From Mega-Mergers To (More) Union Strife, India To Israel: Ten Storylines Set To Dominate The International Media Biz In 2024

Netflix has pulled a film from its Indian streaming platform following a backlash from offended rightwing Hindu groups.

Prime Video is to change its content strategy in Southeast Asia from a model based on original productions to one focused instead on licensing. As a result it has cut some jobs in the region. The move follows last week’s announcement of a restructuring and several hundred job cuts in North America at Prime Video and the Amazon-owned MGM. “Today we have made the decision to discontinue some programs and initiatives, and rebalance our international organization to focus on the countries and regions driving the most growth for our service.

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Prime Video Southeast Asia is cutting its originals team in Singapore and moving to a “leaner operating model,” as part of the globe wave of redundancies announced earlier this week.

EXCLUSIVE: Kristin Jones is leaving The North Road Company, we can reveal.

EXCLUSIVE: Ruchi Narain was obsessed with ABC‘s early 2010s drama Revenge — so much so that she spent years trying to land the rights to remake the Mike Kelley show in India.

Naman Ramachandran Tamil-language film “Annapoorani: The Goddess of Food,” headlined by “Jawan” actor Nayanthara, has been pulled from Netflix after attracting multiple complaints from Hindu groups. The film follows a girl from an orthodox Hindu family, who aspires to become India’s best chef. It released theatrically on Dec.

A brand new concept from the team behind the award-winning Edinburgh Castle pub in Ancoats has been announced to take over the site of a former restaurant.

Naman Ramachandran Viacom18, a TV and streaming group backed by billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani, has secured Indian media rights for field hockey from the International Hockey Federation (FIH). The agreement runs for a four-year cycle (2023-2027) and includes all FIH events, except the FIH Nations Cup.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Fauda” actor and singer Idan Amedi, who joined the Israeli forces to fight against Hamas in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack and was seriously injured on Monday, has come out of surgery and regained consciousness, Variety has confirmed. The 35-year-old was airlifted to a hospital on Monday after being wounded by shrapnel while serving as an IDF reservist in the Combat Engineering Corps.

Audiences didn’t have a lot of new choices, nor a mega late-December blockbuster to ring in the first weekend of the new year at the movies, but the studio titles on offer are still drawing crowds and seeing strong holds, particularly with ongoing holidays in many international box office markets. Milestones are also being set as Warner Bros/Village Roadshow/Heyday Films’ Wonka topped $300M overseas while Disney’s Wish crossed $200M worldwide and AMC touted a new benchmark for Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. 

The minds behind Aquarius Creative, Scotland's largest influencer agency, have opened up on the idea behind their business and the nitty-gritty that goes on away from social media.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Top Israeli director Talya Lavie (“Zero Motivation,” “Honeymood”) is developing “Seven Eyes,” a feature film based on the gripping story of the female lookout soldiers who were based at the Israel-Gaza border on Oct. 7, when Hamas killed more than 1,200 Israeli civilians. Entirely staffed by women, that IDF “lookout” unit is stationed by the Nahal Oz Outpost in Southern Israel, near the village which was decimated by Hamas.

The BBC has come under fire from the scientific community after a David Attenborough documentary about a recently discovered underwater creature only briefly mentioned the fossil finder who found it.

Naman Ramachandran Indian streamer SonyLIV has unveiled a slate of more than 20 new and returning shows for 2024 and is expanding its content focus. 2023 saw several hits bow on the service including “Scam 2003,” “Chamak,” Agatha Christie adaptation “Charlie Chopra & The Mystery Of Solang Valley” and “Fauda” remake “Tanaav,” which has been renewed for a second season, besides Season 2 of Emmy-nominated series “Rocket Boys.” 2024 will see shows in the Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, Punjabi and Marathi languages, in addition to Hindi.

As we welcome in the New Year, we can reveal our annual (non-exhaustive) list of U.S. and international movies we think could grace the festival circuit in 2024. We’ve stuck to our criteria that the project must already be in production and have not already been announced for a festival. More than 70% of our selections last year went on to debut at a major festival. Those that didn’t were largely delayed by the strike or are still in post-production. If the titles below make the cut, it will be a thrilling year on the festival circuit once again.

Lawmen Bass Reeves trailer has just arrived. The series is the new one from Yellowstone and Tulsa King creator Taylor Sheridan and will be released onto the Paramount+ streaming service very soon.

It was another historic year with another change in Prime Minister, a new monarch officially crowned and the Lionesses reaching the World Cup final.

Pro-Palestinian protesters gathered at the Trafford Centredemanding a ceasefire in Gaza. Crowds of demonstrators flooded the shopping destination waving flags and clutching banners.

Naman Ramachandran Bollywood A-list actor Ayushmann Khurrana scored another major hit in 2023 with comedy sequel “Dream Girl 2.” But he is still happy to have achieved what he describes as “validation.” The film was one of several medium budget Hindi-language films that became box office successes, including “OMG 2,” “Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway,” “Zara Hatke Zara Bachke,” “Satyaprem Ki Katha” and “12th Fail.” These effectively debunked the notion that only big budget spectacles like “Pathaan” or “Jawan” would work at the post-pandemic Bollywood box office, which had a poor 2022. “There was a conspiracy theory, maybe a year back, that Indian audiences [were] only looking for spectacles or larger-than-life films, but this year, a lot of films, which not really big budget but mid budget, did really well,” Khurrana told Variety.

Disney has taken another big step toward realigning its India strategy. The company has signed a non-binding term sheet with Reliance Industries that would see the two merge their Indian operations, the completion of which would create one of India’s biggest entertainment empires. The news was first reported by The Economic Times.