FilMart: Finecut Adds Korean ‘Boss’ to Market Lineup

EXCLUSIVE: It’s confirmed – or will be later today – the organizers of MIPTV are setting up a new event in London, Deadline can reveal. MIP London will be based in The Savoy hotel and an adjoining space, the IET London, in a seismic change to the international TV calendar. Historic programming market MIPTV has been situated in Cannes since the 1960s.

(G)I-DLE vocalist Yuqi will make her official Korean solo debut in April, her agency CUBE Entertainment has announced.CUBE Entertainment announced Yuqi’s upcoming solo debut today (March 22) in a statement to South Korean news outlet XSports News. “Yuqi plans to release a solo single in April and promote it on music broadcasts,” the label shared, per Soompi.Information about the (G)I-DLE member’s upcoming solo debut, including the release’s format, tracklist and more, is expected in the coming weeks.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent In one of the most anticipated keynotes at Series Mania Festival, JB Perrette, president/CEO of global streaming and games at Warner Bros. Discovery, dropped the launch date for Max across the first nine European countries on May 21.

Netflix unveiled the trailer for upcoming Korean sci-fi series Parasyte: The Grey today.

Welcome to Deadline’s International Disruptors, a feature where we shine a spotlight on key executives and companies outside of the U.S. shaking up the offshore marketplace. This week, we’re talking to Vietnamese entrepreneur Minh Bui whose Beta Cinemas chain has introduced a new concept of affordable but trendy theatres to Vietnam’s fast-growing cinema market. Deadline sat down with Minh in Ho Chi Minh City to talk through how he launched the company, his business model and ambitions for the future. This was followed by an unannounced visit by Deadline to a Beta Cinemas site in Go Vap, Ho Chi Minh City, to watch a Vietnamese comedy accompanied by a very large tub of caramel popcorn, during which there were no discernible differences with the high-end multiplexes in the country (and the popcorn was delicious).

Yungblud played an impromptu show in Camden Market this afternoon (March 18) to celebrate the announcement of his own festival, BludFest.The artist, whose real name is Dom Harrison, had announced the free London outdoor show late last week, promising to make his “biggest announcement yet” during the performance at a location which was not announced until today.Yungblud appeared at the Ampitheatre in the centre of Camden Market, located near the statue of Amy Winehouse, at around 5pm for a five-song set.

Exhuma (Korean title: Pa-myo) has taken $67.8 million at the Korean box office, having notched more than 9.3 million admissions.

We’re back again, Insiders. Jesse Whittock with you this week, as Netflix showcased its latest wares, Hong Kong welcomed the entertainment world and Argentinian film was plunged into crisis. Here we go. Sign up to the newsletter here. 

Veteran producer and sales agent Rosa Bosch has joined the Madrid-based distributor and international sales agency Begin Again Films. Bosch will serve as part of the company’s international department. 

This year’s Filmart was definitely bigger and busier than last year, which was the first physical edition following the reopening of Hong Kong and mainland China’s borders after the pandemic. According to Filmart organizers, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), more than 750 exhibitors and 7,500 visitors attended this year’s Filmart, compared to around 700 exhibitors and 7,300 visitors in 2023. But despite frenetic meeting activity, the market did little to dispel fears that international sales business in the region, already in decline before the pandemic, is not yet recovering. International sales agents under the IFTA and European Film Promotion (EFP) umbrellas had packed meeting schedules.

HCG AwardPresented by CAA ChinaTwo cash awards of $20,000 value each. CAA China may board the winning projects later by entering into script development agreements. “Call of Lobster” (Taiwan) Dir.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Pleasant Outcast,” a 10-part Korean series that is set to appear at Canneseries next month, is a companion piece to “Concrete Utopia,” the hit film from last year that was selected as South Korea’s Oscar contender. Both the Lotte Cultureworks series and “Concrete Utopia,” a dystopian drama-thriller set in a post-apocalyptic Seoul, are adapted from best-selling webtoon “Cheerful Outcast,” by Kim Soong Nyung. The film was frequently compared to William Golding’s seminal novel from the 1954 “Lord of the Flies” and its 1964 film adaptation. Using the first part of the webtoon, the series follows Dong-hyun, a high school junior, who barely survives his day-to-day bullying at school.

Persona 3 Reload is getting its first piece of DLC, with two sets of songs from Persona 5 Royal and Persona 4 Golden being added.These two sets, featuring 16 songs in total, will be available via Persona 3 Reload‘s expansion pass, which is out now. The expansion pass is free for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers via Game Pass Ultimate Perks through January 31, 2025, and is otherwise available for £28.99 on digital storefronts.From Persona 5, fans will get ‘Life Will Change’, ‘Beneath the Mask’, ‘Kichijoji 199X’, ‘Gentle Madman’, ‘I Believe’, ‘Keeper of Lust’, ‘Blooming Villain’, and ‘Victory’.

Naman Ramachandran Dubai-based sales agency Cercamon has acquired worldwide rights for Indonesian film “Crocodile Tears,” it was revealed at Hong Kong rights market FilMart. The film is a co-production between Indonesia’s Talamedia (producer Mandy Marahimin), Singapore’s Giraffe Pictures (producers Anthony Chen and Teoh Yi Peng), France’s Acrobates Films (producer Claire Lajoumard) and Poetik Film (producer Christophe Lafont) and Germany’s 2Pilots Filmproduction (producers Harry Flöter and Jörg Siepmann). The deal was negotiated by Sebastien Chesneau at Cercamon, Chen at Giraffe Pictures and Marahimin at Talamedia.

Michael Douglas, Kyle MacLachlan, Ella Purnell and Daniel Brühl are among the high-caliber stars who will take part in the 7th edition of Canneseries. The robust lineup, unveiled today by Canneseries’ artistic director Albin Lewi at a press conference in Paris, boasts the world premiere of Apple TV+’s “Franklin,” starring Michael Douglas as one of the Founding Fathers, and Disney +’s “Becoming Karl Lagerfeld” with Daniel Brühl as the acid-tongued designer.

Naman Ramachandran Korean action drama “A Shop For Killers” has become the most viewed local original on Disney+ in the Asia Pacific region (Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Philippines) so far in 2024, the streamer has revealed. Set in contemporary Korea, the eight-part series follows college student Jeong Jian who dives for cover in her childhood home after a series of highly skilled assassins come after her.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chan Tai-lee, the screenwriter of many of the Ip Man martial arts action films, has written and directed upcoming action film “Fight for Tomorrow.” Mandarin Motion Pictures, which backed the film and is handling international rights sales, is using this week’s FilMart to launch the picture to international buyers. The production was assisted with finance from the Hong Kong Film Development Fund.

Seoul-based sales company Finecut has boarded international sales on the action-comedy Boss and will launch sales at this week’s Filmart in Hong Kong. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Oscar contenders and Berlin prize-winners will be among the European films being represented by visiting companies to FilMart that are making use of the European Film Promotion umbrella stand within the annual Hong Kong market. In total 29 European film sales companies are making the trip, including more than a dozen from France under the Unifrance banner. Prominent rights brokers include Charades, Goodfellas, Fandango and Filmax.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief A year after announcing the ambitious project, The Philippines ABS-CBN is now in production on new series “The Bagman.” Filming began in Manila on Feb. 25. “The Bagman” is a spin-off from the original, locally-produced digital series “Bagman” that was aimed at the Filipino audience.