Leiji Matsumoto Dies: Japanese Manga Artist & Daft Punk Collaborator Was 85

Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s fortnightly strand in which we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track… So we’re going to do the hard work for you.

Finally settling in! Fresh off their $1 million win on The Amazing Race, winners Derek Xiao and Claire Rehfuss are revealing the newly furnished apartment they share together in Los Angeles.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Warner Bros. Discovery and Japan’s U-Next have announced an extension of their relationship with a renewed deal to supply content to the SVOD platform. The agreement sees U-Next continue as the streaming home of HBO in Japan. Featuring exclusive content rights for HBO, HBO Original and HBO Max Original series, the strengthened agreement includes: current and future seasons of HBO’s “House of the Dragon,” “The Last of Us” and “Succession” as well as returning HBO Original and HBO Max Original series “True Detective: Night Country,” “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” and “And Just Like That…”

YG Entertainment has revealed that its upcoming girl group BABYMONSTER might not debut with all seven previously revealed members.K-pop agency YG Entertainment spent the last month unveiling the seven members of its upcoming girl group BABYMONSTER. However, the company has now shared that the lineup for the new act is not yet set in stone.At midnight KST today (March 6), the entertainment agency released a new teaser titled ‘Last Evaluation’, in which founder and producer Yang Hyun-suk informs the seven trainees that BABYMONSTER “will never be a seven-member group”.“We want to unveil the very last evaluation to fans, which was held right before deciding the members of BABYMONSTER, and then finalise the best members as BABYMONSTER,” explained Yang.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter After better-than-expected starts at the domestic and international box office, “Creed III” has already surpassed the $100 million mark globally. Directed by Michael B. Jordan in his feature filmmaking debut, the latest “Creed” movie has collected $58.7 million in North America and $41.8 million overseas to land the biggest opening worldwide in the trilogy. The $75 million-budgeted “Creed III” is the most expensive film in the trilogy (its predecessors cost $35 million and $50 million, respectively), but it already appears to be well-positioned in its theatrical run.

Tim Gray Senior Vice President This year, all the Oscar-contending directors are nominated for original screenplay: the Daniels (Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert), Todd Field, Martin McDonagh, Ruben Östlund and Steven Spielberg (writing with Tony Kushner). This is the first time it’s happened in AMPAS history.  The only year that came close was 2017, when all five helmers had written or co-written their scripts, though they didn’t all get writing noms. So here’s Film History 101. In Hollywood lore, Preston Sturges is often credited as the first scribe to become a hyphenate, as writer-director of the 1940 “The Great McGinty.” But as with all Hollywood “facts,” there is only an element of truth here.

Ashnikko has announced their debut album ‘WEEDKILLER’ and shared details of a huge world tour for 2023 – find all the details below.The album will be released on June 2 via Parlophone, and will be available to pre-order from today (March 2) at 6pm GMT from here.“My bioluminescent heart is glowing. My post-apocalyptic fae world is here for you to journey into,” Ashnikko shared in a statement.

Yoko Okumara: Growing up in Minneapolis as a Japanese-American immigrant kid. Directing was the farthest thing from my mind and my imagination couldn’t go there. It’s not like I ever saw a Scorsese film and was like, “I could be him someday.” Nobody who looked like me did this job, so, to me, it was really the love of the camera.

KOZ Entertainment will be debuting its first K-pop boyband in the coming months.On February 28, SpoTV News reported that a new boy band produced by Block B rapper, producer and KOZ Entertainment founder Zico would be making their debut this May. In response to reports, representatives the K-pop label shared that it is indeed “gearing up for [the boy group’s debut in] the first half of this year,” as translated by Soompi.However, KOZ did not confirm nor deny SpoTV News’ claims that the forthcoming act is scheduled to debut in May, instead saying: “The exact debut date will be revealed after it is confirmed.”Zico had previously teased the upcoming act during HYBE’s 2022 briefing.

The latest entry in the Pokémon franchise is coming.

Thirty-five years after winning the Oscar for original score for Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor, David Byrne is back at the 95th edition of the awards ceremony performing the Oscar-nominated song “This is A Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once with the pic’s composers and song writer Son Lux and the pic’s Oscar nominated supporting actress Stephanie Hsu. Japanese sing Mitski sings the end credits song in the movie with Byrne.

Netflix has announced a new Pokémon series is set to launch on the platform, but fans of the franchise have been left hugely divided. In celebration of Pokémon Day on Monday (February 27), the streaming giant confirmed new series Pokémon Concierge is coming soon.

KQ Entertainment is finally set to debut its next boyband, whose name has been revealed to be xikers.On February 24 at Midnight KST, the K-pop agency unveiled an intriguing “identity film” for the group, alongside their new social media accounts, thus revealing the group’s name. At the time of publishing, KQ Entertainment has not announced xikers’ official debut date or details of their upcoming first release.Tweets by xikers_officialThe 10-member lineup of xikers — Minjae, Junmin, Sumin, Jinsik, Hyunwoo, Junghoon, Seeun, Hunter, Yujun, and Yechan — were first introduced as KQ Fellaz 2 in August 2022.The group have since performed at several K-pop festivals, including KCON Japan in 2022, as well as some of labelmates ATEEZ’s recent concerts.

Two years to the date after their February 22, 2021 breakup, Daft Punk have announced a 10th-anniversary reissue of their final album as a duo, 2013’s Random Access Memories. The expanded edition — scheduled for a May 12 drop — will contain eight previously unreleased demos, outtakes, and alternate versions, combining for a total of 35 minutes of music.

Japanese Breakfast has caused a stir online by sharing her controversial thoughts on The Beatles‘ seminal seventh album ‘Revolver’.Released back in 1966, the record is widely regarded as the Fab Four’s best full-length project. Using cutting edge studio technology, the LP is one of the most innovative pop records ever made.Taking to Twitter last Sunday (February 19), Japanese Breakfast – real name Michelle Zauner – claimed that “‘Revolver’ is the ‘Tusk’ of Beatles albums”, referring to Fleetwood Mac‘s experimental 1979 follow-up to ‘Rumours’.“I’m not saying either of these albums are bad!” Zauner clarified in a follow-up tweet.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Two of Japan’s leading video streaming services are to merge, it was announced late last week, creating the largest local company in the market. Current number two player U-Next is to absorb Premium Platform Japan, a company which operates the Paravi streaming platform. The combined company is estimated to have some 3.7 million subscribers and revenues exceeding JPY800 billion ($594 million) per year. Integration of the two operations could begin as soon as July, local media reported. That would allow U-Next subscribers to access Paravi’s content, much of which is re-runs from conventional TV broadcasters. Premium Platform Japan is substantially owned by TBS Holdings and TV Tokyo.

Naman Ramachandran Classic cult film streamer Cultpix has struck a 31-film deal from three immensely popular franchises with Japan’s Kadokawa Daiei Studio at Berlin’s ongoing European Film Market (EFM). The deal includes 20 Zatoichi films, eight Gamera films and three Daimajin films. The deal is for the Nordic countries initially, but the aim is for wider distribution eventually. In addition, timed with Nikkatsu’s 50th anniversary of their “Roman Poruno” films, Cultpix rediscovered six previously virtually unknown Nikkatsu productions, shot in Sweden between 1971-1973, with everything Japanese apart from the actors and the locations. The screenwriter, director and behind-the-camera talent were all flown in from Japan. The films were to emulate the popular “Swedish sin” films of the time, as there was a market need for them in Japan.

Kate Hudson’s wedding plans are a little different than usual.

Daft Punk video creator and manga artist Leiji Matsumoto has died, aged 85.Matsumoto, who worked on the videos for 2000 hit ‘One More Time’, ‘Digital Love’ and ‘Aerodynamic’, passed away last week (February 13) due to acute heart failure.He also worked with duo on their film Interstella 5555: The 5story of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem.In a statement, his daughter Makiko Matsumoto wrote: “Manga artist Leiji Matsumoto departed for the sea of stars at a hospital in Tokyo on February 13, 2023 at the age of 85.“The farewell ceremony has already been held with close relatives. I think it was a happy life.”Matsumoto (real name Akira Matsumoto) was also heavily involved in the manga and anime art and film worlds and was best known for his work in creating TV series Space Battleship Yamato and 1979 film Galaxy Express 999.Writer Zack Davisson, who had previously worked with Matsumoto, paid tribute to the late artist.He wrote: “Leiji Matsumo’s work was the foundation of what we know as ‘anime/manga fandom,’ in both the US and Japan.