International Disruptors: Beta Group’s Minh Bui On Shaking Up Vietnam’s Expanding Cinema Market With “Affordable Theatre” Chain Beta Cinemas

Producers in Southeast Asia are facing a very different, much quieter landscape to the one in front of them just 12 months ago, as U.S. players rein in their spending to appease shareholders, and neighboring countries such as Korea, Japan and India draw attention.

Malaysia-Singapore-Taiwan co-production Snow in Midsummer and Swedish title Sons took top prizes in the Young Cinema Competition at the 48th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF).

New York City has been rocked by a 4.8 magnitude earthquake causing widespread tremors across the region.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent CAA has come on board to advise on the worldwide sales of “Pleasant Outcast,” the post-apocalyptic Korean thriller series from Lotte Cultureworks (“Along With the Gods: The Last 49 Days”) and Climax Studio. “Pleasant Outcast” is set to premiere at Canneseries, which kicks off April 5. The 10-part series is a companion piece to the Korean box office smash hit film “Concrete Utopia,” which was selected as South Korea’s Oscar contender and sold to 185 countries.

Carolyn Giardina Luxury home entertainment tech company Kaleidescape — which develops and sells high-tech movie players and servers that deliver studio content to homes — is expanding into the cinema business with a sort of “on demand” service for library titles. In doing so it aims to make older titles more accessible in theaters and open up ancillary revenue opportunities for content owners and exhibitors by attracting more moviegoers.

BBC Studios Launches First Kids Streamer In Korea

EXCLUSIVE: This year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) will unspool in close collaboration with Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Scottish capital’s historic performing arts event, under a new expansive partnership confirmed today by the two organizations. 

Meghan Markle has been busy building her lifestyle empire while the royal family deals with health struggles. Markle teased her new lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, on March 14 as the Duchess of Sussex launched a new Instagram account.There has been no formal announcement made by Markle or a spokesperson for the duchess and her husband, Prince Harry, about what exactly the new brand entails.

GroupM, the media buying arm of advertising giant WPP, is planning to double its annual investment in women’s sports and create a dedicated marketplace to facilitate deals.

EXCLUSIVE: After smashing records in Vietnam, Tran Thanh’s hit romance drama Mai has now set a new milestone for an opening weekend at the international box office, becoming the first Vietnamese title to score a $1M debut outside the home market.

A house in Greater Manchester was swept off the market less than a week after being put up for sale - despite having a hefty price tag. The 'time capsule' property in Altrincham, Trafford, which has been in the same family since the 60s, proved to be a hit with buyers looking for a big project.

The Sudanese drama Goodbye Julia is continuing its impressive awards run, earning the Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature over the weekend at the Sonoma International Film Festival in California.

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

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.

Naman Ramachandran Ken Kwek’s acclaimed Singaporean film “#LookAtMe” has secured North American distribution with Buffalo 8. The deal is exclusive for the North American territory and non-exclusive for the rest of the world. The film is a tragicomedy following the family of a teenage YouTuber who posts an irreverent video lampooning a megachurch pastor in defense of his gay twin brother.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are planning on using their free time to their liking!

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.

Naman Ramachandran India premieres of France’s “The Taste of Things” and Korea’s “Exhuma” will open and close respectively the first edition of India’s Cinevesture International Film Festival. Tran Anh Hung won best director at Cannes 2023 for “The Taste of Things,” which was subsequently submitted as France’s official entry to the Oscars’ international feature category.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Leading South Korean sales company Finecut has picked up international sales rights to action comedy film “Boss.” It will launch the title at next week’s FilMart in Hong Kong. Directed by Ra Hee-chan (“Going by the Book,” “Mr. Idol”), the film follows gang members embroiled in fierce competition.

Vietnamese distributor and producer Mockingbird Pictures is making its debut as an international sales agent at Filmart with a slate of local horror, comedies and action films, headed by record-breaking horror hit Crimson Snout (Quy Cau).