Apple’s Services Division Sees Record Quarter With $21 Billion In Sales, 1 Billion Paid Subscriptions; Tech Giant Posts Total Revenue Of $81.8 Billion

The BBC is partnering with TikTok to create a boot camp for social media creators looking to break into the television industry.

Netflix has renewed Indian cop drama Khakee: The Bihar Chapter for a second season and struck a wider creative partnership deal with the show’s creator, Friday Storytellers.

Naman Ramachandran Zee Studios blockbuster “Gadar 2,” headlined by Sunny Deol, could get a third part and a spinoff, provided the story is right. The film is already amongst the highest Indian grossers of the year with $45 million globally in just seven days of release. Written by Shaktimaan Singh and directed by Anil Sharma, “Gadar 2” is a sequel to 2001 smash hit “Gadar,” which was set in the period after the partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan in the 1947-54.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The box office in mainland China reached an all-time high in the summer season, according to figures from ticketing agency Maoyan Entertainment. The record was achieved with minimal input from Hollywood.

Priyanka Chopra is distancing herself from Sona, the New York City restaurant she helpedto  launch.

Bigg Boss OTT,” the Indian adaptation of the “Big Brother” format hosted by Bollywood star Salman Khan, has broken records for streamer JioCinema. The show was available as a free 24-hour live stream. On Aug.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Tencent, the Chinese games, social media and streaming giant, reported further quarterly profits recovery after a dire 2022. But its revenues for the April-June period missed financial analysts’ expectations and point to continued weakness in the Chinese economy. Group revenues for the period were RMB149 billion ($20.6 billion), representing an 11% year-on-year growth, but a 1% quarter-on-quarter decline.

Manchester's newest luxury hotel is preparing to officially open - with the promise of rooms "designed for the perfect night's sleep". Forty-Seven on Peter Street in the city centre boasts 32 boutique bedrooms and some of "the most lavish suites" in Manchester.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The number of paying streaming subscribers at China’s Tencent Music Entertainment hit 100 million in the June, the company said Tuesday as it revealed its second quarter financials. Subscriber numbers increased by 20% year on year and by 5 million quarter on quarter, to hit 99.4 million, the company said. That increase helped quarterly revenues from music subscriptions to rise by 37% year-on-year to RMB2.89 billion ($399 million).

FRIDAY AM UPDATE, refresh for more…The only new wide release this weekend is Amblin’s period Dracula horror pic The Last Voyage of the Demeter being distributed by Universal. It made $750K last night in previews from showtimes that began at 5PM in 2,350 theaters in what is expected to be an underwhelming 3-day single digit million result for the $45M feature production. The R-rated pic expands to 2,715 theaters today.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Box office hit “Lost in the Stars” was a contributor to the April to June profits recorded by Chinese tech giant Alibaba’s digital media and entertainment division. The division, which spans streaming, ticketing, film production and distribution and web browser, recorded earnings before interest, taxation and amortization (EBITA) of $9 million (RMB63 million). That follows many years of losses, including $126 million (RMB907 million) of EBITA losses in the equivalent quarter last year.

Disney’s giant theme park division was first out of the gate in a post-pandemic recovery, showing giant jumps in revenue and profit due to pent-up demand. But the engine is sputtering.

EXCLUSIVE: Artist International Group on Tuesday announced its signing of Zine Tseng, one of the stars of Netflix’s anticipated sci-fi drama series 3 Body Problem, which is coming to the platform in January.

Wes Anderson will be honored with the Cartier Glory to the Filmmaker Award at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, running from August 30th to September 9.

Momo Film Co, one of Singapore’s most prominent production-distribution outfits. Indeed, Yeo’s film feels uniquely Singaporean in its reflection of the complex psychic state of the country, which can teeter between a coastal dreamland and a cloistered urban nightmare. Before trying his hand at filmmaking, Yeo studied animation.

Sophia Sun Intern Comedian Zarna Garg has launched a podcast on the heels of her Amazon Prime Video special “One in a Billion.” Garg was recently highlighted as one of Variety‘s 10 Comics to Watch for 2023. “The Zarna Garg Show,” which bowed Aug. 1 across major podcast platforms and YouTube, features conversations with her multi-generational Indian American family on what she describes as “bringing taboo topics out in the open.” The first installment features Garg, her husband, Shalabh, and their three children: Zoya, 20, Brij, 17, and Veer, 11.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Asia Contents Awards, held as part of the Busan International Film Festival since 2019, is to join forces with the Global OTT Awards to form a wider-reaching event. The merged events are to be known under the ungainly abbreviation ACA & G.OTT Awards and will be co-hosted by South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT and Busan Metropolitan City authorities. The ceremony will be held in Busan on Sunday Oct.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms,” the first part of Wuershan’s big-budget “Fengshen Trilogy,” topped the mainland China box office for the second weekend and expanded its week-on-week haul by 35%. ‘Barbie’ also showed signs of resilience in a market where it opened a week earlier in a disappointing fifth place. “Creation of the Gods I” grossed $57.6 million.

The Barbenheimer phenomenon just keeps going. To wit: there is so much energy happening at international box office turnstiles that Tuesday’s grosses on Warner Bros’ Greta Gerwig-directed Barbie and Universal’s Christopher Nolan opus Oppenheimer were down just 1% from Monday. The offshore gross through Tuesday on Barbie is now $258.5M with global at $472.6M.

Christopher Nolan’s latest epic is being censored in some parts of the world.