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Korean cheerleading movie Victory is headed to U.S. cinemas. Ahead of its upcoming South Korean release, the film was pre-sold by Seoul-based sales outfit Finecut to 815 Pictures for a North American theatrical run.

Described as “an uplifting and heartwarming drama centered around a high-school dance duo,” the film follows the cheerleaders as they inspire an underdog school soccer team and the surrounding village on a remote Korean island. Directed by Park Beom-su, known for Single in Seoul and Red Carpet, the film premiered as the opening title at the recent New York Asian Film Festival, where one of its stars, Lee Hye-ri, was honored with the event’s screen international rising star Asia award.

Finecut also has inked deals for the movie across Asia, including to Sky Films Entertainment for Taiwan; Lumix Media for Vietnam; Pt Prima Cinema Multimedia for Indonesia; House of M for Thailand; Emphasis Video Entertainment...

South Korea’s Finecut has sold upcoming comedy-drama Victory to a raft of territories including North America ahead of its local release on Wednesday (August 14).

The film, centred on a Korean cheerleading squad, has been acquired by 815 Pictures for North America and Lumix Media for Vietnam, both of which will open the feature theatrically on August 16.

It has also been picked up for Taiwan (Sky Films Entertainment), Indonesia (Pt Prima Cinema Multimedia), Thailand (House of M) and Cambodia (Westec Media Limited), which are set to release the film from late August to September. Inflight rights have gone to Emphasis Video Entertainment.

South Korean comedy drama Victory is to world premiere as the opening film of this year’s New York Asian Film Festival (Nyaff) where lead actress Lee Hye-ri will be honoured with the Screen International Rising Star Asia Award.

The performer, better known as Hyeri, will attend the festival to receive the honour on July 12 ahead of the premiere of Victory at New York’s Lincoln Center.

Hye-ri will introduce the film alongside director Park Beom-soo and co-star Park Se-wan. All three will also attend a post-screening Q&a.

The Rising Star Asia Award recognises emerging talent from Asian cinema...

Fact-based action drama “12.12: The Day” won a fourth weekend at the South Korea box office and became the second highest grossing film of the year.

The political thriller incurred a steep week-on-week drop in takings, managing only $5.89 million in its fourth weekend, compared with $11.4 million in its third. But it still hogged a 72% market share, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).

After releasing on Nov. 22, the film now has a cumulative box office of $62.9 million earned from 8.50 million ticket sales. That total means it has overtaken “Elemental” to become the number two film of the year in Korea. The year-to-dater table is still lead by behind summer hit “The Roundup: No Way Out,” with $80.3 million earned from 10.7 million spectators.

The reduced pace of the frontrunner brought the nationwide weekend box office total to a more humdrum $8.18 million, after three weekends above $10 million.

Fact-based political thriller “12.12: The Day” dominated the Korean box office for the third successive weekend and advanced its takings haul beyond $50 million. It was far ahead of “Napoleon,” which opened a disappointing third.

The Kim Sung-soo-directed picture earned $11.4 million between Friday and Sunday, accounting for 75.8% of nationwide weekend cinema revenues, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).

It has held up particularly strongly and dropped by only 12% in its third weekend. The latest weekend score was again higher than its opening frame. It earned $11.3 million in its opening weekend and expanded to $12.95 million in its second weekend.

Over 19 days of release, “12.12: The Day” (aka “Seoul Spring”) has earned $50.9 million from 6.97 million admissions. On both measures, that is the second highest performance this year by any Korean-produced movie and the third highest score in Korean cinemas in 2023. Disney/Pixar’s...

Political drama thriller “12.12: The Day” dominated the South Korean box office for a second weekend with a $13 million haul.

Its second weekend outing topped its first session, when it earned $11.2 million, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). And the film (aka “Seoul Spring”) increased its share of the weekend’s total cinema market to a crushing 81%.

Separately, ComScore calculated that the film’s single country receipts made it the seventh highest grossing film in the world over the weekend.

After two weekends on release, “12.12: The Day” has garnered $34.2 million, making it already the sixth ranking film in Korea this year and the third biggest Korean-produced picture. On this track, it will overtake “Smugglers” before the next weekend.

In terms of admissions, “12.12: The Day” enjoyed 1.7 million ticket sales over the weekend, for a running total of 4.66 million. The traditional...