some time and that’s been the case for a while,” she told OK! .

As the week draws to a close, your daily horoscope can help you prepare for a fresh start. So, what can you expect from today? There are 12 zodiac signs - Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces - and the horoscopes for each can give you the lowdown on what your future holds, be it in work, your love life, your friends and family or more. These daily forecasts have been compiled by astrologer Russell Grant, who has been reading star signs for over 50 years.

Rebecca Loos has slammed David Beckham's Netflix documentary over its portrayal of her alleged affair with him while he was playing for Real Madrid. The show, Beckham, is a candid look into the former footballer's career which addresses moments like his alleged relations with Rebecca, now 47, which he barely discussed at the time. Now, speaking to the Daily Mail, Rebecca has revealed her irritation over the documentary, nearly 20 years later, watching him talk about the 'difficult' media attention he faced because of it.

Kendall Jenner meets up with boyfriend Bad Bunny and more celebrities to celebrate after he hosted and performed during the latest episode of Saturday Night Live.

Bad Bunny pulled off the impressive feat of hosting and being the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, and he handled it with ease!

It’s been seven years since Scream Queens released its last episode, but the campy horror series remains a cult classic that’s referenced to this day.

With Halloween around the corner, fireworks season will soon be upon us and while people enjoy them - the same can't be said for pets.

David Tennant has set his sights on a dream role, but admits he might not be good enough for the part.

When keeping an eye on your overall health, it's important to be on the lookout for certain symptoms or changes that could be a sign of a serious problem.

According to Bowel Cancer UK, the disease is the fourth most common cancer in the UK, with more than 42,000 cases diagnosed each year.

Freezing mornings are already back, leaving drivers to deal with misty windscreens as cars fill up with damp.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Johnny & Associates talent agency in Japan is to dissolve following scandal caused by the acts of sexual abuse conducted by the group’s late founder Johnny Kitagawa. The company announced on Monday that it will break itself into two parts – one to be called Smile-Up, entirely devoted to compensating victims – the other as a talent agency operating with a new name, that has yet to be decided. The group began to take action last month following two damning investigations that found that Kitagawa’s abuse had been hugely extensive and continued for years and that the company and Japanese media had ignored, if not covered it up. On Monday it said that some 325 victims had come forward to claim compensation. In a statement by Fujishima read out in her absence, the former chief executive, who owns 100% of the agency, said it was her duty as Kitagawa’s kin to put an end to Johnny & Associates. “I want to remove all traces of Johnny Kitagawa from this world,” her statement said.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief A clutch of Chinese movies released for the end of September holiday season dominated the global box office over the latest weekend. Mainland Chinese-produced films took first, third and fifth places across the planet, according to U.S.-based data service Comscore. Comscore shows “Under the Light,” which released only in mainland China, grossing an estimated $54 million between Friday and Sunday.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief A trio of local films released in time for the Chuseok holiday season dominated the South Korean box office over the latest weekend. Comedy fantasy “Dr Cheon and the Lost Talisman” dominated. It earned $5.98 million between Friday and Sunday with a more than 48% market share.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Netflix has given a green light to a third season of dystopian Japanese thriller series “Alice in Borderland.” The announcement was made by Netflix VP of APAC content, Kim Minyoung on the second day of the APOS conference in Indonesia. Based on the manga series of the same name by Aso Haro, “Alice in Borderland” follows the story of Arisu after he is transported to a parallel universe in which he has to play and win games to remain alive. The games are divided into four categories represented by suits on a deck of playing cards.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Paramount+ has unveiled three new Korean TV shows which it will launch in selected international territories including North America, the U.K. and parts of continental Europe.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief China’s remarkable box office recovery this year took a pause on a weekend with no new releases and the quietest attendance levels since January. Next week’s crop of blockbuster holiday releases will show if the latest weekend was aberration attributable to timing. Data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway showed nationwide box office worth just $25 million – from a population of 1.3 billion people and some 100,000 commercial cinema screens. The figure was the second lowest of 2023 and only fractionally higher than the second week of January, which was a time when China’s post-COVID recovery was only just gearing up and major film releases were targeting the late-January Chinese New Year festivities. Since that time, China’s box office has mostly been on a roll.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Steven Yeun has bucked stereotypes and carved a new niche as sexy Asian leading man with his roles in “Burning” and “Beef.” Justin Chon transitioned from a supporting role in “Twilight” to directing “Gook,” “Jamojaya” and half of Apple TV+’s “Pachinko.” And Busan-born Daniel Dae Kim has expanded from “Lost” and “Hawaii” to becoming one of Hollywood’s leading producers. The stateside successes of Korean-born and Korean American talent are growing and are worth celebrating. But the Busan International Film Festival’s planned party is being dialed down a notch under the impact of the twin writers’ and SAG Actors strikes in the U.S. Busan’s ‘Special Program in Focus: Korean Diasporic Cinema’ will go ahead with a screening schedule including six films, public talk sessions that include Oscar-winning actor Youn Yuh-jung, Lee Isaac Chung, director of Oscar-winning film “Minari,” and John Cho, the Seoul-born “Star Trek” and “Searching” star.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Paramount+ streaming service will launch in Japan in December as a free-of-charge addition to cable and internet provider J:COM’s platform and to pay-TV service Wowow. Paramount+ originals including “Tulsa King,” “Mayor of Kingstown” and “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” will be available at the launch of the service and for the first time in Japan. Japan will be the second country in East Asia where the service becomes available, following a launch in South Korea in June last year.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief A+E Networks is continuing its investment in Korean entertainment content with “A Good Day to Be a Dog,” a fantasy romantic comedy that will upload from Oct. 11. Within Korea, the show will play on public broadcaster MBC and Lifetime Korea, releasing at the rate of one episode per week, every Wednesday.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Netflix and SK Broadband, one of South Korea’s largest internet service providers, said that they were ending all their lawsuits and would instead create a strategic partnership to provide better entertainment experiences to Korean customers. The legal dispute began in 2020 over whether content providers that generate large amounts of traffic should pay “network usage fees” in addition to the bills paid by the household end users, or whether that would go against the principle of net neutrality and lead to higher costs for consumers. Netflix said that it could offer a technological solution to traffic volume that it had provided to ISPs in other countries and to rival ISPs in Korea. But SK Telecom and its subsidiary SK Broadband held out and appeared to gain support for their position in the Korean parliament. “This strategic partnership with Netflix originates from the philosophy of SK Telecom and SK Broadband, where customer value is prioritized, and comes as part of our efforts to provide customers with an enhanced media service environment,” said SK Telecom’s Choi Hwanseok, VP of corporate strategy. “The partnership with SK Telecom, a leader in Korea’s telecommunication and innovative technology industries, holds special significance as it enables Netflix to enhance entertainment experiences for a broader Korean audience,” said Tony Zameczkowski, Netflix VP of APAC partnerships. “By teaming up with Netflix, SK Telecom and SK Broadband aim to help customers enjoy Netflix shows and films on mobile devices and IPTV (B tv) with easier access and payment options.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Cobweb,” the Kim Jee-woon-directed satire that debuted at Cannes this year, has been cleared for theatrical release in its native Korea later this month. On Monday it saw off an injunction that sought to derail its hometown debut. The film is a tongue in cheek tribute to the Korean movies of the 1970s and plays partly as a film within a film, jumping from color to black and white as it does so. It stars Song Kang-ho (“Parasite,” “Broker”) as director Kim, who needs just two more days of reshoots to craft a new ending to his latest film (also called “Cobweb”) so that it will no longer be the trashy potboiler everyone thought he was making.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Byun hee-bong, a veteran South Korean actor who appeared in several films by Oscar-winning director Bong Joon Ho, has died age 81. Byun died on Monday after complications related to a return of the pancreatic cancer that had previously occurred and been treated, according to the semi-official Yonhap News agency. The precise circumstances of his demise were not disclosed. He was born in Jangseon, South Jeolla Province, and started work at an unspecified time in live theater before becoming a voice performer for state TV network MBC in 1966. His TV work in the 1980s and 1990s included series including: 1981’s ”The First Republic”; 1985’s “The Joseon Dynasty 500 Years: Seouljungmae”; and 1999’s “The Legendary Doctor Hur Jun.” His first reliably recorded feature film work was in Bong’s breakout 2000 film “Barking Dogs Never Bite.” Byun appeared in significant roles in three other films by Bong: the cultish “Memories of Murder,” in 2003; 2006 Cannes presentation and box office hit “The Host”; and “Okja,” the creature feature which marked Netflix’s film production debut in Korea and which also appeared Cannes. Byun picked up half a dozen best supporting actor nominations in Korea and regionally in Asia for his role as Hie-bong in “The Host,” converting two of those into wins, at the Asia Pacific Film Festival and Korea’s Blue Dragon Awards.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief ‘Expendables 4’ narrowly took top place at the mainland China box office on a quiet weekend preceding the National Day holiday season at the end of the month. “A Haunting in Venice” opened outside the top five. Data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway shows “Expendables 4” earning $10.9 million (RMB78.6 million) over its debut weekend.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Two Hollywood new releases, “A Haunting in Venice” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem” failed to make much of an impression on the South Korean box office in their opening weekend. Instead, local fantasy drama “Sleep” headed the chart for a second time. “Sleep” earned $2.38 million in its second weekend, a creditably modest 20% weekend-on-weekend decline, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).