Ma Dong-seok, 10 winners of '2023 Visionary Awards' for 'Crime City 2'

Actor Ma Dong-seok won the 2023 Visionary Awards as one of the 10 people, showing off his influence in K Entertainment in 2022.

CJ ENM held the '2023 Visionary Awards' at its headquarters in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul on the 8th. Attending the awards ceremony on this day were Ma Dong-seok, Kim Hye-soo, PD Na Young-seok, Park Eun-bin, director Park Chan-wook, IU, (G)I-DLE, Lee Jeong-jae, Lee Jin-ju PD, and writer Jeong Seo-kyung.

Ma Dong-seok expressed his thoughts as an actor with global influence upon receiving the Visionary award. Ma Dong-seok said, “Thank you for giving me this special and meaningful award. I would like to thank CJ E&M officials and Vice President Lee Mi-kyung for inviting me to this great event. 'Crime City 2' was lucky enough to do well, so I received this award. 'Crime City 2' was created with the passion and dedication of many people, not just me. We promise to create an even more interesting ‘Crime City’ series in the future. “Now, I will work with the people here to create a lot of globally entertaining content that transcends borders, language, and race,” he said with a bold ambition.

This award follows the Best Actor Award at the 9th Korean Film Producers Association Awards and the Film Artist Award at the 12th Beautiful Artist Awards held last year. The Visionary Award is an award that selects artists and creators who have presented a new vision to K Entertainment with unrivaled achievements.

Ma Dong-seok showed results last year worthy of the name Visionary. He played three roles: planning, starring, and producing the highest-grossing film of 2022, 'Crime City 2'. 'Crime City 2' recorded a box office hit of 12.69 million, helping to revive the Korean film industry, which was in a recession due to the pandemic. It was a demonstration of Ma Dong-seok’s influence.

'Crime City 2' has a global influence, ranking in the top 5 in global box office box office following Hollywood masterpieces such as 'Top Gun: Maverick', 'Jurassic World: Dominion', 'Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Chaos', and 'Bad Guys'. showed. If it weren't for Ma Dong-seok, he achieved results that would have been impossible and received great love.

Ma Dong-seok, who started 2023 brilliantly with the Visionary Award, plans to be busy with his activities. Ma Dong-seok is scheduled to release 'Holy Night: Demon Hunters', 'Wilderness', and the highly anticipated film 'Crime City 3' in 2023. In addition, he plans to begin filming a new work as a leading K-content producer and actor. He is considering appearing in a number of movies and dramas, including the 'Eternals 2' global project.

Choi Ji-ye, Ten Asia Reporter wisdomart@tenasia.co.kr