Guillermo Del Toro Reveals Why He Didn’t Direct ‘Pacific Rim’ Sequel, Says He Never Saw Final Film: ‘That’s Like Watching Home Movies From Your Ex-Wife’

K.J. Yossman Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is joining controversial network GB News as an anchor and producer. Johnson, who is set to start his role in the new year, will play “a key role in the channel’s coverage of both the U.K.

Karen Idelson This year’s AFI Fest is back in full glory, featuring a rich lineup of critical favorites plus a slate of five films curated by guest artistic director Greta Gerwig, whose latest film, “Barbie” has grossed $1.4 billion. Returning to Hollywood’s TCL Chinese Theatre and screening films from October 25-29, the event will feature Gerwig’s curated list of films: “All That Jazz,” “An American in Paris,” “A Matter of Life and Death,” “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure” and “Wings of Desire.” AFI Fest will also screen the U.S.

Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke is relieved that the festival he founded in the ancient walled city of Pingyao in China’s Shanxi province is back on track after a tricky few years during the pandemic. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Ichiyama Shozo assumed control of the program of the Tokyo International Film Festival after a long programming career that included Tokyo and the slightly more indie Tokyo Filmex events. He is also a regular producing partner of Chinese art-house darling Jai Zhangke. These influences have shaped his approach to this year’s Tokyo IFF lineup, he told Variety.

“The pandemic has finally passed, and cinema has returned to normal, but the way people think has changed dramatically,” Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou concluded when quizzed by Deadline about cinema post-Covid 19 during a brief chat at the Tokyo Film Festival (TIFF). 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Only the River Flows,” a pitch-black crime noir from auteur Wei Shujun, comfortably topped the mainland China box office on a quietish weekend. The film, ostensibly a murder mystery, but one concerned more with atmosphere than linear plotting, earned $12.6 million (RMB90.8 million) in its opening three days, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway, or close to a third of the market. The film had its premiere in Cannes where Variety gave it a rave review, calling it an “inventive riff on Asian-noir” and making comparisons with films by Park Chan-wook and Diao Yinan. “Only the River Flows” has since played at a succession of festivals ever since, including New Zealand, BFI London, Vancouver, Adelaide and last week’s Pingyao event in China. Falling to second place at the box office after three weeks on top was Zhang Yimou’s “Under the Light,” which earned $6.9 million for a four-weekend cumulative of $176 million. Chen Kaige’s war, propaganda film “The Volunteers: To the War” earned $5.3 million in third place.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hong Kong-based studio Edko Films will launch “Table for Six 2,” a sequel to its 2022 smash hit, at TIFFCOM, the rights market attached to the Tokyo International Film Festival. The heartfelt comedy is again written and directed by Sunny Chan, who enjoyed breakout success with “Table for Six,” a comedy-drama that starts with an awkward family reunion dinner where past and present romantic relationships are tangled and almost anything that could go wrong did. For the sequel. Chan has reunited the original cast – Stephy Tang, Louis Cheung, Ivana Wong, Lin Min Chen, Peter Chan Charm Man – for three weddings and their aftermath.

Geng Zihan has just won Best Director in the Fei Mu Awards of Pingyao International Film Festival for her debut feature, A Song Sung Blue, a coming-of-age tale set in Harbin in northeast China. 

The Wrestler, directed by Bangladeshi-Canadian filmmaker Iqbal H. Chowdhury, and September 1923, from Japan’s Tatsuya Mori, picked up the New Currents Awards as Busan International Film Festival wrapped a busy 28th edition on October 13. 

This Morning was thrown into turmoil this week, when its main presenter Holly Willoughby unexpectedly quit after 14 years.The 42 year old star said she was living ITV's popular daytime TV show for the sake of "me and my family", following a year that saw her embroiled in a queue jumping drama to see the Queen lying in state, as well as the departure of her co-presenter and friend Phillip Schofield from the show, after he admitted to an "unwise but not illegal" affair with a much younger male colleague. It now looks as though This Morning could be heading for a major revamp in the new year, including a new set and possibly new presenters too.

Coco Gauff will be visiting Mexico at the end of the month. The American tennis player recently announced she’d be participating in the WTA Finals, hosted in Cancun. These matches start on October 29th, running until November 5th.

Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou has been set as the recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement award at the forthcoming Tokyo Film Festival (TIFF), running October 21 – November 1.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Leading Chinese film director Zhang Yimou is to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Tokyo International Film Festival later this month. The award will be presented to him during the festival’s opening ceremony on Oct. 23. Later, Zhang will take part in a special talk session at the TIFF Loungeco-hosted by the Japan Foundation. Additionally, his “Full River Red,” which was a box office sensation in China at the beginning of the year, will play as a gala selection during the Tokyo festival. Zhang, consider to be among China’s “fifth generation” of filmmakers, has had an extraordinary career that he has sustained for over three decades.

Guillermo del Toro is looking back and reflecting on the scrapped Star Wars movie he was developing that would’ve centered around Jabba the Hutt.

Guillermo del Toro is talking about the Pacific Rim sequel and opening up as to why he didn’t end up directing it.

EXCLUSIVE: Trimax Media, the production company led by Alan Glazer (The Bank Job), has acquired the film rights to No Bullet Got Me Yet, John Stansifer‘s forthcoming book about U.S. Army Chaplain, Father Emil Kapaun.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Variety has been given access to the international trailer for animated film “The Peasants,” which is Poland’s entry for the international feature category of the Academy Awards. The film had its world premiere in the Special Presentation section of Toronto Film Festival last month, and screens next week at the London Film Festival.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s “Evil Does Not Exist” collected four nominations for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, making it the narrow favorite ahead of the three times nominated “Snow Leopard,” by the late Pema Tseden. The narrow lead matches the overall pattern this year’s, where Japanese and Chinese films dominate APSA nominations proceedings. Nominations were announced at midnight on Thursday in Gold Coast, Queensland, where the final awards will be celebrated on Nov. 3. “Evil Does Not Exist,” an eco-drama that premiered in Venice, is nominated in best film, best director, best screenplay and cinematography categories.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Korea’s Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has been through a fair amount of drama this year. 

Netflix has dropped a first-look trailer for Leave the World Behind, the apocalyptic thriller starring Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali and Ethan Hawke. Check it out qabove.