CNN Philippines To Shutter; Cites Financial Losses

EXCLUSIVE: Film Mode Entertainment has locked a series of deals on Blue Light, the latest feature from American filmmaker Andy Fickman (Race to Witch Mountain, Parental Guidance, The Game Plan, and She’s The Man). 

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers for “Central,” the fifth episode of “Expats,” now streaming on Prime Video. Lulu Wang’s “Expats” steps into feature-length territory for this week’s episode, which focuses on the working class women by diving into the lives of the help, Essie (Ruby Ruiz) and Puri (Amelyn Pardenilla).

Editors’ Note: Running until the final general election results come in, the Deadline ElectionLine podcast spotlights the 2024 campaign and the blurred lines between politics and entertainment in modern America. Hosted by Washington bureau chief Ted Johnson and senior editor Dominic Patten, the podcast features commentary and interviews with top lawmakers and entertainment figures. At the same time, you can follow all the news in Biden & Trump rematch and more on the ElectionLine hub on Deadline.

Naman Ramachandran The Philippines’ Quezon City Film Commission (QCFC) is teaming with European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs (EAVE) to launch the first EAVE marketing masterclasses, which aims to bolster the region’s burgeoning film industry and its active participation in the global market. The initiative will select 30 Filipino and Asian producers and film industry professionals who wish to advance their careers and enhance their professional experiences.

Naman Ramachandran Streaming subscription growth in the Southeast Asia region slowed dramatically in 2023, but revenue from those subscriptions grew at a robust rate, a new study has found. The report from data analytics company AMPD, that is part of consultancy and research firm Media Partners Asia, shows that the region – that includes Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand – added only 1.3 million net new SVOD subscribers in 2023, compared with 11 million in 2022. But subscription revenues grew at 12.5% to $1.4 billion.

BTS‘ Jungkook during a solo concert.Over the weekend, Ahn Hyo-seop held a show in Tokyo, Japan as part of his ‘The Present Show – here and now’ Asia tour. The trek had also featured shows in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines from 2023 to 2024.During the show, he showcased his singing skills with a cover of ‘Standing Next to You’ by BTS’ Jungkook.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief U.S-Asian sales company EST N8 has picked up the international rights for “30 Minutes,” a Korean sci-fi thriller film that is currently in production. The story revolves around a middle-aged man trapped in a time loop, repeatedly reliving the Christmas Eve of his murder.

Naman Ramachandran Singapore’s Momo Film Co has unveiled a six-film slate that includes projects from recent prize-winners at Cannes and Locarno. Momo is one of five outfits selected at the 2024 Berlinale Co-Production Market‘s company matching program. Fresh off two wins at Locarno 2023 for Nelson Yeo’s debut feature “Dreaming & Dying,” Momo is continuing its relationship with the Singaporean filmmaker for his sophomore feature “The Drought,” a dark comedy-horror film set in the time of a drought.

The Lunar New Year is celebrated across the globe and largely underpinned by themes of hope and reunion. Known to many as Chinese New Year, Lunar New Year is also celebrated by many different countries throughout Asia, including Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Mongolia, Malaysia and the Philippines. It is also celebrated in other countries where there is an established Chinese community, as the holiday brings together family and friends to celebrate the start of another year.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief CNN Philippines is to close down on Wednesday, the company announced on Monday local time. The move means up to 300 jobs will be lost. CNN Philippines was launched in 2015 under a brand licensing agreement between Turner and Nine Media Network, a Philippines company that is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the ALC Group of Companies previously launched by the late Ambassador Antonio Cabangon-Chua. “CNN Philippines will discontinue operations on all media platforms effective Wednesday, Jan 31, 2044,” the company said in a posting on social media.

ITZY have announced the dates and venues for their upcoming 2024 ‘Born to Be’ world tour, featuring concerts in North America, Europe, Asia and more.Today (January 25), ITZY revealed the dates and venues for their upcoming 29-date world tour, titled ‘Born to Be’ after their new studio album of the same name.ITZY’s new tour will kick-off with a two-night concert at the Jamsil Indoor Stadium in Seoul, South Korea. The following month, the K-pop girl group play three shows in Oceania, as well as one in Bangkok Thailand.April and May 2024, ITZY play a one-night-only concert in Singapore, before starting the Latin America, Europe and Japan legs of their tour.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Three Japanese films enjoying their world premieres, along with festival favorites “City of Wind” and “Solids by the Seashore,” are set to appear in the 13-title competition section of the Osaka Asian Film Festival in March. The event will be held March 1-10 at venues including ABC Hall, Cine Libre Umeda, T-Joy Umeda and the Nakanoshima Museum of Art. The opening and closing films will be announced in early February. The 19th edition of the festival, which will eventually contain 55 feature and short films, is set to also include three special programs – a “Thai Cinema Kaleidoscope,” “Taiwan: Movies on the Move,” and “Special Focus on Hong Kong” – as well as its regular Spotlight Section on underrated Asian films and the Indie Forum of more challenging and innovative works. The competition titles are: “City of Wind,” by Mongolia’s Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir; “Fire on Water,” by Malaysia’s Sun-J Perumal; “Hyphen,” by The Philippines Joy Arnaldo; “The Lyricist Wannabe,” by Hong Kong’s Norris Wong; “The Missing,” by The Philippines’ Carl Joseph E.

Fox has renewed the series The Cleaning Lady for a third season and you’ll be seeing some new faces in the upcoming episodes.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The CinemAsia Film Festival in Amsterdam has unveiled titles from seven different Asian countries for its competition section. The festival will play at the Studio/K, Rialto De Pijp and Rialto VU venues March 5-10, 2024. The event will close with the out-of-competition screening of “Gaga,” a drama about indigenous communities in Taiwan, directed by Laha Mebow. “Gaga” documents the challenges faced by a commune after the death of a respected tribal elder who, while alive, had held things together.

A holidaymaker returning from a cruise says his wife's hand luggage was stolen from an overhead locker on board a TUI flight to Manchester Airport.

Siddhant Adlakha A companion piece to her documentary “A Thousand Cuts,” Ramona S. Diaz’s “And So It Begins” follows the 2022 Philippine election, and Vice President Leni Robredo’s run for office.

Philippines president Fernando “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. faced criticism from his constituents over the weekend for using the state-funded presidential helicopter to fly over the traffic jam caused by a Coldplay concert Friday night (January 19) in order to attend the show himself.

Coldplay gig in a helicopter.The band’s ongoing world stadium tour behind latest album ‘Music Of The Spheres‘ comes with an emphasis on environmental sustainability, and began in March 2022 in South America before coming to the United States and UK and hitting Asia and Australia late last year.Coldplay were playing the Philippine Arena on Friday (January 19), with attendees including President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his wife.Ahead of the gig, the couple were spotted arriving in a helicopter, which many online have criticised as directly opposing the eco-friendly initiatives around the band’s tour.WATCH: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Dolly de Leon realized she needed to say goodbye. The Filipino actress who landed on Hollywood’s radar last year with her turn in “Triangle of Sadness” as Abigail, a toilet cleaner who becomes the domineering leader of the pampered survivors of a cruise ship disaster, had become so deeply entwined with her character that it was starting to take a toll.

Fallout Shelter, The Elder Scrolls: Castles, has been announced.The news was announced on the official X (formerly Twitter) Bethesda account, with the post stating that the team is “excited to finally share The Elder Scrolls: Castles, our new mobile game from the team behind Fallout Shelter. The team has been hard at work on it for the last few years and we absolutely adore it.”The game allows you to control and expand your castle over various generations, making decisions that dictate exactly how your citizens perceive you and whether or not they attempt to overthrow your regime.