Criminal Designer (Korea)

Opened Dec. 24
Crime, Action. Directed by Kim Hong-sun

Ji-hyeok (Kim Woo-bin), a skilled cracksman, teams up with hacker Jong-bae (Lee Hyun-woo) and engineer Gu-in (Ko Chang-seok) to rob jewelry stores for a living. One day they are hired by mob boss Jo (Kim Yeong-cheol) to steal 150 billion won ($135.75 million) hidden at Incheon Customs. If they don’t complete the mission in 40 minutes, their life is at stake. 


The Tailors (Korea)

Opening Dec. 24
Drama. Directed by Lee Won-suk

“The Tailors” is the story of two tailors: Jo Dol-seok (Han Suk-kyu), the head of Sanguiwon, the office in charge of royal attire in the Joseon era (1392-1910), and Lee Gong-jin (Gosu), a rebellious, skilled young designer who sets his fashion career in motion by designing the most outrageous and artistic hanbok of the time. When Dol-seok, an orthodox designer, becomes jealous of Gong-jin’s talent, their friendly competition escalates into a national scandal that reaches a point of no return. Yoo Yeon-seok and Park Shin-hye star as the king and queen of Joseon, respectively.


The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (New Zealand, U.K., U.S.)

Opened Dec. 17
Fantasy, Adventure. Directed by Peter Jackson

“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” is the third and final installment of the saga based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” which centers on an epic adventure led by hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) and his fellow dwarves. The film picks up immediately after the events of the second installment, “The Desolation of Smaug.” The dwarves finally reclaim their treasure-filled mountain, but face another fight due to the consequences of angering the dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch), who wages a deadly fire on the innocent people of the Lake-town. But Smaugh could be the lesser of their perils, as the archenemy Sauron has returned to Middle-earth to destroy everything.


Ode to My Father (Korea)

Opening Dec. 17
Drama. Directed by Yoon Je-kyoon

“Ode to My Father” is the story of Deok-soo (Hwang Jung-min), a man who lived through Korea’s tumultuous 1950s and 1960s. When the Korean War breaks out, Deok-soo is separated from his younger sister and his mother and becomes the breadwinner of the family. From a young age, he takes all kinds of difficult and odd jobs to provide for his mother and siblings. In search of opportunities, he travels the globe, working as a coal miner in Germany, where he falls in love with a migrant nurse called Young-ja (Kim Yun-jin). 


The Theory of Everything (U.K.)

Opened Dec. 10
Drama. Directed by James Marsh

The heartbreaking but inspirational drama “The Theory of Everything” is about the relationship between famous astrophysicist Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) and his first wife Jane Wilde Hawking (Felicity Jones). The film follows the life of Hawking from his young, ambitious college days at Oxford and diagnosis of motor neuron disease -- a condition related to Lou Gehrig’s disease that has left him wheelchair-bound -- to his marriage and children. In the meantime, his groundbreaking accomplishments in science, including discoveries about black holes and the big bang theory, made him a world-renowned scientist.