Blackpink Contract Renewal Talks With YG Entertainment Continue, but May Be Approaching a Conclusion

Ellise Shafer Amazon Prime Video’s automotive series “The Grand Tour” is not moving forward at the streamer — at least with its current hosts, former “Top Gear” trio Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond. Sources tell Variety that Clarkson, May and Hammond have just returned from filming the show’s final special in Zimbabwe, which will launch at a later date next year and conclude the fifth season. A special set in Mauritania will launch before that, in February.

Ben Croll The Marrakech Film Festival’s industry-focused Atlas Workshops will complement its existing support for development and production with the Atlas Distribution Award – a brand-new initiative meant to fuel wider domestic and international distribution for the Moroccan, Arab and Pan-African films presented at the festival. Taking inspiration from similar European schemes, the Marrakech Foundation will offer financial incentives to regional distributors releasing festival-selected titles.

Strictly Come Dancing’s Bobby Brazier has revealed the sweet moment he shared with his dad, Jeff Brazier, after his performance last weekend. Bobby and his dance partner Dianne Buswell performed their couples choice routine to the song This Woman’s Work by Maxwell in a tribute to Bobby’s late mum, Jade Goody.The dance moved the judges to tears, and they were given a score of 37 out of 40, their highest of the series so far.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Queen Bey is about to take on the box office. “Renaissance,” a concert film written, directed and produced by Beyoncé, is expected to bring in $17 million to $20 million in its opening weekend. The film will play in approximately 2,539 domestic locations, as well as 94 international territories, including Mexico, the U.K., South Africa, Kenya, Australia and Germany.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief South Korea’s two largest streaming services, Tving and Wave, are in advanced merger talks, according to Korean financial news media. The move appears intended to strengthen the home-grown platforms, which currently trail streaming market leader Netflix. The Korean Economic Daily reported Wednesday that CJ ENM, the largest shareholder in TVing, and SK Square, the biggest backer of Wavve, could strike an agreement as early as next week.

Naman Ramachandran Netflix has acquired Indonesian filmmaker Yosep Anggi Noen’s festival favorite film “24 Hours with Gaspar.” Adapted from a detective novel of the same title that was published in 2017 by Sabda Armandio, “24 Hours with Gaspar” follows the life of private detective Gaspar, who has only 24 hours to live. He discovers clues leading to the mysterious disappearance of Kirana, a childhood friend, and later to Wan Ali, who’s involved in a human trafficking syndicate.

Sir Rod Stewart has taken to social media to pay tribute to his son Alastair's milestone birthday as he turns 18. The singing legend and dad-of-eight posted a sweet picture of the pair enjoying a celebratory meal.

A sculpture trail featuring six giant heads has popped up in Greater Manchester, with the aim of promoting mental health awareness. The large installations, each one hand-painted, appeared earlier this month and will be on display until December 11.

J. Kim Murphy Focus Features has acquired worldwide rights to Jeff Nichols‘ “The Bikeriders,” ending a short period of producer New Regency shopping the finished film to studios.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “The Bikeriders,” a drama directed by Jeff Nichols and starring Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, and Tom Hardy, is being shopped around town after Disney took the film off its slate. Disney and 20th Century were scheduled to open the film on Dec. 1.

BLACKPINK‘s status continues to be unknown.

Indy100 newspaper reports that 0.88% or 2.2m users make daily visits to the streaming platform’s gaming section. At its peak, in January 2023, the same segment almost made it to 3m.Netflix seems to be getting desperate to attract gamers, despite assurances to the contrary.

Married At First Sight star Peggy Rose has given fans a behind-the-scenes glimpse into her wedding vow renewal with husband Georges, as she shared a carousel of sweet images on Instagram. The pair have had their fair share of ups and downs, with Peggy dramatically announcing that she was leaving the experiment just a few weeks ago.

BLACKPINK will be hosting their first-ever virtual concert called ‘BLACKPINK: A VR Encore’ in partnership with Meta and production company The Diamond Bros.The concert was announced by Billboard today (November 15), and is confirmed to be a recreation of the group’s special finale show for their ‘Born Pink’ world tour in Seoul’s Gocheok Sky Dome. Fans can expect performances of the band’s roster of hits including ‘Pink Venom’, ‘How You Like That’ and ‘Kill This Love’, as well as solo music performed by each individual member.Emmy Award-winning production company The Diamond Bros.

K-pop label YG Entertainment has provided an update on contract renewal negotiations with BLACKPINK, saying that they are still ongoing.The entertainment company made a brief statement to South Korean media, including Sports Chosun, yesterday (November 14) saying that it is “still negotiating with the artists regarding their exclusive contracts”, as translated by Koreaboo. No other details regarding the current status of the discussions were divulged, but YG Entertainment shared in the same statement that an announcement of the negotiations’ outcome “will be revealed through the document regarding major management issues related to investments.” An exact date for this report’s publication has yet to be announced.Negotiations surrounding the status of BLACKPINK’s expiring contracts with YG Entertainment have been underway since July, and their contracts were said to have expired in August.

There is an update about the long-awaited live-action Masters of the Universe project.

The former football player made a surprise appearance as he returned to “Fox NFL Sunday” over the weekend after a two-week hiatus. He joined his co-host, Curt Menefee, for the network’s pregame to honor veterans.Earlier this month, Menefee previously told viewers that Strahan had the day off.

Jacob Elordi is speaking out in a new interview, and we gathered up the 7 major revelations we learned.

Robert Butler, a television director for the pilot shows for Star Trek, Batman, Hill Street Blues, and Moonlighting, has died. He was 95.

Apple TV+’s Masters of the Air finally has a trailer!