Hybe Revenue and Profit Growth Are Propelled by Booming Album Sales, Concerts

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Escaping Man,” a Chinese drama feature about a man dragged into a kidnap plot, heads the FilMart slate of Hong Kong-based sales agency Autumn Sun Company. The protagonist is a man who spent 20 years in jail after being falsely accused of rape. After his release, he intends to confront the woman, but instead falls for her again — to the point that she is able to manipulate him into kidnapping the child for which she is the nanny.

Addie Morfoot Contributor British director Dan Reed (“Leaving Neverland”) spent four years filming Sandy Hook Elementary parents as they attempt to hold Alex Jones — the infamous talk-news conspiracist guru of InfoWars — accountable for the lies he spread about their children’s murders in 2012. The result is the HBO documentary “The Truth vs. Alex Jones.” Bringing Jones to trial involved years of effort by the grieving parents and their legal teams and culminated in two jury trials for damages in Texas and Connecticut.

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.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Cora Yim and Benjamin Lin, both established indie producers of Chinese-language content, have joined forces to launch S11 Partners. It is partially backed by Medialink Group, an IP, distribution and brand licensing mini-conglomerate that is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The pair, who previously worked on TV series “Taiwan Crime Stories,” are launching their venture at FilMart in Hong Kong with a slate of three feature films in development.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Lily Franky, the Japanese acting sensation who starred in “Shoplifters” and “Like Father Like Son,” heads the cast of “Diamonds in the Sand,” a multinational co-production that appears at the Hong Kong — Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) as a work in progress. Developed and directed by Janus Victoria, the film started as an exploration of the Japanese phenomenon of kodokushi, or lonely death, where elderly people who live alone are discovered dead only months after their passing due to the isolated lives that they lead.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Film projects to be produced by Andrew Lau (“Infernal Affairs,” “Initial D”) and Han Sanping, the former head of China Film Corp., are among the new in-development titles that grace the FilMart slate of Hong Kong studio Media Asia. The Peter Lam-controlled studio is also poised, at an event within FilMart on Monday, to detail its new alliance with China’s Alibaba Pictures Group. Lau is producing “Behind the Scene,” a book-to-film adaptation to be directed by Lee Kwong-yiu (“Insanity”) in which four friends uncover a meticulously planned murder that is carefully disguised as a kidnapping. Suspicions fall on a bank president who is involved in counterfeiting. Han is aiming to produce “Fading Tracks,” another crime title that is also adapted from a novel.

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.

and Birkenstocks, my mind always goes to, let's say, relaxed looks. For years I associated them with trips to the beach, jam-band concerts, and other casual moments.But one day I decided to change my mind and start wearing my favorite with different, more unexpected pieces in my closet. Which is how I discovered that combining flat sandals with baggy jeans creates a striking result.

The most affordable areas in the UK for first-time buyers have been revealed, and Scotland dominates the list.

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.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief New Zealand’s funniest export Jackie Van Beek ( (“Nude Tuesday,” “What We Do in the Shadows”) returns to SXSW atop the cast of “Audrey,” an Australian dark comedy that is headed to SXSW. Van Beek, whose 2018 “The Breaker Upperers,” was a previous SXSW hit, portrays a forgotten former soap star whose career and life have been derailed by motherhood and suburban boredom.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Warner Bros. is to handle the Southeast Asia theatrical release of Philippines-produced drama film “Under Parallel Skies.” The picture will have its world premiere this weekend as part of the Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong. Directed by Sigrid Bernardo, “Under Parallel Skies” follows the story of a Thai bachelor, portrayed by major local star Win Metawin, who travels to Hong Kong in search of his missing mother.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief EST N8, the film and TV sales venture formed by U.S.-based EST and Thailand’s N8 company, has hired Chatsuree ‘Chat’ Sripamorn for an Asian sales roles. Reporting to Tenten Wei, she will represent the company at next week’s FilMart. Sripamorn has previously worked at three of the top Thai entertainment companies Mono Next, GMM Studios and Rose Studio over a span of ten years.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Taiwanese-produced crime action film “The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon” opened on top of the mainland China box office over the weekend, ahead of a quartet of holdover titles from Lunar New Year. Sony’s ‘Madame Web’ and a rereleased “Dune” also opened, but they failed to penetrate the top five. “The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon” earned $16.2 million (RMB115 million), according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Exhuma,” a locally produced occult drama-thriller, expanded its domination of the South Korea box office on its second week of release. That left the newly-released “Dune 2” several sand dunes behind in second place. “Exhuma,” about two shaman, a feng shui master and a mortician who attempt to undo the mysterious events happening to a U.S.-based Korean family, earned $17.2 million between Friday and Sunday, representing a 69% share of the overall box office market.

Love Island All Stars' Georgia Harrison and Anton Danyluk have revealed that they are 'planning move to Marbella', as their relationship looks to be going from strength to strength.The pair appeared on Love Island All Stars, which ended on February 19 and made it to fifth place in the final. Despite some initial scepticism from fans about their partnership, they're still going strong outside the villa - and it seems a new home together could be on the cards. Anton did a Q&A on Instagram on Wednesday, 28 February, as he and Georgia sat in the back of a car.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief IQiyi, the Chinese streaming platform that is part of Baidu, revealed its first full year net profits, in 2023, even as its subscriber total dropped by more than 10%. The company enjoyed a 10% increase in revenue to RMB31.9 billion ($4.5 billion) in the year to December, it said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday. Net income was RMB1.9 billion ($271 million), compared with a loss of RMB136 ($19 million).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Janet Yang, the Los Angeles-based producer and president of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, has been appointed as an independent non-executive director to the board of Imax China, a subsidiary of premium large format cinema company Imax that has its own share listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The company, Wednesday, reported a return to net profits of $27.5 million for the 2023 calendar year. That compared with net profit of $10.8 million in 2022.

Tom Sandoval of Vanderpump Rules continues to be the punchline of jokes for late-night shows and John Oliver took a swipe at the Bravo star on the latest episode of Last Week Tonight.

Molly Smith and Tom Clare have confirmed their relationship status after winning Love Island: All Stars.The couple have returned to the UK after taking home the £50,000 cash prize on the spin-off show. Molly, 29, and Tom, 24, landed back in the UK on Thursday, 22 February alongside their fellow Islanders.The winners wasted no time in getting back to reality, and took part in their first post-Love Island interview on Lorraine on Friday (23 February). Host Ranvir Singh asked Molly and Tom all about their whirlwind few days after being announced as the winners of All Stars.The duo also shared their plans for the future and opened up about their budding romance.