Paramount+ Adds Trio of Shows to Korean Content Slate in Partnership With CJ ENM

Days of Our Lives” fans have seen plenty of epic love stories on the soap opera throughout the years. However, none has been quite like that of Chad DiMera and Abigail Deveraux. The couple have a long history together and a special bond that can never be broken, even in death.

Police in Minnesota are investigating after a 2-year-old was wounded by a gunshot allegedly fired by their 4-year-old sibling. Wait, WHAT?! Yes, unfortunately, you read that correctly. On

Joran van der Sloot has officially admitted to killing Natalee Holloway.

DC Young Fly is mourning the loss of another loved one.

What is going on between Mackenzie and Ryan Edwards? If you ask her, absolutely nothing!

More and more is coming out from Britney Spears‘ memoir — and more and more we’re learning what Justin Timberlake had to be “concerned” about.

Hilary Duff is a woman of many talents… But cooking broccoli doesn’t seem to be one of them!

John Stamos is opening up like never before in his upcoming memoir, If You Would Have Told Me. Perhaps the most shocking and upsetting section details his past with sexual abuse. In the pages of the book, he reveals he was sex

If you’re like us, the most surprising new relationship of the year is Sophia Bush and Ashlyn Harris — only very recently edging out Taylor Swift dating Travis Kelce, we guess.

Adele has been sober for months now — but she’s finding it super “boring”!

Our first time ever at @RiseFestival. And we will be back. Every year! The energy there was healing! Needed!

TOWIE star Clelia Theodorou has shared an emotional birth video online after she broke both legs and feet in tragic car crash which killed her mum. Clelia, 28 welcomed her first child, a baby daughter with her Towie partner Tommy Cole on Saturday, 16 September, and has now given her followers a glimpse into her emotional birth. In the black and white video montage posted to her Instagram, Clelia revealed the moment she was gently lifted into a birthing pool and assisted by nurses before giving birth.The clip was quickly followed by some adorable shots of her new born baby in the hospital, before Tommy was seen carrying the baby out of the hospital in a car seat.

Big Brother contestants Henry and Zak will be the next housemates to face the public vote ahead of the second live eviction of the series. During Wednesday’s episode of the ITV2 show, it was revealed that the pair had received the most nominations from their fellow housemates. Zak received five nominations from Hallie, Kerry, Chanelle, Jenkin and Henry, while Henry received four nominations from Dylan, Olivia, Noky and Jenkin.

Ella Thomas may only have been living in the Love Island villa two months ago, but she has already set her sights on hosting the show.The reality star, 23, who placed third in the dating show alongside boyfriend Tyrique Hyde, is hoping to use her new platform to pave out a career in TV presenting - looking up to Maya Jama. Maya took the Love Island reigns this year, and certainly didn't disappoint as she was praised for her performance. Now, Ella tells OK!: "I'd love to go into presenting, it's such a dream of mine.

, the model and skincare brand founder has clearly been bingeing everyone's favorite Fall show: Gilmore Girls.In an Instagram photo dump, Bieber showed off her recent October fits, like a black leather jacket, a trench coat, a sexy lingerie-clad vampire, and a schoolgirl-style combination of black turtleneck, plaid skirt and loafers with socks.This content can also be viewed on the site it from.Okay, so this isn't exactly the Chilton uniform, which was a longer, pleated skirt, plus a blazer, and saddle shoes, but if Rory had a big city cousin with more of Lorelei's personality and Jess's attitude, this is what she would wear.Plus, the giant coffee cup! Yes, this girl has been to Luke's Diner in the past 24 hours. In fact, Rhode , because strawberry season is officially over (that's not a fashion edict, I'm literally just telling you which fruits are in season).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Seoul-based sales company Finecut has struck key Asian deals for the vigilante action movie “Brave Citizen.” In Korea, the film is presented by Content Wavve, one of the country’s leading OTT platforms and is headed for a Korean theatrical release on Oct. 25.Finecut has sealed deals with Kadokawa Plus for Japan, with Moviecloud for Taiwan and with Lumix Medi for Vietnam.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The growing media and entertainment connections between Korean Americans and those Koreans living in Korea may be changing both communities, a public discussion at the Busan International Film Festival on Friday heard. “Being in a room full of fans, feels like they accepted me as a member of the family. It feels like, culturally, Korea [may be in] a moment of transition,” said John Cho. He was joined in the debate by actor-director Justin Chon (“Gook”), director Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”) and actor Steven Yeun, who are all either first or second generation immigrants to the U.S. They were careful not to speak about their current movies or projects out of respect for SAG strike protocols, but the avoidance of promotional niceties permitted a wider-ranging and more philosophical discussion. It touched on issues of identity, generational change and the development of the post-pandemic, streaming-era global village. “The reception I’ve had [in Busan] feels connective, not foreign, like living in a global reality,” said Yeun.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Leading Korean content firm Showbox Corp. has added “The Killers,” an unusual anthology film, to its Busan rights sales line up. The film takes its title and themes from Ernest Hemingway’s 1927 short story of the same name.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Issues of cultural diversity, different Asian diaspora populations and the quest for the Asian cinematic identity came up for discussion on Thursday as the New Currents competition jury at the Busan International Film Festival prepared to get down to work. Filmmaker and academic Jung Sung-il, who is set as the jury president, appeared to invite a degree of dispute that might get the blood racing. “I have high hopes, hope for controversies and good conversations among the jurors,” he said in opening remarks.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief K-pop star Suzy, playing a retired singer, dazzles Yang Se-jong as a freshman student in forthcoming K-Romance series “Doona!”. The Korean show will launch on Netflix on Oct.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Anthony Chen (“The Breaking Ice”) is attached to direct and Shinho Lee to write “Sunset Park” for Barunson C&C, a film and TV production subsidiary of Barunson E&A, the Korean company that produced Oscar-winning hit “Parasite.” “Sunset Park” recounts a surprising journey in the U.S. made by a Korean father with his son’s room mate, after the man receives tragic news about his son.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief EST N8, a recently-established finance, production and film sales company, has appointed Chen ; Tata’ Xinrui as its sales and distribution manager. Chen will serve under Tenten Wei, head of studios for EST N8 and will be based in Los Angeles. EST N8 is a partnership between EST Studios and Bangkok-based N8 Studios that was officially launched at Cannes this year and operates under the combined moniker.

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 TIFFCOM, the rights market that sits alongside the Tokyo International Film Festival, is celebrating its return to an in-person format for the first time since 2019, with a move to another venue and the launch of the new Tokyo Story Market. The three-day market (Oct. 25-27) will relocate from Ikkebukuro to the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center (aka Hamamatsucho-Kan) in Hamamatsucho district.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Revenues, losses and net liabilities all grew at art house streaming firm Mubi UK in the calendar year to end of December 2022, the company has disclosed. The company posted its annual trading statement in the last available week before the U.K.’s nine-month deadline for filing. And it reveals more information about itself than in previous years. The latest accounts showed that revenue grew by 53% in the January-December 2022 period, from £9.58 million ($11.7 million) to £14.7 million ($17.9 million).

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 Warner Bros Discovery’s JB Perrette warns that the global streaming market faces pain and consolidation over the next three to five years, but he says that the merged group has what it takes to be among the big five groups that pull through. And, to win the war of attrition and consolidation, WBD may choose not to fight every battle. Perrette, WBD’s CEO and president of global streaming and games, said that the company’s Max streaming product is to be rolled out in a largely pre-determined sequence, one that arrives in Latin America and Europe before arriving in parts of Asia. But, speaking on Wednesday at the APOS conference in Indonesia, Perrette said that in some markets Max may never happen, and that WBD may favor local partnerships instead. “If we think we’re going to have success and profitability, if our market differentiation is viable enough to make a go of it and have a profitable business over a three-to-five year timeline [then we will launch Max.] If the answer is ‘no’ because the market has ARPUs that are just too low or it is way over-served by a ton of other players, who are spending on a ton of content and losing a ton of money, we may say this is not the right time,” said Perrette. “If we think we can be successful based on the three metrics that we have [profitability, market share and scale] then, yes, great, we’ll go and figure out how best to tackle it.

Paramount+ is expanding its global Korean content slate with three new series produced through its partnership with Korea’s CJ ENM.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Massive, internally-produced originals such as “Lord of the Rings” should sit alongside acquired content and aggregated channels and content to drive usage of the Prime Video platform, says Kelly Day, VP of international at Amazon. That spin on aggregation echoes the ‘flywheel effect’ that Amazon executives regularly refer to, meaning the way that content and e-commerce businesses drive each other.

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 Filming is now underway in Australia on “Desert King,” a neo-western drama series for Netflix that is positioned to be one of the streamer’s iconic prestige productions in the Asia-Pacific region. The story revolves around money and power in Australia’s harsh Outback regions with filming locations in the remote Northern Territory and near Adelaide, South Australia. When the world’s largest cattle station is left without a clear successor, generational clashes threaten to tear the Lawson family apart. Sensing this once great dynasty is in decline, the outback’s most powerful factions – rival cattle barons, desert gangsters, Indigenous elders and billionaire miners – move in for the kill,” says Netflix by way of a synopsis. While describing the six-part series as “one of the largest local screen productions filmed in both the [Northern] Territory and South Australia,” and “an extraordinary cast,” the streamer has not disclosed the identities of any cast. Directed by Greg McLean (“La Brea,” “Wolf Creek”), the show is a joint production between Easy Tiger and Ronde.

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 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.