Daizen Maeda opens up on Celtic celebration as he reveals the real reason behind 'Anpanman' tribute

EXCLUSIVE: Bidding is heating up on Voltron, a live-action version that went out to the town recently, with Red Notice and Dodgeball’s Rawson Marshall Thurber attached to direct. Deal’s not done yet, but Deadline hears that Amazon Studios is in talks to be home to the giant robot.

Although it turned out to be David Lynch-less, this year’s Cannes line-up is in no shortage of big names (complete list here). Claire Denis returns to the competition section for the first time in 34 years with her Nicaraguan ‘80s romance “Stars At Noon”; James Gray premieres his childhood-inspired “Armageddon Time”; and, as the headliner, “Crash” and “Videodrome” director David Cronenberg looks set to return to his body-horror roots with the Viggo-in-chrysalis “Crimes of the Future.” And if that competition doesn’t sound fierce enough already, there’s also a new movie from Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda, titled “Broker,” which now has its first trailer.

The north west's highest pub has been brought back to life as a whisky distillery. The owners say the Cat Fiddle's unique position at 1,685ft above sea level gives their English single malt whisky a unique flavour.

Michelle Hsieh Last year, social media entered an entirely new dimension, with companies and consumers alike getting interested in the idea of the “metaverse” and the technology that powers it.The word “meta” is now popping up practically everywhere — on social feeds, on the news and in articles profiling the “overnight millionaires” who have found success by grabbing a piece of the meta pie.And now TOKAU, a Japan-based blockchain company, is launching its own metaverse project called MetaCity, the first platform focusing on celebrities and their fans.For the uninitiated, the term “metaverse” refers to a 3D virtual universe into which users from all over the world can enter and interact with one another in real time. The space is created using a permanent record-keeping system called blockchain technology, and the data that is stored within the blockchain is called a non-fungible token, or NFT.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentA few hours after unveiling Cannes Film Festival’s 2022 Official Selection on the Champs Elysees, artistic director Thierry Fremaux sat down with Variety to discuss the festival’s drive to not give in to calls for a cultural boycott of Russian films and filmmakers, efforts to have more female directors in competition, discussions to bring back streamers in a near future and what those rumors about David Lynch in the lineup were about. The all-star competition lineup of this upcoming 75th edition boasts no less than four Palme d’Or winning directors, including Japanese master Kore-eda Hirokazu (Japan) and Swedish helmer Ruben Ostlund (“Triangle of Sadness”), as well new films by David Cronenberg (“Crimes of the Future”), Kelly Reichardt (”Showing Up”), James Gray (“Armageddon Time”) and dissident Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov (“Tchaïkovski’s Wife”).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe success of Korean shows “Vincenzo” and “Squid Game” and Japanese anime such as “Attack on Titan” are justifying Netflix’s heavy spending on Asian film and TV content.The streaming giant is forecast to grow its revenues in the Asia-Pacific region by 24% in the current year as subscriber numbers swell by 20%, according to new research, from Singapore based consultancy Media Partners Asia.That optimism stands in contrast to investment sentiment in January when Netflix announced its December quarter and 2021 full year data and a spooked the financial community with a cautious (global) first quarter outlook. Media Partners Asia’ latest note on the company indicates that Netflix could grow APAC revenues by 24% in the current year to December, to $4.1 billion.

Bullet For My Valentine have confirmed the release of a deluxe version of 2021’s self-titled album and shared the first new track – listen to ‘Omen’ below.‘Bullet For My Valentine’ is the group’s seventh album. The expanded version will feature the original ten tracks plus four new ones alongside b-side ‘Stitches’ which was previously only available in Japan.The first of those new tracks ‘Omen’ was released Friday (April 8).

Michael Mann (“Collateral,” “Ali”) fans can rejoice that he’s finally back with the HBO Max crime series “Toyko Vice.” In the series, which Mann produces and directs the excellent pilot of (read our review here), we get to see the legendary filmmaker wade into the waters of cops and crooks yet again. Set in Japan, the series focuses on an American crime reporter (Ansel Elgort) who attempts to embed himself in both the worlds of Japanese police and the criminal syndicate known as the Yakuza.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefKC Global Media has assembled a selection of Korean, Japanese and U.S. content for the second quarter across its portfolio of linear channels AXN Asia, Animax, GEM and ONE. Animax gets a second season of reality competition show, “American Ninja Warrior Junior,” season 4 of Dick Wolf’s “FBI,” season 3 of “FBI: Most Wanted” and “FBI International.” Continuing the crime theme, it will also play season 13 of “NCIS: Los Angeles” from May.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefJapanese manga and anime fans will get a chance to deepen their obsessions with the Viz Media re-release later this year of volume 1 of “Bleach,” an iconic comic strip. One of the best-selling manga titles of all time, “Bleach” has sold over 120 million copies since its debut in Japan’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, including 2.7 million copies in the U.S. As an anime TV series, it ran to 366 episodes and spawned four feature films.The release of a limited-edition 20th anniversary edition is set for Aug.

Variety Staff Follow Us on TwitterJapanese film producer Umekawa Haruo has been accused of sexual harassment by Bunshun Online, a sister site of the Shukan Bunshun weekly tabloid publication.According to a shortened web version of a longer story that is set to appear in print, Umekawa has pressured actresses for sexual favors in exchange for being cast in his films.The veteran producer has been active since the 1990s and is an associate of cult director Sono Sion. On Monday, Sono was accused of being a sex predator by the Shukan Josei PRIME entertainment news and gossip site.Umekawa’s credits include the 1990 indie drama “Swimming Upstream,” Sono’s 2008 international festival hit “Love Exposure” and his 2011 drama “Themis.” Umekawa’s most recent credit is Netflix’s lesbian-themed road movie “Ride or Die.” The multiple accusations against prominent figures appear to suggest that the #MeToo movement has belatedly arrived in Japan, where the entertainment industry has previously succeeded in sweeping many such matters under the carpet.On Wednesday, Sono issued a handwritten statement on his company’s website apologizing for the “inconvenience and disturbance” caused by the Shukan Josei report.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Beyond Rights and Insight TV Team Up for New Branded BlockBeyond Rights and top millennial-targeted digital channels provider Insight TV have struck a new alliance, which will see the launch of Beyond branded blocks on Insight TV’s science and technology-centered InWonder channel. The Beyond branded blocks will initially play on primetime weekends in North America, drawing from Beyond Rights’s extensive catalogue of science and engineering programming with such titles as “How Hacks Work” and “Wicked Inventions.” “We will work closely together over the coming months to measure the audience response, looking to build towards a range of branded FAST channels,” said David Smyth, CEO of Beyond Rights.

Manchester airport may be in serious disarray, but at least there’s now somewhere to get a steaming bowl of ramen while you wait for your luggage to materialise. The Wagamama noodle chain has opened its latest branch at the airport’s Terminal 2.

One of music's biggest nights took place last night – Sunday 3 April – with the likes of Olivia Rodrigo, Kanye West and Foo Fighters taking home more than one Grammy each. Musicians from far and wide flocked to the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, donning their best attire for the star-studded evening.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorLimonero Films, a boutique distributor of factual shows and documentaries, based in London, has announced a string of sales ahead of MipTV.Make Waves Media’s “Thirties in Color: Countdown to War” has been sold to Japan’s NHK, Italy’s RAI, Spain’s RTVE and Germany’s RTL, which also licensed “Victorian Britain on Film” and “Wild Relations.”The wildlife title “Wild Relations” was picked up by KBS in Korea and Radio Television Hong Kong.“Framed in Miami: The Versace Connection,” Limonero’s first true crime series, was picked up by Discovery in Italy, and their food and travel show “Hidden Flavors of India: North East” by Discovery Asia.Andy Cohen’s “Beijing Spring,” about the Chinese cultural revolution of 1979, was licensed to Sweden’s SVT and Switzerland’s RSI.

Ben Croll Following only the U.S. and Japan (though operating, it should be noted, on an exponentially smaller scale) France has become the world’s third-biggest animated content supplier, producing an average of 300 hours of programming each year and banking $137.7 million in global sales in 2020.