by Ra Hwak Jin/Jiwon Woo
◇BLACKPINK's 'Born Pink' sets 1st-week sales record for girl group album
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| ▲A photo of K-pop girl group BLACKPINK, provided by YG Entertainment (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
"Born Pink," the second studio album from BLACKPINK, has broken the record for the biggest first week sales by a K-pop girl group in history, its agency said Friday.
The album set the record by selling more than 1.54 million copies in the first week of its release last Friday, YG Entertainment said, citing data from Hanteo Chart, a local market tracker.
Since the Hanteo Chart tally does not include some of the overseas album sales, actual first-week sales for "Born Pink" are expected to be bigger, considering the band's large following abroad.
The new album has become the first album from any K-pop girl group to sell more than 2 million copies, according to Circle Chart, South Korea's benchmark music chart that reflects overseas sales.
"Born Pink" has topped iTunes albums charts of 60 countries, including the United States and Britain, upon its release with its main track, "Shut Down," staying atop the world's largest music streaming platform, Spotify, for the sixth consecutive day.
On YouTube, the music video for the pre-released song "Pink Venom" became the fastest video from a K-pop girl group to achieve 100 million views. It had garnered 330 million views as of 10 a.m. Friday. The video for "Shut Down" has also attracted more than 100 million views.
◇Narco-Saints' tops weekly viewership chart for non-English series on Netflix
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| ▲This image provided by Netflix highlights that "Narco-Saints" placed No. 1 on Netflix's weekly top 10 chart for non-English TV shows for the week of Sept. 12-18. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
Netflix's new South Korean series "Narco-Saints" has risen to the top of the streamer's latest weekly viewership chart for non-English TV shows in its second week.
The undercover crime thriller, released on Sept. 9, marked 62.7 million hours of viewing for the week of Sept. 12-18 to lead the official top 10 list for non-English TV programs available on the service, according to Netflix on Wednesday.
It gained four notches from fifth place a week earlier, ending the seven-week-long reign by the smash-hit Korean legal drama "Extraordinary Attorney Woo."
The six-part series about a businessman who takes undercover missions to capture a drug kingpin in a South American country is the ninth Korean-language show that has topped the weekly chart for the category, including the global sensation "Squid Game" (2021) and "All of Us Are Dead" (2022).
The series made the top 10 on the most-watched non-English TV show table in 82 countries over the one-week period and topped the list in 18 nations, including South Korea, India and Taiwan.
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| ▲This photo, provided by Netflix shows, a scene from 'Narco-Saints.' (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
Actor Park Hae-soo who played as an agent of the National Intelligence Service in Netflix series "Narco Saints," said, "Throughout the amplified incidents, the conflict between characters intensifies, and that is why I feel more engaged and love towards Crime thriller series."
◇Seoul Drama Awards 2022 takes place on Thursday
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| ▲ This photo, provided by Seoul Drama Awards, show poster for British drama "Help." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
Grand Prize of Seoul Drama Awards 2022 went to the British drama 'Help."
Seoul Drama Awards Organizing Committee announced on Friday that "Help" won a total of three awards including the grand award at the Seoul Drama Awards ceremony, held at KBS Hall in Seoul on Thursday.
Lead role Stephen Graham and Jodie Comer each won the Best Male and Female Actor in an International Competition category.
Turkiye drama "Destan" and "Hidden Truth" were nominated in the feature category, Canadian drama "The Last Summer of the Raspberry" and Hong Kong drama "Anne" in the mini-series category, and the French drama "Nobody's Child" and the German drama "Take Me Home" in the short film category.
In the International Competition category, writer Han Hee-jeong of KBS 2TV's drama "The King's Affection" won the Writer Award of , and the director of the French drama "Nobody's Child" Akim Isker won the Best Directing Award.
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| ▲This photo shows Belle Mariano at the 2022 Seoul Drama Awards. (Yonhap) |
Lim Young-woong, who sang original soundtracks (OST) "Loove Always flees" from KBS 2TV's "Young Lady and Gentleman." won the best OST, and the Asian Star Awards went to Daniel Kang (Korea), Wallace Chung (China), Yusei Yagi (Japan). , Krit Amnuaidechakon (Thailand), Belle Mariano (Philippines), and Ko Chia-yen (Taiwan).
The Best Hallyu Drama Awards went to Netflix's series "All of Us Are Dead" and MBC TV's "The Red Sleeve," while actors Kim Seon-ho and BLACKPINK's Jisoo received the Male and Female Actor Awards respectively.
◇'Project Wolf Hunting' tops S.Korean box office on day of premiere
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| ▲This photo, provided by TCO The Contents On, shows, a scene from 'Project Wolf Hunting.' (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
Director Kim Hong-sun's latest movie "Project Wolf Hunting" took over "Confidential Assignment 2: International" and topped South Korean box office on the first day of its premiere.
According to the integrated network of movie tickets by the Korean Film Council on Thursday, "Project Wolf Hunting" attracted over 78 thousand audiences on September 21, the first day of its premiere and topped the S.Korean box office.
Although it was a close match between "Confidential Assignment 2: International," and "Project Wolf Hunting," the "Confidential Assignment 2: International" which topped the S.Korean box office for 2 consecutive weeks since it premiered on September 7, took second place on the box after attracting over 77 thousand audiences.
But the movie stepped down from the top position at the S.Korean box office in just a day on Sept.23, while "Confidential Assignment 2: International" in its third week of release entered long-term box office success.
According to the data by the Korea Film Council on Friday, the movie was expelled to second place gathering 48,000 audiences on the previous day.
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| ▲This photo, provided by TCO, shows Project Wolf Hunting. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
Actor Seo In-guk, who played villain in the movie, said, "I always thought of playing a villain," adding, "I felt good when someone said my eyes turned like I was insane. Starting with this film, I hope different characters stretch out like branches." during a meet with Yonhap News Agency at a cafe in Seoul on Tuesday.
He compared the story line of the movie to to Quentin Tarantino's work, saying, "I thought such movie could not be come out from Korea," adding, "I want you to watch the movie with pure mind. I think it would be nice to experience the birth of new genre."
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