AsiaSat Acquires Lightning International, Content and Channels Distributor (EXCLUSIVE)

McKinley Franklin editor LOC Agency, a brand and talent management service founded by Jessica Hoy and Teddy Duvall, has launched to offer strategic advisory and creative services for films, personalities and more. LOC Agency works with a range of feature films, brands and high-profile talent to deliver brand management, public relations, special events and sponsorship sales and brand activation services. Their clients have included companies such as Robert Schwartzman’s Utopia Distribution, which remains a client following the film company’s growth in the independent film industry, for their films including “Shiva Baby” and “Holy Spider.” LOC has also supported film campaigns for titles such as “Down With the King,” starring Freddie Gibbs, “Venus as a Boy,” starring Olivia Culpo, MUBI’s Paris premiere of the Dash Snow documentary “Moments Like This Never Last” in partnership with Dover Street Market and the KT Tunstall-produced short film “Gutterpunk.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese mystery drama “Lost in the Stars” expanded in its second week on release and gave China its third biggest box office weekend of the year. The film earned $117 million, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. That was significantly up from its opening weekend of $70.7 million (RMB502 million) a week earlier and enough to make it the second biggest film on the planet, behind “Indiana Jones,” according to Comscore. After two weekends on release, it has accumulated $320 million. “Lost in the Stars” is a Chinese adaptation of a 1990 Russian movie “A Trap for the Lonely Man,” which itself was adapted from a Robert Thomas stage play. It sees a woman disappear while on an overseas trip with her husband. Just as mysteriously, she reappears at the moment that the search for her is running out of steam. But the man refuses to accept that she is the same woman and believes that she is an imposter.

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Amber Dowling Stephanie Azam is no longer the head of content for Disney+ Canada, Variety has learned. The executive was let go as part of the company’s recent reorganization after less than a year on the job, and amid news that Disney+ has paused original commissions in Canada. Several other positions were eliminated as a result of the reorganization. Jason Badal remains in place as the VP and general manager of Disney+ in Canada. Sources indicate the company is still looking at Canadian originals, although the timeline surrounding any such commissions is unclear. Last September at a Content Canada conference, Badal indicated the streaming service was in search of Canadian content for the Star component of Disney+ (an amalgamation of Hulu, FX and Fox content that hasn’t been distributed to other Canadian broadcasters). Azam was in the audience at the time and still new to the role. Still, Badal revealed her email for those in the room who wanted to send pitches.

EXCLUSIVE: Freestyle Digital Media, the digital film distribution division of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, has acquired North American VOD rights to the dramatic feature film Waiting For The Light To Change — the 2023 Slamdance Film Festival ‘Grand Jury Prize’ winner for ‘Best Narrative Feature.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Warner Bros. Discovery will rebrand its kids’ TV channel Boomerang to Cartoonito in Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong, with effect from July 28. The company said that the “switch is a result of positive feedback to the Cartoonito-branded block on Boomerang and Cartoon Network launched in 2022, and is focused on being more inclusive to pre-school aged viewers.” Sources close to the company explained that the move is “part of a big regional and global commitment by WBD to preschool content.” It follows Cartoonito rebrands and launches in other international territories including EMEA and LatAm.

Charna Flam The Sundance Institute has announced the 10 fellows for its 2023 Ignite x Adobe fellowship. Those selected for the yearlong program include Rafaël Beauchamp, Omi Zola Gupta, Dylan Habil, Xiaoxuan Jiang, Alvina Joshi, Milla Lewis, Andrés Lira, Dallin Mello, Leonardo Pirondi and Chloe Xtina. The fellowship is designed to support emerging fiction and documentary filmmakers ages 18 to 25, through the assistance with artistic and professional development. The select fellows receive an artist grant supported by Adobe and Arison Arts Foundation, a one-year complimentary membership to Adobe Creative Cloud, access to Sundance Institute alumni mentors, the opportunity to develop relationships within the Ignite community and access to the Sundance Film Festival.

Charna Flam Saban Films has acquired the rights to Art Camacho’s action thriller “Ruthless” starring Dermot Mulroney and Javier Reyna’s “Palido” starring Kellan Lutz. Saban will distribute the titles throughout North America, the United Kingdom, Germany, Benelux and Australia. Jonathan Saba, CCO of Saban Films, negotiated the deal with Devin Carter, SVP of sales at Premiere Entertainment. “Ruthless” follows a high school coach (Mulroney) who takes matters into his own hands by going after the men who kidnap his female student for their human trafficking operation, according to a snyopsis.

McKinley Franklin editor UTA has acquired executive search firm James & Co.  Founders Michele James and Roysi Erbes will co-lead the company as a new division within UTA. The acquisition continues the expansion of specialities that UTA ’s brings to clients across entertainment, sports and business. UTA’s growth and expansion strategy has also included partnering with sports representation firm Klutch, in addition to acquisitions including MediaLink, Curtis Brown Group and Fletcher & Co.  “Over the past two decades, James & Co. has gained enormous trust and respect from high-level clients across the worlds of sports, entertainment and more,” said Andrew Thau, COO of UTA and co-head of UTA Sports. “Michele and Roysi are a great fit with UTA’s collaborative and entrepreneurial culture, and their expertise is unrivaled. It’s exciting to welcome them and their team to UTA as we help even more clients find and empower their most important assets – their people.” 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hong Kong action film “The White Storm: Heaven or Hell” will have its North American premiere at the New York Asian Film Festival, where it is a late addition to the line-up. The festival runs July 14–30, 2023 at Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Directed by Herman Yau, the film sees Louis Koo, Aaron Kwok and Sean Lau (aka Lau Ching-wan) appear together for the first time. It is set in the ‘Golden Triangle’ region famous for drugs production and trafficking. Kwok plays an undercover cop who infiltrates a drug cartel led by a notorious Thai drug lord (Lau). In classic heroic bloodshed fashion, the two develop a bond of brotherhood. The cop’s only hope of escaping the treacherous jungle region and his ambiguous morality is to somehow contact the superintendent of the Hong Kong Narcotics Bureau, who has solemnly sworn to demolish the cartel once and for all.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Prime Video has revealed its top traveling non-English local originals in the history of the service, with Spanish YA romance “My Fault” and French crime thriller “Medellín” topping the list. Both are feature films that launched in the last two weeks across Prime Video’s footprint in 240 countries around the world. Interestingly, both titles have more than 75% of their viewership coming from outside their country of origin (Spain for “My Fault,” and France for “Medellín”), though Prime Video hasn’t disclosed any further metrics related to ratings or impressions. Of the list (available in full below), 60% are movies and 40% are TV series.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Warner Bros. Discovery has announced three new Thai HBO Asia Originals: action-fantasy blockbuster “Khun Pan 3”; fun-filled cooking series “MarkKim + Chef” and reality series “Deane’s Dynasty.” The shows will be available exclusively to HBO and HBO GO in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Thai TV content is currently growing in popularity among Asian TV audiences and has recently been seen pioneering soft homo-erotic series known as the ‘Boys Love’ genre, that has appeal to mature female audiences. BL is conspicuously absent from the new additions to the HBO Go slate.  “Khun Pan 3” is the final instalment of the “Khun Pan” franchise and represents a journey from 1950 after World War ll, as sorcerer cop Khun Pan is persuaded to take on another dangerous mission. This time he is hunting down two bandits and uncovering a conspiracy that challenges everything, he believes in. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Warner Bros.’s “The Flash” and Disney/Pixar’s “Elemental” made theatrical debuts in China that were in line with their soft starts in North America and other international territories. “The Flash” captured the top spot in China with a $13.4 million (RMB94.8 million) opening weekend ($13.8 million including previews), according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. It deposed “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” which opened a week earlier and which slipped to second place in its sophomore frame. “Transformers” took a 69% fall and recorded $12.4 million between Friday and Sunday in China. That produces a $61.7 million cumulative after ten days in Chinese theaters.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Killing Romance,” one of the most creative Korean films of the past year, has been set as the opening night title for the upcoming New York Asian Film Festival. The deliberately multi-genre picture tells the tale of a beautiful movie star with dubious acting skills (portrayed by Le Ha-nee) who suddenly quits the industry and retires to newly-married life that turns out to be anything but bliss. When she decides to return to acting she teams up with a fan and an absurd plot to kill her absurdly rich husband. The film is directed by Lee Won-suk who previously attended the NYAFF with his first film, “How to Use Guys With Secret Tips,” in 2013 and returned with his second feature, the big-budget period drama The Royal Tailor, which earned the audience award at NYAFF in 2015.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Disney is to close its six remaining linear TV channels in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea as the conglomerate puts a greater emphasis on direct-to-consumer streaming. The channels concerned are National Geographic, National Geographic Wild, Star Chinese Movies, Star Chinese Channel, Star Movies and Star World. Linear services will end from September in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Korea, and by December in Taiwan. The group expects to retain a streamlined television portfolio with channels in Japan, China, Australia and New Zealand for the time being.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hungarian director and screenwriter Ildikó Enyedi brought some art-house royalty to the Shanghai International Film Festival this week with a masterclass that focused on her process and the struggle to maintain a unique voice. At one point in her on-stage discussion with Chinese director Zheng Dasheng, she called filmmaking “essentially a sole desperate cry, hoping to be heard by others.” Enyedi’s voice has certainly registered and been heard at Europe’s major film festivals. She won the Camera d’Or in Cannes in 1989 for best debut feature “My 20th Century,” saw her 1994 film “Magic Hunter” play in competition in Venice and she won the top prize Golden Bear in Berlin in 2017 with “On Body and Soul.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hong Kong icon Johnnie To will head the jury of the sixth edition of the Malaysia International Film Festival (MIFFest) next month. Other jurors include: Truong Ngoc Anh from Vietnam, Ryuichi Hiroki from Japan, Zizan Razak from Malaysia, and Eric Khoo from Singapore. The event will open with the world premiere of “Eraser,” directed by Mark Lee See Teck. The Malaysian film features the final on-screen appearance of the late Adibah Noor, a beloved Malaysian gem known for her timeless charisma. MIFFest will play “See You at the Rally,” directed by Taiwanese filmmaker Kanny Chang as its closing title. The festival is set to take place at LaLaport BBCC from July 23-29 and will play a total of 42 films from 15 countries.

Scarlett Johansson is getting real about the ups and downs of being an actress. In a May interview with , the Black Widow actress opened up about wanting to quit the industry in 2011, after losing two roles that instead went to Emily Blunt and Sandra Bullock.«The first was  and then the other one was Alfonso Cuarón’s ,» Johansson told the outlet. «I had wanted that role so much. It was sort of the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Treat Williams is being remembered. The and actor died Monday at 71 after being involved in a motorcycle accident.

This story about Bill Hader and Seth Meyers and “Barry” and “Late Night” first appeared in the Comedy Series issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.The moment Bill Hader and Seth Meyers met on “Saturday Night Live,” Meyers immediately understood that Hader was a film nerd. “The first time Bill came into my office after he got hired, when he left, I somehow had a list of 12 foreign films to watch,” Meyers said during a lengthy joint interview conducted before the writers’ strike, the full version of which you can watch here or at the bottom of this article.