City Shanghai Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Rick Tuber, a TV and film editor who won an Emmy and an ACE Eddie Award for his work on NBC’s classic medical drama ER, died January 7 of a heart attack at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 69.

The Sundance Institute has today named the jurors who will preside over awards for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. The 16-person lineup features everyone from CODA star Marlee Matlin to We Need To Talk About Cosby‘s W. Kamau Bell, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton and actor-comedian Jim Gaffigan.

Terrifying images from China appear to show families burning the bodies of loved ones as Covid infections overwhelm hospitals in the country.

And, they’re back. After a series of Covid-related stops and starts, Shanghai Disneyland has again reopened today, marking the Shanghai Disney Resort’s latest return to full operations. 

Roll up, roll up, Insiders. The Deadline International team have once again been travelling the world to bring you the latest news and analysis from the global film and TV biz, with Mel and Zac both in the Middle East. Max and I actually found the TV world descending on London for once, so we didn’t have to go so far for access. Read on.

Shanghai Disneyland has again closed its gates, just four days after reopening them, in order to comply with “the requirement of pandemic prevention and control.”

Censorship concerns in China have reached boiling point as protests rage after a BBC journalist was “beaten and kicked by police” and footage showed the state broadcaster altering World Cup coverage to avoid showing mask-less crowds.

Reza Dormishian, Iranian filmmaker and producer of Dariush Mehrjui’s A Minor, which is set to have it world premiere in competition at the on-going International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, has not been granted a permit to leave Iran, so is unable to attend the event.

After several closures and reopenings throughout the pandemic, Shanghai Disneyland is again set to resume operations, on Friday November 25. The Shanghai Disney Resort said it would continue to operate with limited daily capacity and implement “enhanced health and safety measures.”

Has it really been almost a decade since Wong Kar-wai‘s last film, “The Grandmaster“? Indeed it has, as next February marks the ten-year anniversary of that film’s world premiere at the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival. But now, the Hong Kong auteur returns with “Blossoms Shanghai,” which Wong says is the third part of the story he started in “In The Mood For Love” and “2046.”   READ MORE: Wong-Kari Wai Will Also Direct Episodes Of His ‘Blossoms Shanghai’ Series Which Is Finally Confirmed Based on Jin Yucheng‘s 2013 novel “Blossoms,” Wong’s upcoming film follows three Shanghai residents in the early 1960s, at the end of China’s Cultural Revolution, through to the 1990s.

Shanghai’s Disney Resort was not exactly The Happiest Place On Earth on Monday. The park abruptly shut down to comply with China’s controversial zero-Covid policy, leaving all visitors trapped inside for hours until they could show a negative test for the virus.

The Chinese economy is already struggling because of the nation’s “Zero-Covid” policy, which continues to enforce absolute shutdowns because of small Covid-19 outbreaks.

Silent era movie icon Anna May Wong is now a different kind of star. Starting Monday, her image will appear on new quarters, making her the first Asian American to appear on US currency.

EJ Panaligan editor As part of a new initiative, the United States Mint will honor Anna May Wong, star of movies such as “Shanghai Express,” by making her the first Asian American featured on U.S. currency, placing her likeness on quarters with production starting Oct. 18. The printed quarter shows an image of Wong resting on her hand, serving as a tribute to what most consider the first Chinese American movie star. She was born in 1905 in Chinatown, Los Angeles and died in 1961 of a heart attack in her Santa Monica home. Wong started her career in the entertainment business at 14 years old, talking her way into her first movie role. In the following years, she rose to stardom as among the first Asian American stars in Hollywood and appeared in more than 50 films. Though the quarter seeks to pay tribute to her career in the film industry, it also acknowledges the difficulties that came her way trying to land meaningful roles as an Asian American actress during a time where racial discrimination and commonplace practices of putting white actors in “yellowface” to portray Asian characters was prevalent. In addition, Wong’s characters were often killed in the films she acted in, which she once joked about, saying that she had already “died a thousand deaths.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Singapore has banned the release of “#LookAtMe,” a feature film by local director Ken Kwek. The InfoComm Media Development Authority said that the film exceeds film classification guidelines because it denigrates a religious community. Supposedly based in true events, the film depicts a man who is offended by a pastor who preaches against homosexuality, but whose behavior contradicts his teachings. The protagonist’s viral video about the aberrant priest lands him in jail, causing the man’s gay identical twin to fight for justice. “#LookAtMe,” premiered at the New York Asian Film Festival and local media report that the film has been selected for next month’s Singapore International Film Festival. But the IMDA ruling means that it cannot now be shown in any form in Singapore unless Kwek is successful with an appeal.

EXCLUSIVE: Imax has inked a deal with Wanda Films, China’s largest exhibitor, to install six Imax systems in new multiplexes across top Chinese markets including Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou. Wanda will also relocate and upgrade three of its existing Imax systems to forthcoming locations.

READ MORE: Will Daily Star's 60p Tesco lettuce or PM Liz Truss last longer? Watch live feedBatangas City Police saved the woman after she escaped from her captors who detained her in a house in Barangay Alangilan, for nearly three weeks on October 6.The victim - a Shanghai native whose name has been withheld - was found by officers in a convenience store in the village and was brought to the police station.Law enforcement officers raided the house from which she fled, but the suspects had already escaped. They also discovered the cramped cage - with some pillows and a red bucket inside - where the lady was kept hostage.

China still has much to gain from its current relationship with Russia even as the invasion of Ukraine drags on, turning Russia into an international pariah and threatening to rub off on China’s reputation as well.  "China has, in effect, doubled down on its support for the Putin war effort, and we saw this, for instance, last month when China's third rank leader went to Moscow, spoke to the State Duma, and in very clear terms, expressed Beijing's support for Russia," Gordon Change, author of "The Coming Collapse of China," told Fox News Digital.  "Then, [we] see Jinping himself when he was in Uzbekistan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, actually confirmed that endorsement," Chang added. "The only conclusion that we can come to is that Beijing is not backing away from Russia."  The China and Russia dynamic has remained a troubling one for the United States since even before the invasion of Ukraine started in March 2022.

Hong Kong filmmaker Peter Ho-sun Chan has launched a production company to focus on streaming content, Changin’ Pictures, with a debut slate of five projects and talent including action star Donnie Yen and Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief EST Studios, the film company established this year by 88Rising co-founder Jaeson Ma and former Vice Media executive Eric Tu, has struck a partnership arrangement with China’s Hugoeast Media. The partnership is looking at an initial slate of eight projects, with EST Studios representing sales at the major film markets including the upcoming Asian Contents and Film Market and Asian Project Market at the Busan International Film Festival. EST will be the exclusive representative for Hugoeast’s titles in North America. In other territories (outside of China) it will handle them on a non-exclusive basis.

Hong Kong has selected the crime thriller Where the Wind Blows as its official submission to this year’s International Feature Oscar race.

Secret Cinema, the London-based immersive entertainment company, has been acquired by TodayTix of the U.S. plans for a national tour Stateside in 2023 and a permanent location in LA.

EXCLUSIVE: Punchdrunk, the immersive theater company behind New York City’s long-running Sleep No More production, has signed with CAA.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Japan’s biggest film group Toho announced that it has taken a controlling stake in TIA (previously Toho Interactive Animation), a production company behind the “100 Nichikan Ikita Wani,” film and anime series “iii icecrin,” “iii icecrin2” “Ninja Collection” and “That Is the Bottleneck.” Originally known as I&A, the company was established in 2017 by ILCA and Anima. The name changed to TIA after Toho bought a nearly 35% from the two founders in 2020. Toho has now bought out Anima’s stake, giving it a 67.4% majority holding and cause to rename the company again, this time to Toho Animation Studio. Deal terms were not disclosed.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor An anime series based on popular open-world role-playing game “Genshin Impact” is officially in the works. HoYoverse, the Shanghai-based game developer behind “Genshin Impact,” announced a partnership with Japanese animation studio Ufotable to develop an anime based on the RPG. It also released a three-minute “concept trailer” in announcing the project (watch below). “Let’s step into this vast magical world of adventure together!” the games company tweeted Friday. “The long-term collaboration project between Genshin Impact and ufotable has begun.” The companies did not reveal an anticipated release date for the anime series, nor does the trailer provide firm clues as to what the show’s plot may center on.

Chinese government announced controversial measures to plunge Chengdu into lockdown and only allow one resident per household out to get supplies.The decision was made after just 157 new covid cases were discovered in the capital of southwestern China's Sichuan province on Thursday, 51 of which were asymptomatic.READ MORE: 'UK's biggest spider' invades terrified man's home and keeps him hostage in bedroom China's much-maligned "zero covid" policy means that cities are forced to enter strict lockdowns even if just a handful of cases are discovered, like in Chengdu's case. After the city's people were asked to stay in after 6pm local time on Thursday, images started to circulate on Chinese social media site Weibo, showing people climbing over each other in supermarkets, cars packed with supplies and huge crowds on shopping streets.One resident said "everyone was crazily stocking up on goods".He said memories of an unprecedented Covid lockdown that lasted more than 60 days in Shanghai earlier this year made people worried about filling the pantry.

With no new wide Hollywood tentpole releases until October, we’re in a period of holdovers, and local titles excelling in their home markets (and beyond), while Top Gun: Maverick continues to soar and there’s a will it or won’t it question mark over Jurassic World Dominion‘s shot at getting to $1B global.

Universal/Illumination’s Minions: The Rise Of Gru bowed in China today (Friday), grossing an estimated RMB 21.74M ($3.2M), including midnights. This was good for the biggest opening day of a Hollywood animated film during the pandemic.

Chelsea star Oscar has been left 'trapped in China' as his move to Brazilian side Flamengo was blocked by Shanghai Port FC.Oscar was one of many stars that moved to China to secure the vast riches that presented themselves over in the Far East, and after earning more than £100million in wages the Brazilian thought his venture was over. Having secured more than enough wealth to last a lifetime, Oscar thought he was set to secure his dream move to Flamengo.However, even after Oscar was seen posing in the Flamengo kit, Shanghai Port have blocked his move as they did not approve of the deal and refused to sign the necessary paperwork.

Manchester United's interest in Bologna forward Marko Arnautovic pushed a season ticket holder of 30 years to the verge of quitting the club for 'principled reasons'. The former Stoke and West Ham striker was linked with a move to Old Trafford having scored 15 goals across 35 appearances for his current club having left Shanghai Port last year.

The Festival of Fantasy parade tonight at Disney World is going to have some extra bounce in its step after today’s quarterly earnings report from the House of Mouse.

China has set an August 19 release date for Universal/Illumination’s Minions: The Rise Of Gru. This will be the first major tentpole from Hollywood to hit the market since Universal’s own Jurassic World Dominion which has grossed $157.4M there through Sunday and during an extended nine-week run; it is the biggest studio import of 2022.

These are your Manchester United evening headlines for Sunday, August 7.

From a reported revenue of $74 million — up 45% year-over-year from $51 million in Q2 2021 — Imax reported a diluted loss per share of 5 cents. That is up from a diluted loss per share of 23 cents last quarter and loss per share of 16 cents in Q2 2021, though below the profit of 17 cents per share reported in Q4 2021 off the success of “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”Imax’s write-down is largely attributable to COVID-19 closures at 400 of their Chinese locations to start the quarter, including all locations in Shanghai.

Naman Ramachandran Global Indian origin actors Pallavi Sharda (“Tom & Jerry,” “Lion”) and Suraj Sharma (“Life of Pi,” “How I Met Your Father”) star in Netflix romantic comedy “Wedding Season,” directed by “Shanghai Noon” and “Showtime” filmmaker Tom Dey.Variety has secured access to an exclusive clip from the film, which is produced by Imagine Entertainment, in association with Jax Media and Samosa Stories. The lead producer is Swati Shetty, who previously had senior management stints with Imagine, Netflix and Disney India and produced “Umrika,” starring Sharma, which won awards at Sundance, Palm Springs and Cairo.As a studio executive, Shetty shepherded Disney India’s first live action film “Do Dooni Char,” and Netflix’s “Love Per Square Foot,” “Rajma Chawal” and “Lust Stories.” “All these were films that I pushed for and championed from the studio side — so clearly, this is not the first in that sense,” Shetty told Variety.

Zach Galligan, who starred as Billy Peltzer in the Gremlins films, will have a recurring guest role in Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, it was revealed during the show’s panel at Comic-Con on Friday. The animated prequel series will debut on HBO Max next year and later on Cartoon Network.