CJ America News

KCON, billed as “the world’s largest Korean culture and K-Pop music festival,” will host its first-ever Mexican edition at Mexico City Arena March 17 and 18. This will be KCON’s first Latin American stop; the fest, which launched in 2012, already has editions in the U.S., France, Japan and United Arab Emirates. KCON in Mexico will feature performances, with boy band MONSTA X already announced.

“Master” stars Byung-hun Lee as a ruthless corporate con artist with high-level connections in South Korean politics. Multilevel marketing companies have earned a sketchy reputation worldwide, due to their pyramidal organizational structure and payout schemes, but rarely have they been portrayed as the South Korean corporation at the center of “Master”. This timely financial thriller could benefit from a worldwide wave of dissatisfaction with elected officials and multinational corporations after topping the Korean domestic box office over the Dec. 23 weekend.

Attendance has increased 20% and gross box office has increased 25% in comparison with the last year’s record, 12 million movie-goers and $160 million gross box office. In 2016, CJ 4DPLEX also increased the number of 4DX seats worldwide from 30,000-43,000 and broadened its existing market share in the US, Japan and China.

CJ E&M will provide a live broadcasting service of its internet television platform “Tving” for free and launch it in overseas markets. Starting with countries that have a high preference to Korean cultural content such as Japan and Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and Thailand, CJ E&M will expand the Tving service around the globe including Europe, Central and South America, and the United States by the first quarter of next year.

Crime thriller “Master” will premier in Los Angeles on Dec. 30, kick-starting its push into North America. The film directed by Cho Ui-Seok will then open in U.S. and Canadian cities on Jan. 6, including New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Toronto and Vancouver. The film stars top-notch movie actors Lee Byung-Hun, Kang Dong-Won and Kim Woo-Bin.

This time of year is typically known for indulgent eating, which can make it challenging for those looking to eat clean or find healthy alternatives on a traditional holiday menu. Thankfully, Annie Chun’s, maker of better-for-you and convenient Pan-Asian foods, is sharing easy entertaining tips to help promote healthier eating this holiday season. To add a delicious Pan-Asian twist to your traditional holiday lineup without expanding your waistline, try some of these tips and recipes from Annie Chun’s.

CJ-CGV has teamed with U.S. production outfit Let It Play to make “We Kill Death.” The movie will be the first English-language film made for Screen X, a proprietary projection technology that uses a multiplex’s side walls as the main screen. It will be directed by Eric Brevig who previously directed “Journey to the Center of the Earth.” Alex Ginzberg, best known for producing the first-person sci fi action movie “Hardcore Henry,” will produce.

Bibigo celebrated the opening of its newest location at Del Amo Fashion Center on Friday, December 2. Bibigo is the latest in a regional wave of fast-casual restaurants appealing to Los Angeles’ health-conscious consumers and is expanding rapidly in the U.S. with two more locations set to open by January of 2017.

Tous les Jours opened up a new location at One Fulton Square in Flushing on November 22. To celebrate the grand opening, the store will offer specials for a limited time, including a complimentary mug with any purchase of $15 or more and buy one get one free roll cakes filled with cream in original, green tea, strawberry jam and mocha flavors.

With an ambitious goal of operating 10,000 screens worldwide by 2020, CJ-CGV has pushed an aggressive international expansion plan which has taken it into China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar, Turkey, and the U.S. In terms of the number of the screens worldwide, the exhibitor has outstripped Odeon, the largest cinema operator in Europe, by acquiring Mars Entertainment in April. CJ-CGV is currently the world’s fifth-largest cinema operator.