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Look: Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun attend 'Squid Game' Season 3 premiere

Look: Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun attend 'Squid Game' Season 3 premiere

Yahoo5 hours ago

June 19 (UPI) -- Lee Jung-jae and Lee Byung-hun were among the Squid Game cast members to attend the premiere of the Korean drama series' third and final season Wednesday.
The event took place at the Plaza Hotel in New York City.
Lee Jung-jae portrays Gi-hun, or player 456, on the show, which follows the participants in a life-or-death game. In the previous season, Gi-hun tried and failed to destroy the game.
Jung-jae, 52, wore a long blazer over a white mesh shirt to the premiere.
Lee Byung-hun portrays Hwang In-ho, or the Front Man, in the series. He wore a white pin-striped suit Wednesday.
In a recent interview on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, Byung-hun said more characters will learn Front Man's identity in Season 3.
Show creator and director Hwang Dong-hyuk was also in attendance. He wore an oversized navy blue blazer and wire-rimmed glasses.
Other Squid Game cast members to step out Wednesday included Jo Yu-ri, Park Sung-hoon, Kang Ae-sim and Yim Si-wan.
Season 3 arrives on Netflix June 27.

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Lou Christie, ‘Lightnin' Strikes' Pop Crooner, Is Dead at 82
Lou Christie, ‘Lightnin' Strikes' Pop Crooner, Is Dead at 82

New York Times

time43 minutes ago

  • New York Times

Lou Christie, ‘Lightnin' Strikes' Pop Crooner, Is Dead at 82

Lou Christie, who with his heartthrob persona and piercing falsetto rode high on the mid-1960s pop charts with hits like 'Lightnin' Strikes' and 'Two Faces Have I,' while transcending teen-idol status by helping to write his own material, died on Wednesday at his home in Pittsburgh. He was 82. His family announced the death on social media, saying only that he died 'after a brief illness.' With his perky doo-wop-inflected melodies and his gymnastic vocal range, Mr. Christie was at times compared to Frankie Valli of the Four Seasons. Like Mr. Valli, Mr. Christie hit his stride as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the other guitar groups of the British Invasion were starting to shatter the handsome-teen-crooner archetype personified by the likes of Fabian and Frankie Avalon. 'They started disappearing,' Mr. Christie once said of such singers in an interview with the site Classic Bands. 'It was so interesting that I kept going. I hit the end of that whole era. 'I've always been between the cracks of rock 'n' roll, I felt. The missing link.' Even in changing times, he held his own, thanks in part to the songs he wrote with his songwriting partner, Twyla Herbert, who was two decades his senior. The songs they created together had more emotional complexity than the standard odes to puppy love. While his debut album, released in 1963, failed to make a splash, two of the singles featured on that album climbed the charts. 'The Gypsy Cried' reached No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963. 'Two Faces Have I,' a showcase for Mr. Christie's signature falsetto, climbed to No. 6 a few months later. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

‘KPop Demon Hunters' Directors on Meeting Fan Expectations and Championing Original, Inclusive Animation
‘KPop Demon Hunters' Directors on Meeting Fan Expectations and Championing Original, Inclusive Animation

Gizmodo

time44 minutes ago

  • Gizmodo

‘KPop Demon Hunters' Directors on Meeting Fan Expectations and Championing Original, Inclusive Animation

When Sony Pictures Animation first announced KPop Demon Hunters back in 2021, director, writer, and longtime K-pop devotee Maggie Kang (The Lego Ninjago Movie) envisioned the project as both a love letter to the early days of the genre she grew up with and a vibrant celebration of Korean culture. Teaming up with co-director Chris Appelhans (Wish Dragon), Kang set out to craft a film that merges the dazzling precision of K-pop choreography with the spectacle of magical girl action, all wrapped up in an original animated adventure premiering on Netflix on June 20. KPop Demon Hunters follows Huntrix, a rising girl group made up of Rumi, Mira, and Zoey (voiced by Arden Cho, May Hong, and Ji-young Yoo), as they juggle their pop superstardom with their secret lives battling demons invading the human realm under the command of the sinister Gwi-Ma (played by Squid Game's Lee Byung-hun). 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The K-pop of it all was kind of the last thing to be added in because demon hunting is usually done in the dark alleyways. Not in front of people. I just wanted the girls to have a public-facing image and K-pop felt like a cool thing to set the movie in. It naturally made it a musical and gave it that spectacle and scale. Track 01: "How it's Done". Performed by HUNTRIX! Kpop Demon Hunters premieres THIS FRIDAY! — Netflix (@netflix) June 16, 2025io9: Obviously with that title KPop Demon Hunters does set a high expectations for both electrifying action and dynamic dance sequences as well. KPop Demon Hunters naturally carries a lot of pressure, especially for K-pop fans eagerly anticipating it. How did the team navigate that challenge and ensure the film delivered on both fronts? Kang: It was tough. It's a very loyal, dedicated fanbase that expects a lot on every aspect. Whether it's design, lighting, animation, we made sure that it would hold up to what we see in K-pop today. The dance practice videos that we see are so good already. It was like 'How do we take what's so great that they're doing as real humans [and] bring it into animation and elevate that?' Even with some K-drama lighting and music video lighting is so beautiful. It was a challenge to bring it into the animation medium and be like, 'Okay, they've done all this amazing stuff. How do we take it one step further?' It was a lot of first figuring out how do they do it currently and how we can take it up a notch because we're animation. Chris Appelhans: I think Maggie really early on said we all love K-pop and if we try to make it for our own fandom—let's find lighting that we think is amazing, and choreo that we love, and go 'Dude, that is so good'—that is the most honest, authentic way to make the movie. And, if we're lucky, the other people who love K-pop will love it too. But that's all we could control and that was actually really helpful because it felt like you could go and look at great music videos and be inspired by, 'This is the kind of editorial lighting that I always love and always wanted to see in animation. I'm inspired to go get our lighting team to go raise their game to bring this level to the material.' I feel like it's what you said, a love letter from the medium we know really well. We know this special stuff that you can't do, also. Kang: Watching it as fans ourselves and wanting to push the medium,[and] being our harshest critics. One of the most difficult things to do for us Simulation Artists is to create dynamic movement in jewelry pieces. In these outfits Rumi has more than 35 individual pieces of jewelry from earrings to chains.¿Most complex piece? Mira's shoulder tassels !! KPOP DH June 20! — Cruz Contreras (@cruzencanada) June 8, 2025io9: What was the most thrilling moment in directing KPop Demon Hunters, where you hit an eureka moment in production when you truly felt you were bringing something unique and special to life? Appelhans: In stages. Different scenes delivered a different part of the promise. I remember Maggie doing some really funny reference videos for one of the girls' conversations and seeing in animation daily—that exact comedy shows up in our characters—and I'm like, 'Oh my god, the girls are going to be really cute, and adorable, and weird.' And the first time seeing great choreo and animation. Some of our Korean animators did some stuff that we didn't even ask for, they just took it and ran with it, and we got the butterflies. Like, 'Check, oh my gosh. We can do this.' We kept checking boxes that were part of this whole ambitious soup. Kang: Similar to me, too. Finding the shape language of even their eyes and mouth shapes on a Korean face, we wanted the expressions to feel very Korean and the girls' mouth shapes to feel like they're speaking Korean, even though they were speaking in the English language. One of the solutions we found—one of our amazing animators Sofia [Seung Hee Lee]—figured out rounding the corners of the mouth was really helpful in them feel that way. Those kind of milestones of figuring out certain languages for design and style really cracked those problems. Appelhans: Every time we heard the version of a song that we finally felt was doing it—whether it was the third try or the ninth try—when a song really started to hit and we would feel it in our guts, that was always like, 'Oh my gosh, we did it. One more piece to the puzzle' because that's so elusive—a pop song that's actually a bop. My only contribution to KPOP Demon Hunter. Screaming characters seems to be my thing. Congrats to the rest of the hard working crew of this movie! @sonyanimation — Guillermo Martinez (@billybobmartinz) May 24, 2025io9: Speaking of pop songs, the film also features contributions from the talented members of Twice. How did you approach collaborating with K-pop artists to bring the musical elements of KPop Demon Hunters to life? What was the process of ensuring the soundtrack not only energized the film but also complemented its emotional core? Kang: It was really important for the entire movie to live in that K-pop space. And collaborating with an actual K-pop artist felt like it finally legitimized our project in the K-pop world. Working with Black Label and all these amazing pop writers that write for BTS, Twice, and ultimately collaborating with Twice. Ian Eisendrath, who is our executive music producer, and Sony Music really wanted this album to feel like a real, legit K-pop album, so they brought this amazing team together and created an album that can hold up in the K-pop space. io9: Recently, animated films like Turning Red and Ultraman: Rising have demonstrated the power of animation as both a storytelling medium and a bridge into beloved fandoms, such as K-pop and Tokusatsu. These films not only celebrate vibrant animation and bring life to pre-existing fandoms but also center Asian heritage and allow characters to center in their authentic narratives. What was most important in balancing the global appeal of K-pop with the significance of Asian-led stories told by Asian characters? Kang: One way to answer that is that in animation, we've told a lot of stories about inanimate objects [and] different animals. And we've yet to tell stories that are culturally specific through a different cultural voice that can also be very universal. It's really promising that we are seeing more films and animation that are told through a different cultural lens. It's really important to try to feature as much diversity as possible in animation because, primarily, it is still regarded as a medium for more of a younger audience. We have all these different films globally that showing us that and it feels like we're not really doing that quite yet in animation. I think that is something that we really need to give more diversity at this stage in animation. Appelhans: What I've seen in my 25 years doing this is how much more diverse the actual day-to-day crews are and the talent, and that means everything. Because when Maggie shows up with an original idea, there are incredibly experienced and talented Korean artists in every department, and they don't have to do any homework. It's their lived experience they bring, their influences, their favorite things that shaped them as artists. That allows us to make more interesting, more original films than what could've been possible 25 years ago. It's kind of happening under the hood, but it's really promising and exciting. io9: What do you hope audiences and your fellow creative colleagues in animation take away from experiencing KPop Demon Hunters wanting to share this universal story with the world? Kang: There's nothing like film that shows that no matter what language you speak, what culture you grew up in, no matter if you are a demon, a chair, or a toy doll, everybody feels the same things as human beings. Telling stories with characters that emote in a very Korean way and speak looking very Korean, I hope that audiences and filmmakers can see that we all ultimately are human and we feel and want the same things which is love and acceptance KPop Demon Hunters streams on Netflix starting June 20. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

‘Jaws' By The Numbers: 50 Years Of Merch, Media And Money
‘Jaws' By The Numbers: 50 Years Of Merch, Media And Money

Forbes

timean hour ago

  • Forbes

‘Jaws' By The Numbers: 50 Years Of Merch, Media And Money

American actors (left to right) Robert Shaw (1927 - 1978), Roy Scheider (1932 - 2008), and Richard ... More Dreyfuss promoting the movie 'Jaws', directed by Steven Spielberg, 1975. (Photo by Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images) Fifty years ago on Friday, director Steven Spielberg's Jaws was released in theaters. The terrifying shark movie came to be defined as the first 'summer blockbuster,' of course, but that was just the beginning. Apropos to the film's tagline that teased, 'Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water,' Jaws opened revenue streams that are still gushing to this day. Starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss, Jaws was a monster hit, having earned $260.7 million in its initial domestic theatrical run in 1975. Adjusted for inflation via the Consumer Price Index, that amount equates to more than $1.5 billion in 2025. Production budget-wise, Jaws was made for $12 million, which USA Today reported was three times its original budget. According to the book George Lucas Blockbusting (via USA Today), Jaws' studio, Universal Pictures, spent an 'unprecedented' $700,000 on a TV advertising campaign before the film debuted on 400 screens nationwide (It's worthy to note that most big blockbuster films open on 4,000-plus screens today). Jaws is the seventh highest-grossing film, domestically, of all time, adjusted for inflation, per Box Office Mojo, behind Gone with the Wind, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, The Sound of Music, E.T. the Extraterrestrial, Titanic and The Ten Commandments. Behind Jaws at No. 8 on the list is Doctor Zhivago, followed by The Exorcist and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to round out the Top 10. Of course, the release of Jaws was only the beginning of the franchise. Per The Numbers, Jaws 2 was released in 1978, earning $102.9 million domestically, followed by 1983's Jaws 3-D ($42.2 million domestically) and 1987's Jaws 4: The Revenge ($20.7 million domestically). In total, the Jaws franchise made $439.5 million in domestic ticket sales. Coupled with international receipts, the four films in the Jaws franchise made $829.8 million worldwide. In the franchise's wake, of course, came an endless string of shark movies, but none that really matched the fury of the great white shark in Jaws that the production affectionately named 'Bruce.' Of the notables worth mentioning, though, are such shark thrillers as Deep Blue Sea, The Shallows, The Meg (short for Megladon— a 75-foot-long shark!), 47 Meters Down and for the kids' set, Shark Tale. Of course, the low-budget 2013 TV movie Sharknado is worthy of mention, since it became a genre unto itself with a mixture of gruesome horror and tongue-firmly-planted-in-cheek humor. Sharknado was so popular that it spawned five sequels — 2015's Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! arguably has the best title of the follow-ups — ending with 2018's The Last Sharknado: It's About Time. American actor Roy Scheider on the set of Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg. (Photo by Sunset ... More Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images) 'Jaws' Lives On In Merchandising, Media, Video Games And Theme Park Attractions While Jaws went on to become one of the highest-earning movies of all time, the cash flow hardly ended at the closing of the final curtain. The introduction of Laserdiscs, as well as VHS and Betamax cassette tapes in the late 1970s and early 1980s, introduced the film to home audiences, which eventually gave way to DVDs and Blu-ray discs. While figures of how much money Jaws earned in early home media revenues are not avaialbe, The Numbers reports that Jaws made $12 million in DVD sales from 2012 to 2021, and $17 million in Blu-ray sales during the same time frame. The Jaws franchise has also carved out an existence in the video game space, beginning with the Commodore 64 8-bit video game simply named Jaws, which was released in 1987, according to Game Rant. The video game site said five more official Jaws-inspired console/computer games have also been released. They are Jaws: The Computer Game (1989), Jaws (1989), Universals Studios Theme Park Adventure (2001), Jaws Unleashed (2006), Jaws: Ultimate Predator (2011) and Pinball FX 3 (2017), where users could play pinball-like games inspired by Universal Pictures' Jaws, E.T. the Extraterrestrial and Back to the Future. Since it's a Universal Studios property, Jaws, naturally, has also had its run as a theme park attraction, first as part of a tram tour at Universal Studios Hollywood in 1976, according to SyFy. Universal Studios Florida began its iteration of the attraction in 1990, SyFy noted, featuring, of course, a (mechanical) great white shark that snuck up on riders of the boat tour. While the Universal Studios Florida Jaws attraction closed down in 2012, fans willing to travel can get their fix of the iconic shark at Universal Studios Japan's Amity Village, appropriately named after the film's fictional Amity Island (filmed in Martha's Vineyard, Mass.) in the 1975 film. "Jaws the Game" with shark and junk pieces. The 50th Anniversary Of Jaws Has Inspired In Jaws' Toys And Collectibles While a movie where a great white shark attacks and kills people doesn't seem tailor-made for the toy marketplace, toys and collectibles makers have still managed to creatively squeeze in some games for fans to play and more recently, action figures. In 1975, the Ideal Toy Company released a crafty bit of merchandise called Jaws: The Game, which featured a plastic replica of the great white shark from Jaws along with 13 pieces of 'junk' — a boot, anchor, ship's wheel and a tire among them — with a pole. The object of the game is for the player to carefully fish the items out of the shark's mouth without it snapping down its, well, jaws. Of course, the original Jaws the Game can only be obtained on eBay and various auction sites now, but collectible maker NECA, just in time for the 50th anniversary of Jaws, reproduced Jaws the Game with updated stylings of the shark — which is 15 inches long— along with junk pieces. "Jaws" 50th anniversary collectibles: Shark with cage (Mondo), Quint and Hooper action figures ... More (NECA) and Shark and Orca water globe (Bradford Exchange). In addition, NECA is producing 7-inch tall 'Ultimate' action figures of Quint (Robert Shaw) and Hooper (Richard Dreyfus) with additional accessories. The company, however, has yet to obtain the license to make action figures of Roy Scheider's Chief Martin Brody. NECA isn't the only company producing merchandise celebrating Jaws' 50th anniversary. Collectibles maker The Bradford Exchange has the movie menace encased, appropriately, in a water globe that sits atop a stylized version of Quint's boat, the Orca, while collectibles maker Mondo features the sea monster breaking through a shark cage. The NBC Store— owned by NBC Universal— has a smattering of merchandise, from Amity Island beach towels, mugs and shot glasses to Jaws sweatshirts, T-shirts and even baby onesies. Presumably, the onesies were made for future Jaws fans as mementos when they celebrate the 100th anniversary of Jaws in 2075. For those fans invested in the now, Jaws celebrates its 50th anniversary on Friday.

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