Fremantle Acquires Global Production Rights to Japanese Comedy Format ‘Freeze’

EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based Superprod Group has acquired top Luxembourgish animation companies Studio 352 and Mélusine Productions in a move that consolidates its position as one of Europe’s leading animation production groups.

BBC Studios Launches First Kids Streamer In Korea

EXCLUSIVE: Universal Television has acquired the rights to adapt the Rebel Blue Ranch series of books from author Lyla Sage. 

EXCLUSIVE: Martin Kaszubowski’s feature film Earlybird has been acquired by Good Deed Entertainment for worldwide rights.

Jeff Benjamin As with his long music career, Yoshiki’s eventual foray into fashion seemed inevitable.“I’m the oldest son, and, usually, the son takes over the family business,” Yoshiki, Variety’s International Achievement in Music honoree, says about the expectations for him to take over his parents’ kimono shop. “I was always surrounded by those flashy kimonos.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Saudi Arabia, where popular anime characters such as “Captain Tsubasa” and “Dragon Ball” protagonist Son Goku have been engrained in the culture for decades, is taking its love affair with Japanese manga content to the next level. In late March, just a few weeks after the death of “Dragon Ball” creator Akira Toriyama, it was announced that the world’s first theme park dedicated to the megahit Japanese manga and animation franchise will be built in Qiddiya, the massive entertainment and tourism project outside the Saudi capital of Riyadh through a joint venture between Qiddiya and Japan’s Toei Animation.

Naman Ramachandran The first edition of India’s Cinevesture International Film Festival and market (Chandigarh, March 27-31) will feature a range of masterclasses and panels headlined by a range of luminaries including filmmakers Shekhar Kapur (“What’s Love Got to Do with It?”) and Karan Johar (“Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani”). The lineup also includes actors Jaideep Ahlawat (“Paatal Lok”), Roshan Mathew (“Paradise”), Suvinder Vicky (“Kohrra”), Rajshri Deshpande (“Trial by Fire”), Boman Irani (“Dunki”), Rasika Dugal (“Mirzapur”), Abhay Deol (“Trial by Fire”), actor-producers Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal (“Girls Will be Girls”), filmmakers Tahira Kashyap (“Sharmajee Ki Beti”), Sudhir Mishra (“Tanaav”), Ajitpal Singh (“Tabbar”), Anurag Singh (“Kesri”) and Saugata Mukherjee, head of content at streamer SonyLiv.

Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 4 had a rock ‘em sock ‘em weekend at the international box office, adding $55.3M from 69 markets for a $135M overseas running cume, and $268.2M global (there are several key markets still to release, including France, Australia, the UK and Korea). 

Fremantle Completes Asacha Deal

Canal+ Group has acquired a stake in Senegalese production company Marodi TV, which is a key player in the West African drama series scene.

The boss of one of the world’s biggest TV distributors has predicted streamers will return to commissioning originals in bulk once they “break even.”

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Indie streamer Mubi has acquired worldwide streaming rights to South African artist William Kentridge’s prestige series “Self-Portrait As a Coffee Pot” which explores how art is made in the digital age. The nine-episode series by Kentridge – who is celebrated around the world for his influential works comprising animation, installations, theater, opera and films – first previewed as a rough cut at the 2022 Toronto Film Festival.

With a solid offshore hold, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two is closing in on $500M globally. The overseas weekend brought in $51.2M across 73 markets, a 40% drop versus last session (-37% excluding China). The international box office cume through Sunday is $289.4M, and worldwide the running total is $494.7M. The latter figure means the film has already surpassed Villeneuve’s 2021 Dune worldwide.

EXCLUSIVE: John De Mol’s Talpa has been on a run in the U.S. recently with The Floor and The Quiz With Balls both landing at Fox.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The 44th edition of genre film festival Fantasporto, which runs in Portugal’s second city Porto from March 1-10, has bestowed its best film award on Japanese sci-fi fantasy pic “From the End of the World,” directed by Kaz I Kiriya. The movie follows 10-year-old Hana, whose dreams transport her across various eras in Japanese history, and have the ability to save humanity. The jury’s special award went to “The Complex Forms,” Italian director Fabio D’Orta’s debut feature.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief This month’s Hong Kong International Film Festival will showcase over 190 films from 62 countries and regions, including five world premieres, and 64 Asian premieres. Running 12 days (March 28 – April 8), the festival will open with the Asian premiere of local director Ray Yeung’s “All Shall Be Well,” which won the Teddy Award at the recent Berlin festival.

FX‘s Shōgun came out of the gate strong with its streaming debut.

EXCLUSIVE: A young LL Cool J, a not so young Alfred Hitchcock. Photographer James Hamilton shot them all – Muhammad Ali, Jack Nicholson, Federico Fellini, Meryl Streep and more — capturing not only the famous but ordinary people in striking, candid moments.

EXCLUSIVE: UK distributor Trinity CineAsia has acquired UK rights to Norris Wong’s The Lyricist Wannabe from Hong Kong’s Edko Films and is planning a theatrical release on March 15. 

Christopher Vourlias South Africa’s Known Associates, the fast-growing parent company of Johannesburg-based Known Associates Entertainment (KAE) and Cape Town-based Moonlighting Films, is launching into unscripted programming, Variety can reveal. The company has acquired a 60% stake in Zero Gravity, a production outfit founded in 2017 by former Endemol Shine Africa and Trace Studios CEO Sivan Pillay, and will team up with South African media giant Primedia to “relaunch multiple new high-end unscripted formats,” according to Pillay.