Kyoto Animation Arsonist Sentenced to Death by Japanese Court

Natasha Bedingfield’s No1 single, Unwritten , became an instant anthem when it was released in 2004. Now, her hit about living life to the fullest is back in the UK charts, thanks to its appearance in Sydney Sweeney’s latest romcom, Anyone But You . Sussex-born Natasha says she’s delighted her old track has made a resurgence – it’s even gone viral on TikTok – but the 42-year-old “introvert” is an unlikely pop star.

Jaden Thompson Finalists have been announced for the British Animation Awards, which will take place on March 7 at London’s BFI Southbank. Contending for best feature film are “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget,” “A Cat Called Dom,” “Kensuke’s Kingdom,” “Puffin Rock and The New Friends” and “The Amazing Maurice.” “Christopher at Sea,” “The Debutante” and “All Gucci My Broski” are nominated in the short film category.

Instagram post. However, the clip did include a very unusual pair of footwear as well as a some choice words from the former “Friends” star. Of course, fans were likely to get a giggle out of the short video, which included a curse-filled rant.In the video, Cox is seen rocking a purple string bikini with a triangle top.

EXCLUSIVE: Anime streamer Crunchyroll is dropping a doc-series on renowned Japanese animation maker Studio Bones.

The Lunar New Year is celebrated across the globe and largely underpinned by themes of hope and reunion. Known to many as Chinese New Year, Lunar New Year is also celebrated by many different countries throughout Asia, including Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Mongolia, Malaysia and the Philippines. It is also celebrated in other countries where there is an established Chinese community, as the holiday brings together family and friends to celebrate the start of another year.

EXCLUSIVE: Indian animation studio 88 Pictures has hired veteran VFX Supervisor Yancy Lindquist. 

Blur To Release Two Films With Altitude 

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor In case you didn’t know, animation directors are also auteurs. According to Yahoo Finance, the global animation market reached more than $400 billion at the end of 2023. That was up from $391 billion one year before.

EXCLUSIVE: Improv icon Colin Mochrie (Whose Line is it Anyway?) will narrate a Canadian version of the eye-opening but heartwarming Japanese format Old Enough!, in which kids run errands on their own.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Netflix has picked up worldwide rights to “The Imaginary,” a currently-on-release Japanese animation film from producer Studio Ponoc. “Studio Ponoc is thrilled to bring our storytelling and innovative hand-drawn, hand-painted animated films to all audiences, and in particular to children and their families to enjoy together, around the world on Netflix,” said Nishimura Yoshiaki, Ponoc founder and former Studio Ghibli producer. The film is directed by Momose Yoshiyuki, who has credits on Ponoc’s 2017 title “Mary and the Witch’s Flower” and others on Ghibli’s “Spirited Away,” “Princess Mononoke” and “Porco Rosso.” Adapted from a novel by A.F. Harold, with a screenplay by Nishimura, the film “portrays the depths of humanity and creativity through the eyes of young Amanda and her imaginary companion, Rudger.

A man who deliberately set fire to a three-story animation studio in the Japanese city of Kyoto in 2019, killing 36 people, has been sentenced to death for mass murder.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Indie distributor Bitters End has finally set a theatrical release date in Japan for Christopher Nolan’s lauded “Oppenheimer” – after the Oscars. The film will arrive in Japanese cinemas on March 29, the company said on Thursday. That date is some two and a half weeks after the Oscars ceremony (March 10 in Los Angeles, March 11 in Japan), at which “Oppenheimer” has a strong chance of winning multiple awards. At the Oscars nomination event, earlier this week, “Oppenheimer” became the front-runner, collecting 13 nods, including best picture, best director and a trio of acting nominations.A post shared by 映画会社ビターズ・エンド (@bitters_end) Despite its critical and commercial success in cinemas around the world last year – it earned $952 million – the film is controversial in Japan.

The Lost Boys, the previously announced, in-development stage musical adaptation of 1987 horror classic, has set an invitation-only industry presentation for next month, with Frozen‘s Caissie Levy, Dear Evan Hansen‘s Nathan Levy and & Juliet‘s Lorna Courtney in pivotal roles.

EXCLUSIVE: Veteran animation producer Rick Mischel has formed a studio in Canada after acquiring Yeti Farm Creative Animation Studio.

The Last Dinner Party have revealed that Courtney Love helped advise them on how to censor their ‘Nothing Matters’ lyrics for radio.The original version of the quintet’s debut single has a chorus where vocalist Abigail Morris sings: “and I will fuck you, like nothing matters.”On the radio and during recent TV performances on The Graham Norton Show in the UK and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Stateside, they changed the word “fuck” to “have”.Speaking to Music Week, Morris revealed how Love advised them on changing the lyric when meeting them at a festival.“We met her at The Great Escape and at the time we were in agony over what on earth we were going to use instead of [the F-word] because that’s the whole point,” Morris said.“After the show she stormed up the dressing room stairs saying, ‘I’ve got it!’ She had an empty packet of painkillers and she’d scrawled ‘punch’ on there.“She was kinda pitching to us. We were like, ‘Yeah, thanks!’ We appreciated her passion.”Elsewhere in the same interview, Morris expressed the band’s love for Florence + The Machine, who they supported at a 2023 gig and who recently told the band that they were the winners of BBC Radio 1’s Sound Of 2024 poll.“Florence Welch was someone we spoke to who really made an impact on us,” Morris said.

While in England, German director Wim Wenders was sandwiched between a press tour and a brief lunch when a member of his team walked into the restaurant to secretly signal across the room that he was nominated for his first feature film Oscar with Japan’s Best International Feature Film, Perfect Days. “Someone came in raising their thumb, which was the sign that we had agreed on, and no word was spoken because there were too many guests in the restaurant,” Wenders laughed while retelling the Tuesday nomination. “So, I knew then I could let that meal go a little cold. It was lovely because I had prepared myself to not expect anything. I had completely prepared myself to not be on the list so that I wouldn’t be disappointed. So [this nomination] was quite a surprise today.”

Elemental director Peter Sohn received an Oscar nomination on Tuesday morning for Best Animated Feature. Even with a story that’s very personal to him, Sohn’s first thoughts go towards his entire crew. “I think about all the work and passion and love that they put into the film, and it fills me up in a way that is very emotional.”

EXCLUSIVE: UK-based VFX and animation company Jellyfish Pictures has appointed Archie Donato as Managing Director of Animation. 

Studio Ghibli‘s animated adventure movie The Boy and the Heron is continuing to blaze a trail for anime, in Europe, Asia and North America.

EXCLUSIVE: Interactive animation studio Toonstar is launching an AI studio for digital creators following a strong response for its series with TikTok and YouTube star Parker James.