Japan’s Film Productions and Theaters Make Shaky Restart

Mike Fleming Jr Co-Editor-in-Chief, FilmBREAKING: Brad Pitt is set to star in Bullet Train, the Sony Pictures action movie that just got as director David Leitch, the helmer of Deadpool 2 and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. Zak Olkewicz wrote the script, based on the Japanese novel Maria Beetle by Kotaro Isaka.

Ellise Shafer editorThe crew members of Amazon Prime Video’s television adaptation “The Lord of the Rings” and Netflix’s upcoming take on Japanese animated series “Cowboy Bepop,” have both been granted permission to enter New Zealand to begin or resume production, along with five other projects.According to New Zealand media website Stuff, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has revealed that international crews for seven projects have been allowed to enter the country in the

Dade Hayes Finance EditorFunimation, a leading provider of anime content, plans to expand its streaming service to Brazil and Mexico this fall, offering select subtitled and dubbed anime series in Spanish and Portuguese.The company, an independent joint venture between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Japan’s Aniplex, already operates globally, with nine offices in six countries.

Rebecca Davis editorTencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) has established a strategic partnership with Japan’s CoMix Wave Films Inc., the animation studio and distribution firm best known for works by helmer Makoto Shinkai.The new partnership will see the original soundtracks from 17 popular Japanese animated films put up on TME’s music platforms: QQ Music, Kugou Music, Kuwo Music and KTV app WeSing.Two of Shinkai’s films have been hits in China in recent years.

Trans musician Beverly Glenn-Coppeland’s album Keyboard Fantasies was discovered in 2015 by a Japanese collector before going on to achieve cult status.The story about the discovery of a musical genius took on added poignancy for the fact that Glenn-Copeland had made the groundbreaking album three decades ago in 1986.Now, a film on his life and music – Keyboard Fantasies: The Beverly Glenn-Copeland Story – is being showcased at  the ongoing online Melbourne Documentary Film Festival that is

Tom Grater, Jill Goldsmith Yesterday’s news that the European Union will not lift travel restrictions on the U.S. due to the scale of the country’s ongoing coronavirus outbreak prompted concerns about the re-start of American film and TV production based in Europe.As of today (July 1), travelers from 15 countries including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan and China can cross borders into the EU, but the U.S.

Jill Goldsmith The Council of the European Union has kept restrictions on travel from the U.S. in place even as it lifts them for 15 other countries including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan and China starting tomorrow, July 1.U.S.

Tom Tapp Deputy Managing EditorYouTuber Liza Koshy has taken to Instagram to apologize after a video of her using a mock Asian accent resurfaced. Another clip included footage of Koshy pretending to speak Japanese.“What I once thought of as ‘innocent jokes,'” wrote Koshy, “were actually tainted with implicit bias, and what might have been intended as ‘playful’ was actually to some, incredibly painful.

Maggie Lee Chief Asia Film Critic“On-Gaku: Our Sound,” an oddball music comedy directed by Kenji Iwaisawa, upends all that is typical of Japanese animation. A wee 71-minute hand-drawn animated feature about three high school lunkheads who form a band, the film’s minimalist expression breaks the mold of Japan’s big-budget studio-cloned anime glutted with mind-bending sci-fi conundrums or elaborate time-slip-body-switching fantasies.

her0ism is a Japanese music producer with numerous hits in his home country and abroad under his belt, who has been based in Los Angeles since 2016. Ryo Ito is also a hit-making J-pop music producer who has played a key role in introducing co-writing as a way of making music in Japan.

Dino-Ray Ramos Associate Editor/ReporterGKIDS has acquired the North American distribution rights for Masaaki Yuasa’s animated feature Inu-Oh. GKIDS, Japanese production company Science SARU INC.

Anthony D'Alessandro Editorial Director/Box Office EditorMGM has picked up the remaining offshore territories for Bill & Ted Face the Music from Endeavor Content.The Orion movie opens on Aug.

Tom Grater International Film ReporterEXCLUSIVE: North America’s largest festival of contemporary Japanese cinema, Japan Cuts, has selected 30 features and 12 shorts for a 2020 edition that will take place entirely online due to continued corona disruption.Running July 17-30, the traditionally New York-based event will instead be available across the country via a digital platform set up in partnership with Festival Scope and Shift72.

Universal Music Group (UMG) is looking to support, discover and sign independent Japanese artists with the new launch of its global DIY digital distribution service, Spinnup, in the country today (June 24).

BTS' romantic new song "Stay Gold" has topped this week's new music poll.In the poll, published Friday (June 19) on Billboard, music fans voted for the previously unreleased big-beat ballad as their favorite new release from the past week.

John Legend's sweetly soulful , Phoebe Bridger's emotional and effervescent and Teyana Taylor's instantly iconic Plus, the Black Eyed Peas recruit Shakira for a fun summer song, BTS drop the first single from their upcoming Japanese album, and Alicia Keys delivers a powerful anthem for the moment.Read on for some of our favorite recommendations for new songs and albums to listen to this week — plus, where you can stream them now!John LegendThe soulful singer dropped his sixth studio album on

TWICE are taking over!

Manic Street Preachers have shared the trailer for their new concert film ‘Pieces Of Sleep’. See it first on NME below, along with our interview with director Kieran Evans.To celebrate the recent reissue of their second album ‘Gold Against The Soul’, the band will soon be releasing a concert movie from the era filmed on their 1993 tour of Japan.