Ciaran Hinds Joins ‘Euphoria’ Star Jacob Elordi in Prime Video and Sony’s Australian Miniseries ‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North’

The Cleveland Cavaliers are coming off a huge win against one of the Eastern Conference’s best teams. The Orlando Magic are currently 14-7 and sit in third place in the east. With a top-three-rated defense, the Magic are not to be taken lightly, and the Cavs knew that.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Wang Jianlin, the Chinese billionaire who previously sought to buy a controlling position in Hollywood, is preparing to complete his imminent exit from the film industry. The troubled conglomerate is facing debt repayment pressure.Wanda Film, which remains China’s largest cinema operator, Wednesday said in a regulatory filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange that Wang and his Wanda Investment vehicle expect to sell their remaining stake 51% in the company to China Ruyi Holdings. Ruyi, which operates across film, TV and online games, counts games, social media and streaming giant Tencent among its largest shareholders.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Something Special, the Seoul-based international format agency founded by format specialists Jin Woo Hwang (president and executive producer) and Kim In Soon (EVP & head of content) announce that ITV Studios has optioned the hit Korean celebrity format “Battle in the Box” for France, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel. The deal was unveiled on Wednewday, the first full day of the Asia Television Forum and Market (ATF) in Singapore. “Battle in the Box,” created by Korea’s NMedia and represented globally by Something Special, has previously seen deals announced with Fremantle for Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Universal Music Greater China has signed a strategic partnership with Mandarin-language music superstar Jay Chou and his record label JVR Music. The agreement secures global marketing and distribution rights for Chou’s extensive music catalogue and for future projects. It also supports rising talent from his label, including artists Patrick Brasca and Young (aka Cao Yang) through JVR. Nicknamed the ‘King of Mandopop’ Chou has a two decade career that spans 15 studio albums, eight world tours and 378 concerts in Asia, America, Europe, and Australia.

Leverage: Redemption will be back for a third season on a new platform. Amazon MGM Studios has renewed the popular heist-drama series, whose first two seasons streamed on Freevee, and is moving to Prime Video for Season 3. The third season will premiere on Prime Video next year in the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Macau casino operator, Sands China entered into a strategic partnership with Chinese streaming company Tencent Video and Chinese cinema ticketing firm Maoyan Entertainment. The three parties will team up to host large-scale offline events, content creation of lifestyle and entertainment programs and online marketing and promotion. Operating The Venetian Macao, The Parisian Macao and The Londoner Macao casino resorts, Sands runs several large entertainment facilities in Macau, including the 15,000-seat Cotai Arena, the 1,800-seat Venetian Theatre, the 6,000-seat The Londoner Arena, the 1,200-seat The Parisian Theatre, and the 1,700-seat Londoner Theatre. The three will co-organize events in Macau including live performances, concerts, films, TV series, variety shows, sports and cultural activities.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief France-based multinational Studiocanal has launched Cultivator Films to facilitate local co-productions in Australia and will kick off with book-to-film adaptation “Kangaroo.” “Kangaroo” is scripted by Harry Cripps (“The Dry,” “Penguin Bloom”) and directed by Kate Woods (“The Lincoln Lawyer,” “The Umbrella Academy,” “The Good Lord Bird,” “Looking for Alibrandi”). Eastern Arrernte emerging director Samantha Laughton is set as a director’s attachment. Slated to start production in Alice Springs in the first half of 2024, “Kangaroo” is a Northern Territory-inspired story based on Chris Barnes, aka ‘Brolga,’ who is the founder of the Kangaroo Sanctuary in Alice Springs. Cultivator Films Australia is led by Studiocanal’s Australia and New Zealand CEO Elizabeth Trotman.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Full River Red,” the Zhang Yimou-directed period comedy-drama that released in January this year has earned its producer Huanxi Media Beijing the 2023 Asia Pacific Box Office Achievement Award at the CineAsia convention. The convention gets under way Monday in Bangkok and will run till Thursday (Dec. 4-7).

Angelique Jackson Prime Video Sports has greenlit a feature-length documentary about NFL star wide receiver DeSean Jackson, the former Philadelphia Eagles great and three-time Pro Bowler who announced his retirement from the league earlier this week. The untitled documentary is based around footage that DeSean Jackson’s brother, Byron Jackson, began filming 30 years ago.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Rights to the second season of Irish crime drama series “Hidden Assets” have been licensed by DCD Rights. Buyers include the BBC for the U.K., SBS and Stan for Australia, TV4 for Sweden and TV2 for Norway. The 12-part series is produced by Saffron Moon, Facet4Media & Potemkino for RTE, Super Channel & Acorn TV, and was written by Peter McKenna (Kin, Red Rock), Morna Regan, Mary Fox and Marthy Thornton.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief CJ ENM (Hong Kong), a channels and content distributor that is part of the Korean CJ ENM conglomerate, has picked up pay-TV rights in parts of Asia to a handful of Korean series that were co-financed by streaming platform Tving and Paramount+. The deal was struck with Paramount Global Content Distribution. The productions are part of a global strategic partnership between CJ ENM and Paramount Global that was announced in December 2021. The deal was announced on the eve of the Asian TV Forum (ATF), which kicks off next week in Singapore. The series debut first on Tving in Korea and on Paramount+ in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

The love pairing of flirty, late-era Millennial Harry (Paul Mescal) and the shy, fringe Gen X-er Adam (Andrew Scott) isn’t what you’d necessarily expect in most contemporary gay love affairs, let alone in Andrew Haigh’s sublime new drama, “All of Us Strangers.” But, lonely living in a barely occupied London apartment tower can make for unexpected and literal bedfellows. In the context of the film, it also leads to several intimate cinematic scenes that are both emotionally moving and, well, quite erotic.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Carmen,” “Foe,” “Limbo,” Australia’s Oscar contender “Shayda,” “Streets of Colour” and “The Royal Hotel” have received the six nominations for best feature film at this year’s Screen Producers Australia Awards. The SPA Awards will be held on Thursday, March 21, 2024, the final evening of the Screen Forever conference. In the documentary feature section, the nominations are “Flyaways,” “Harley & Katya,” “Living With Devils,” “ONEFOUR: Against All Odds,” “The Cape,” “The Giants,” “The Jewish Nazi?” and “The Platypus Garden.” Nominations for best telemovie or miniseries production are “While the Men Are Away,” “The Claremont Murders,” “Wellmania,” “The Messenger,” “Bad Behaviour” and “The Clearing.” “2023 was a year filled with a number of challenges for our industry, but the Australian screen sector continued to delight audiences globally with stories that share our unique culture and creativity,” said SPA CEO Matthew Deaner.

Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke has endorsed the idea of Jenna Ortega and Jacob Elordi playing the roles of Bella Swan and Edward Cullen today.Earlier this year, The Hollywood Reporter claimed that a new TV series based on the original Stephanie Meyer book series was in the works.While no details of casting have been unveiled yet, Hardwicke – who helmed the original 2008 film starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson – spoke about possible stars today that could take over.Speaking on the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast, host Josh Horowitz asked: “Is there anyone in the new crop today? Like who do you cast? Is Jacob Elordi Edward Cullen today? Is Jenna Ortega…”.Hardwicke then interjected: “Oh yeah, that would be perfect.”“Have you seen Saltburn? He’s amazing,” she added of Elordi. “He probably would be Edward today.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Wellington Paranormal,” the series spinoff from 2014 breakout hit film “What We Do In the Shadows,” is launching an audio companion piece. It is produced by Frank Podcasts, a new New Zealand-based podcast network, headed by Mike Minogue and Tim Batt. The podcast will feature actors, writers, directors and more, delving into the making of the Jemaine Clement produced and Taika Waititi executive produced TV series, “Wellington Paranormal.” The show is hosted by Minogue (who played Officer Minogue in the series) and Karen O’Leary (Officer O’Leary), with Maaka Pohatu (Sarge) and Tom Sainsbury (Officer Parker) as recurring guests.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Producer and screenwriter, Darren Dale has been named as the new board chair of the Sydney Film Festival, following the retirement of Dianne Weir. He is a leading advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content and has been director of Blackfella Films since 2000.

Prime Video executives aren’t prepared to guarantee a ratings bonanza with the first NFL game on Black Friday. They mainly hope it succeeds in seeding a new annual pop culture event on the day after Thanksgiving.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Black Fridays of years past might have had avid shoppers waiting in line for hours or getting into department store brawls as they scoped out the best post-Thanksgiving deals. Now, some of the best deals can be found online and are usually available for at longer than 24 hours, which is something we can all feel thankful for as we fill up our virtual shopping carts.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Green Border,” Agnieszka Holland’s Venice Special Jury Prize-winning refugee drama, has been acquired by Kino Lorber in the U.S. (“Scrapper”) and Modern Films in the U.K. (“Drive My Car”).

EXCLUSIVE: Ciarán Hinds (Belfast) and Odessa Young (Mothering Sunday) are among the cast joining Jacob Elordi in the Prime Video Australia Original series The Narrow Road to the Deep North, a TV adaptation of Richard Flanagan’s Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name. Production on the new 5-part drama series kicked off Down Under today.