CJ ENM, Studio Dragon & Naver Webtoon’s Line Digital Frontier To Launch Studio Dragon Japan

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds set to headline All Points East in London’s Victoria Park this summer, the festival has now announced the full schedule for the day.On August 28 Cave and his band will headline the final night of the Victoria Park festival. Today (May 31), longstanding space rockers Spiritualized, acclaimed poet Kae Tempest, jazz pianist and composer Robert Glasper and more have all been added to the bill.Hurray For The Riff Raff, Party Dozen (whose single ‘Macca The Mutt’ featured Cave), Starcrawler, and former Palma Violets musician Chilli Jesson have also just been announced.Last week it was revealed that Radiohead side project The Smile had been added to the bill as well as Michael Kiwanuka, Sleaford Mods, Japanese Breakfast and more.Get tickets for Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds with Spiritualized, The Smile and more at All Points East here.Remaining in August but reverting to its double weekends format, All Points East takes place on Friday, August 19 and Saturday, August 20 and then across the whole August bank holiday weekend from Thursday, August 25 to Sunday, August 28.Gorillaz headline as a UK festival exclusive on August 19 before APE Presents: Field Day returns on August 20 with The Chemical Brothers and Kraftwerk.Tame Impala headline the following weekend (August 25), while The National take the top spot on August 26.

The bomber jacket of Top Gun‘s Maverick is looking a bit more familiar in international trailers these days, according to a report in Fortune. Two flag patches on the back of the jacket – representing Taiwan and Japan – appear to have been returned to their original spots.

Tom Cruise earned the biggest movie launch of his career with "Top Gun: Maverick," bringing in a projected $151 million at the box office during Memorial Day weekend. The Paramount film, which was delayed multiple times due to the coronavirus pandemic, now holds the record for the second-best Memorial Day opening of all time behind Johnny Depp’s "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End," which earned $153 million when it was released in 2007.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefProduction has wrapped in both Singapore and Japan on Nicole Midori Woodford’s supernatural art house drama “Last Shadow at First Light.” It stars Nagase Masatoshi, Tsutsui Mariko (“Harmonium,” “A Girl Missing”), Peter Yu (“A Land Imagined”) and newcomer Shirata Mihaya.The story examines the intangible nature of trauma and the ripples of its aftermath through 16-year-old Ami (Shirata) who is haunted by visions.“This is a film borne out of darkness and loss, of a family’s frailties, set in both Singapore and Japan. Shooting between two countries, I hope to capture the diverse mise-en-scene from the urban cities to the vast transformed landscapes my characters are lost within.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorBerlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal has closed further deals for Jan Gassmann’s “99 Moons” in Italy (Teodora Film), France (La Vingt-Cinquième Heure) and Japan (AT Entertainment), following the film’s world premiere in the Cannes’ ACID sidebar.“99 Moons” follows the passionate and turbulent relationship of Bigna and Frank, two people from different worlds who become entwined in an erotic love story. With raw and intimate cinematography (Yunus Roy Imer, “Systemcrasher”), the film takes an unflinching look at the magnetism and power games of sexual attraction.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefSubscription video streaming services in Japan counted 48.4 million subscribers at the end of the first quarter, with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video accounting for nearly half of the market.The data is part of the latest research from research firm Media Partners Asia and is partially based on its sister company AMPD’s proprietary household measurement service.The strength and implied profitability of platforms in Japan is significant at a time when media and entertainment firms have endured a stock market rout, with investors changing focus from top line growth to costs and profitability.MPA’s “Japan Online Video Consumer Insights & Analytics” report for the end of the first quarter showed Amazon Prime accounting for 34% of total subscriptions, Netflix 14% and Hulu Japan 6%. They were followed by Abema TV, TVer and U-Next significant in the AVOD, freemium and SVOD categories, while Disney+ is steadily growing its reach in the market.

Olympics premiered on Monday, shown to reporters and other invited guests in the Japanese capital.The work of Japanese director Naomi Kawase, the 120-minute film looks at the Olympics primarily from the point of view of the athletes — but not just the winning athletes.After Tokyo, the film will be shown on Wednesday at the Cannes Film Festival in the Bunuel Theater, named for Spanish-born iconoclastic filmmaker Luis Bunuel.“The Olympics are not just about getting prizes, being first and going after a victory that is right before you in the moment,” Kawase said in a recent interview. “I tried also to depict the pursuit of becoming winners in life.”Kawase has also made another film looking at events away from the athletes, which called “Side B.” It will debut in Japanese cinemas on June 24.

Japanese Breakfast made her Saturday Night Live debut last night (May 21) on the show’s season 47 finale – watch her play ‘Be Sweet’ and ‘Paprika’ below.The singer-songwriter, aka Michelle Zauner, released new album ‘Jubilee’ last year, and appeared alongside host Natasha Lyonne, star of Russian Doll and Orange Is The New Black.Zauner played two of the biggest hits from ‘Jubilee’ on the show. For ‘Be Sweet’, she was dressed in deep red and backed by a four-piece band all in white, before she donned a white frock and was joined by a horn section for ‘Paprika’.Watch the two performances below.Last night’s SNL season finale also saw the departure of longtime cast member Pete Davidson.Fellow cast members Aidy Bryant, Kate McKinnon and Kyle Mooney also announced they were to leave the show after last night’s episode.The news comes after Davidson remarked in 2021 that he was “ready to hang up the jersey” with regards to his stint on SNL.Elsewhere on the 47th season of the show, Post Malone made his Saturday Night Live debut, with Selena Gomez also be making her debut on the NBC programme as host.During his performance, the rapper was joined by Fleet Foxes to premiere ‘Love/Hate Letter to Alcohol’, a song from his forthcoming album ‘Twelve Carat Toothache’.The May 7 episode of SNL, meanwhile, featured Arcade Fire as musical guests, following the release of their latest album ‘WE’ last Friday.

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentThe Japanese film industry has long been notoriously insular, a tendency the pandemic only exacerbated. As the Hollywood pipeline shut down in 2020, local audiences flocked to local films.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent“The Pink Cloud,” a flagship feature from Brazil’s new generation of female filmmakers, has closed three more major territories for Paris-based MPM Premium, sealing France (Universciné), Japan (Senlis) and Germany (Lighthouse). With MPM Premium currently in discussions for the U.K., Australia and Latin America, the sales company is edging ever closer to selling out on all major territories around the world.Territories already secured include Brazil (O2), North America (Blue Fox), Taiwan (Digi Sky Entertainment), China (Beijing Hugoeast), Korea (K Entertainment) and Russia (World Vision).Senlis will stage a theatrical release in 2023 for “The Pink Cloud.” It has been dubbed and will be released in Germany and Austria on July 22. France’s Universciné (France) has launched the film as a premium VoD Release, with a specific promotion for what Universciné calls its “exclusive” titles.

Japan plans to open up their borders for a test return to tourism - however holidays won't be an easy-going break.

TWICE have officially launched personal Instagram accounts.Today (May 17), the members of the group – comprising Jihyo, Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu – shared their first posts on their newly established individual Instagram accounts. Previously, the girl group shared personal photos through a shared account.Since the accounts were launched, each member of TWICE has amassed around 2million followers.

Singer Tina Karol said Monday from Japan that she and her fellow Ukrainians will not give up defending their land and culture from Russian invasion and are determined to win the war and rebuild an even more beautiful country.

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentJapan’s Tokyo Broadcasting System network is partnering with Naver Webtoon, South Korea’s leading digital comics platform, and Tokyo-based manga production house Shine Partners to launch a new webtoon company. Called Studio TooN and based in South Korea, the joint venture will plan and make webtoons with Japanese and Korean creators for the global market. One of TBS’s aim in launching the company, its first such venture in Korea, is to produce TV dramas, anime and other content from the webtoons.  Studio TooN will begin operations in June of this year with Shine Partners president Keita Iwamoto serving as CEO.     “When webtoon works are visualized, there is a synergy effect as the number of readers increases,” said Naver Webtoon CEO Kim Junkoo.

Japan that she and her fellow Ukrainians will not give up defending their land and culture from Russian invasion and are determined to win the war and rebuild an even more beautiful country.“My weapon is language and music,” Karol said in Tokyo as she concluded a weeklong visit to rally support for Ukraine. “My words are strong and my music moves emotions.”“The biggest tragedy today is the deaths of children.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefLeading Japanese indie studio Gaga Corporation is launching suspense thriller “#Manhole” next week at Cannes.Being directed by Kumakiri Kazuyoshi (“My Man,” “Sketches of Kaitan City”), from a screenplay by Okada Michitaka (“Masquerade Hotel”), the film depicts a promising young man, with everything going for him, who falls to the bottom of a deep manhole on the eve of his wedding. Trapped and imagining all sort of horrors, the prospective bridegroom uses his smartphone to reach out to friends, the police and social media. But his predicament becomes worse.

Red Hot Chili Peppers, P!nk, The Chicks, SZA, Kacey Musgraves, Flume, Paramore and Lil Nas X all set to perform headline sets across the six-day festival. As it has for the past eight IRL editions, ACL ’22 will be held over two weekends in October. Each will feature a vastly different bill, though many acts – including the likes of Diplo, Wallows, The War On Drugs, Conan Gray, Spoon and Japanese Breakfast – will perform sets on both weekends.Other names appearing on both line-ups include Sofi Tukker, Omar Apollo, Arlo Parks, Pinkpantheress, Nathaniel Rateliff And The Night Sweats, The Midnight, Oliver Tree and Genesis Owusu. 39 names are down to perform exclusively during the first weekend, with standouts including Lil Durk, Carly Rae Jepsen, Rag ’N’ Bone Man, Slayyyter, James Blake, Manchester Orchestra and Muna.