Girls' Generation New Japanese Album Sets SM Entertainment Stocks Soaring

SM Entertainment, the company that houses girl group Girls’ Generation, is waiting in anticipation for the sales reports of the soon-to-be released Japanese single album, ‘MR. TAXI’.

On April 25th, SM Entertainment’s stock prices on the KOSDAQ market finished the day at 19,600 won, which is 4.26% (800W) higher than the previous day. During trading, the share price at one point hit a high of 6.91%. The company’s shares significantly increased to 1.12 million shares from 280,000 shares.

The company’s strong showing in stock prices is interpreted to be a reflection of the high expectations of girl group Girls’ Generation’s Japanese single album ‘MR. TAXI’ due to be released on April 27th. According to the company, Girls’ Generation will release the single containing songs ‘MR. TAXI’ and ‘Run Devil Run’ and begin full-fledged activities in Japan thereafter.

Though the stocks stumbled last month in light of the recent earthquakes in Japan, stock market experts foresee them heading towards a positive direction as soon as SM artists start Japan promotions.

Samsung stock researcher Gong Taehyun states that “With the recent Japanese earthquakes, people’s mindsets towards investing in SM were less optimistic. But as Girls’ Generation’s activities resume, there are less worries now. Girls’ Generation has the biggest sales in terms of Japan-related activites as reflected from the first 4 quarters. If the SMTown concert in Japan is confirmed, results will further improve.”

Stay tuned for more updates on the girls and their Japanese activities!

SNSD release full music video for “Mr. Taxi”!

Following the ‘Dance Version’ PV that was released earlier this week, Shoujo Jidai (SNSD) has just revealed the full regular PV for “MR. TAXI“.

Unlike the previous video, this one features close-up shots of the members in addition to their energetic dancing.

Check it out below!

SM Entertainment to develop an entertainment complex

SM Entertainment, in a consortium along with two real estate development companies, Fides and M Studio City, have been selected as developers of a new visual-cultural-recreational complex (yeah man, seriously, that’s what they named that thing), titled “Jo Kam Do“, literally meaning, “Bird’s Eye View”.

Now here comes the wall of text about basic info of the place: City of Munkyung in Northern Kyungsang province, where the complex will be built, selected the three companies for development of its ambitious project. The complex will cost Munkyung 43 billion Won ($40 million U.S.) and the total area of 888,168㎡ will be divided up into three sectors; Sae Jae, Ga Eun, Ha Nae, with construction of Sae Jae beginning this year. The first sector, planned to be complete within the first half of 2012, will include indoor and outdoor filming studios, recreational facilities such as spa and water park, visual section with stages for performances and facilities for autograph sessions, and so on.

Now is the more relevant part for those of you that are wondering where SM comes into all of this.

Since this park is being built in the countryside far away from Seoul, Korea’s capital that is famously holding close to half of the national population in its area, it needs to differentiate itself from other theme parks and recreational complexes in order for people from Seoul to travel down there and keep the area alive by feeding it cash. That, is where our friends in the idol business come in; as they provide the complex with the contents of their company. Different zones named after their celebrities, including, but not limited to, SNSD, TVXQ, Super Junior, SHINee, f(x), and BoA, will be offering fan meetings and autograph sessions.

There is also a plan to have the stars stay at the hotel in the complex and then name the room that they stayed in after them, so that their fans would want to stay in the same room their idol did.

Might sound a bit weird or creepy, but hey, there are people out there that are willing to spend extra just so they can sleep in the same bed that Changmin or Yuri did. In short, SM’s involvement is to spice the complex up with some flavour of its idols.

SM is not the only entertainment industry representative in the game though; movie director Kang Jae Kyu is to take part in this project as a shareholder and shoot his movies in the studios in this complex. Mr. Kang was the director of Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War, the 4th highest-grossing film in Korean history, so I guess we can say he is pretty famous… making him a strong ally.

The city of Munkyung doesn’t really have many tourist attractions, and the complex is planned around the concept that it will create itself; that is, unlike the traditional method of putting hotels/restaurants/bars where a tourist attraction already exists (like a beach or a hot spring), they’re building the tourist attraction themselves along with all those other things – like a Disney Land.

In this case, the major attraction isn’t Mickey and Snow White; it is what SM has to offer. It is really up to them to get people down there and spend money. Will Jo Kam Do become a major attraction and a centre of hallyu wave, or will we end up studying about it in business class as a case of complete failure? Whatever the result may be, I look forward to writing about this baby in future.

Can’t wait for them to finish building it. Can you?

Stay tuned to allkpop for a few years as they build that thing from scratch.

YoonA released new "Innisfree" CF!

Yoona released another version of Innisfree CF,check out her flawless skin and the new CF here!

SM to hold joint concert in September at Japan's Tokyo Dome with a scale of 100,000 audiences

SM Entertainment will be holding the “SMTown Live” concert at Tokyo Dome on the coming 3-4th of September.

The concert, which was initially scheduled for 9-10th of April but was postponed due to the earthquake in Japan, will be held for two days in September, and about 100,000 audiences are expected (to watch the concert).

SM Entertainment predicted that “In addition to the ‘SMTOWN LIVE in TOKYO’ which was held for two days on the 25th and 26th of January at the Yoyogi National Stadium, Tokyo, Japan, which had 24000 audiences in attendance, and exceeded 40000 ticket purchasers, seems that the reaction towards this time’s performance in Tokyo Dome will be even more fervent (than before).”

On the other hand, the joint concert “SMTown Live” between the artists under SM Entertainment has had successful performances in Seoul, Tokyo, LA and other places, and will also be having a performance on the coming 10th of June in Paris, France, showing off SM’s global brand power.

Taking a walk in SM Entertainment's very own park, anyone?

Korea’s main entertainment agency SM Entertainment’s expansion in its real estate business will take place in KyungBuk. SM’s plan is to create a large scale visual and cultural tourist spot. Visitors may actually see how SM artistes’ dorms look like.

On April 27th, according to the real estate industries, SM and Fides Development had chosen MoonKyung City as the location for the development of the theme park. They will be developing around 888,186㎡ of area and the project will be completed around 2016 with investment involving 354.2 billion Won.

The development will start in the SaeJae area, which covers an area of 35,894㎡. Until 2012, Around 43 billion Won will be spent to develop the film studios , leisure complex, and visual support area.

Furthermore, a star zone for SM’s artistes will be developed where fanmeetings, fan signings and other events will be held. The facilities will also include stages for performances, water parks, spas and accommodations similar to the dormitories of stars like TVXQ and BoA.

SM Entertainment’s CEO,Kim YoungMin stated, “Korea’s cultural contents are not only accepted in Asia, but the whole world. We participate in this development because I feel the need to put Korea’s cultural advantages in one place.”

Ticket for 'SM Town Live World Tour in Paris' sold out in 15 minute

On April 26th, tickets for ‘SM Town Live World Tour in Paris’ which will be held at Le Zenith de Paris on June 10th sold like hot cakes.

Tickets were on sale through European ticketing sites livenation.fr, fnacspectacles.com, etc. In just 15 minutes, Europe proved to the whole world that the demand for Kpop is just as explosive. All the tickets sold online were grabbed.

Due to the overwhelming response, signatures are being collected on Facebook through a petition to have a Flashmob in front of the Louvre Museum on May 1st. It was reported that 4,000 signatures have been collected up to this moment.

‘SM Town Live World Tour’ had achieved great success through concerts in Seoul, Tokyo, LA and Shanghai. Even before the concert kicks off in Paris, early signs have indicated such great interest among European music fans towards the first ever SM Town concert in Europe. Once again, this confirms SM Entertainment’s capacity in placing itself as a global brand.

Come June 10th, SM Entertainment’s top artistes such as SNSD, TVXQ, Super Junior, f(x), etc. will heat up the stage and captivate the European music fans with their hit songs as well amazing performances.