Tokyo Showbiz Latest News and Updates

FLO’s meteoric career arc has landed them in the sights of a legend. Riding the wave of a BBC Sound of 2023 poll win and an upcoming U.S. tour, the refreshingly retro London R&B trio of Renée Downer, Jorja Douglas, and Stella Quaresma have teamed up with hip-hop royalty from across the pond to release an instant classic.

WOODZ has announced his 2023 ‘OO-LI’ world tour.The K-pop musician is set to kick off his tour with a two-night concert in Seoul, South Korea on May 20 and 21. WOODZ will then start the Asian leg of his world tour, which will feature 7 shows in Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan and more over the next month.At the start of July, the singer will wrap up the Asia leg with two shows in Thailand’s capital of Bangkok, before headed to Mexico on July 6.

John Wick manages to achieve new bombastic heights in its third sequel.Directed once again by Chad Stahelski, John Wick: Chapter 4 is the longest and arguably most ambitious entry in the franchise yet – with bigger action sequences and an expanded cast including singer Rina Sawayama.A synopsis reads: “John Wick uncovers a path to defeating the High Table. But before he can earn his freedom, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe and forces that turn old friends into foes.”Not officially. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lionsgate planned to shoot John Wick: Chapter 4 and 5 back to back, but this idea was scrapped due to production delays.While this would suggest a fifth entry is still on the cards, Stahelski told The Hollywood Reporter in March that they are planning to give the franchise “a rest”.“In our minds, Keanu and I are done for the moment,” Stahelski said.

FLO is back!

READ MORE: Lineker's at it again as he swipes at 'folk telling fibs' ahead of Boris Partygate hearingTokyo police reportedly raided the hotel and then arrested Jessica and her acquaintance. On Monday, a statement from her modeling agency, Revive, received by the Daily Mail said: "We apologise to everyone for any concern the reports of Jessica Michibata, which belongs to our company, have caused. "We are currently unable to contact Michibata directly and we are collecting information to confirm the facts.

Ethan Shanfeld Fifth Season, the production house behind “Severance,” “Tokyo Vice” and “80 for Brady,” is developing series based on Jean Kwok’s 2014 novel “Mambo in Chinatown,” as well as her upcoming book “The Leftover Woman,” which hits shelves later this year. According to its official description, “The Leftover Woman” is “an evocative family drama and riveting mystery about the ferocious pull of motherhood for two very different women.” Published by William Morrow, the novel will be released on Oct. 10, 2023. “Mambo in Chinatown,” which landed on various year-end lists in 2014, is “about a young woman torn between her family duties in Chinatown and her escape into the world of ballroom dancing.”

Shygirl has shared a new version of ‘Woe’ featuring Björk.The track is taken from the deluxe edition of the artist’s debut album ‘Nymph’. Titled ‘Nymph_o’, the LP reissue contains the album’s original songs, now featuring a variety of remixes and new guest features.

Lille’s Series Mania Forum is kicking off today with a packed schedule of talks, screenings and competitions.

Harry Styles is a global phenomenon. While not everyone may understand it, there's no denying the impact the former One Direction star has on his fans.

NCT Dream have unveiled an English-language version of their hit 2022 single, ‘Beatbox’.The English version of ‘Beatbox’ was released alongside a lyric video, which features behind-the-scenes footage of the boyband at the photoshoot for song.“Yeah, hands up to the top, bring ’em up / Make a beatbox-box and it bump / Everywhere I go make the room hop / Everywhere I go, bring the beatbox,” the boyband sing on the chorus.The English remake of ‘Beatbox’ arrives just weeks ahead of the upcoming North American leg of NCT Dream’s ‘The Dream Show 2: In a Dream’ world tour.The boyband are set to play seven shows across the US, including the states of California, New Jersey and Texas. Tickets for the show are available now via Ticketmaster.NCT Dream are currently set to wrap up the first Asian leg of their tour with a show in Hong Kong this Saturday (March 25).

Will Sharpe is stepping behind the camera once again!

Japanese Breakfast‘s Michelle Zauner has announced that the film adaptation of her memoir, Crying In H Mart, will be directed by Will Sharpe.The book, which arrived in 2021, explores how the death of Zauner’s mother forced a reckoning with the musician’s Korean-American identity.Zauner dealt with her grief by writing music, and explained in a press release that being creative while “embracing of Korean food and culture” made her feel closer to her late mother.The musician previously confirmed in 2021 that there would be a film adaptation of her book. Now, she has revealed that Will Sharpe, who plays Ethan Spiller in The White Lotus, will be on hand to direct.Speaking about Zauner’s memoir, Sharpe told PEOPLE: “There were lots of things that resonated with me as somebody who is half-Japanese, half-British, spent my childhood in Tokyo.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Will Sharpe, who endeared himself to audiences on “The White Lotus,” is directing a feature film adaptation of Michelle Zauner’s 2021 memoir “Crying in H Mart.” Zauner’s novel centers around her relationship with her Korean heritage and her mother, who died from cancer in 2014. Best known as the frontwoman for indie-pop band Japanese Breakfast, Zauner is adapting the screenplay and will also play a part in the film’s music.  According to the official synopsis from MGM, which is backing the movie, “Crying in H Mart” is a “coming-of age story about a half-Korean daughter who returns to small town Oregon to care for her Korean mother. Critical and smothering Chong-mi and creative and independent Michelle struggle to understand each other across a cultural fault line, only learning to see and accept one another through the formative power of music and the vibrant flavors of Korean cooking.”

There’s a promising and even semi-adult comedy at the heart of “Tetris,” an otherwise corny action-adventure based on the real-life story of how the iconic 1980s computer and video game was licensed outside of Russia. Most of the plot of “Tetris” concerns the political maneuvering and corporate espionage required to smuggle “Tetris,” the iconic brick-laying puzzle game, out of Moscow and away from greedy businessmen.The lead protagonist of “Tetris” (the movie) also happens to be its main hero, an uncomplicated leading man whose personal motives don’t matter so much as the vague and never credibly represented virtues of “Tetris” (the game).

John Wick series will be put on a “rest” after John Wick: Chapter 4 makes its way onto movie screens.The franchise’s director Chad Stahelski has said that both he and Keanu Reeves are “done for the moment” with the films. Telling The Hollywood Reporter that the character needs to be left alone for a while, adding that it has created a backlog of work for him.Asked if there was the possibility of a fifth instalment in the works, Stahleski replied: “In our minds, Keanu and I are done for the moment. We’re going to give John Wick a rest.

The world is in for a treat when All Elite Wrestling sends the signal from Canada Life Center in Winnipeg on Wednesday, March 15.

Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo – The Making of Harry Potter has set a June 16 date for the official opening. Tickets go on sale beginning March 22. 

Harry Potter will open in Japan. Billed as the world’s largest indoor Harry Potter attraction, it is set to open its doors this summer, on Friday June 16. Ticket sales will begin on March 22. It is also set to be the first Warner Bros. Studio Tour in Asia. The attraction, which will feature exclusive sets and experiences, will be located on the site of the Toshimaen amusement park in Nerima, Tokyo, which shut down in Aug. 2020. Potter fans will be able to step into the world of Hogwarts and more, learning how the films were made, exploring costumes, props and sets and special effects.

Tems is opening up about the controversial dress that she wore to the 2023 Oscars.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief U.S.- and Japan-based screen writer and producer Aoyagi Yumiko has signed with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) for talent representation. Born in Yokohama, Japan, but having grown up in Los Angeles and graduated from Sophia University in Tokyo, Aoyagi now works across both the Japanese and U.S. film and TV industries. She debuted as a screenwriter in 1995, writing the fourth episode of the Fuji TV series “Seiga wa Tatsu” before winning Galaxy Award prizes for telefilm “Saigo no Kazoku Ryoky: Family Affair.” In 2003, she wrote the show “Kokoro,” becoming the youngest person ever to write for the coveted morning slot on Japan’s national public broadcaster, NHK. The slot about a young woman’s development in a traditional neighborhood in Tokyo, has a continuous history of over 60 years and is known as “the face of Japan.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hong Kong-based indie sales agent Good Move Media has added Japanese music drama “Plastic” to its FilMart slate. The film is directed by Miyazaki Daisuke, the Japanese helmer behind “Yamato (California),” which had festival play in 2016, and 2019 slacker youth title “Tourism” in 2019. The new picture is the story of teenagers Juna and Ibuki, who set out to find the psychedelic rock band Exne Kedy. Exne Kedy is a fictional creation from musician Ide Kensuke, who previously released punky album “Kensuke Ide With His Mothership — Contact From Exne Kedy and the Poltergeists,” but the band is actually credited as performing and providing part of the music track in the film. “Plastic” is recently completed and headed for a theatrical release in Japan in July.

Naman Ramachandran Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service has acquired Makbul Mubarak’s award-winning debut feature, “Autobiography,” for the Southeast Asian region. The film, which is being sold by Alpha Violet, follows young Rakib (Kevin Ardilova), whose father is in prison and whose brother works abroad. He works as the housekeeper in a mansion in a rural Indonesian town belonging to retired general Purna (Arswendy Bening Swara). Purna returns to the town to start his mayoral election campaign and Rakib, whose clan has worked for the general’s family for centuries, serves as his assistant. An act of vandalism during the campaign triggers an escalating chain of violence.

Blac Chyna continues to change her ways!

Mark Schilling Japan Correspondent Japanese author Oe Kenzaburo, the winner of the 1994 Nobel Prize in Literature, has died at age 88. His date of death, ascribed to old age, was March 3. A total of six films have been made from Oe’s work, most recently the 2001 “Gibier d’élevage,” a reworking of “The Catch” by Cambodian director Rithy Panh. Born in 1935 in Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku, Oe began writing while still a student of French literature at the University of Tokyo. Not long after graduating in 1957, he published “The Catch,” a novella about a Black American airman who finds himself captured by rural Japanese villagers in the waning days of the war. It won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize and was made into a 1961 film by Japanese Nouvelle Vague auteur Oshima Nagisa.

Ke Huy Quan was seen hugging his former co-star Harrison Ford onstage at the Oscars on Sunday as Quan's film "Everything Everywhere All At Once" won Best Picture. Ford presented the movie's cast and directors with the award and embraced Quan when he walked onstage.  Quan jumped up and down in excitement before giving Ford a kiss on the cheek.The two had previously co-starred in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom." "Everything Everywhere All At Once" producer Jonathan Wang gave high praise for the cast standing behind him as he accepted the award. "This feels incredible," Wang said.

Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car was awarded with best feature at the Asian Film Awards (March 12), along with prizes for best editing and best original music. The multiple award winning Japanese drama premiered at Cannes film festival in 2021 and also won the Oscar for Best International Feature last year.  

EXCLUSIVE: Drift director Anthony Chen is gearing up to direct his first US-set project, Heartbeat: A New York Story, about the rarely-told experiences of the Asian gay community during the AIDS epidemic in 1980s New York.

When hinges creak in doorless chambers, and strange and frightening sounds echo through the halls. Whenever candle lights flicker where the air is deathly still — that is the time when ghosts are present, practicing their terror with ghoulish delight!So begins the narration for The Haunted Mansion, an attraction that originally opened in Disneyland, just outside of Anaheim, California, in 1969.

Mark Schilling Japan Correspondent Ishikawa Kei’s drama “A Man” took eight prizes at the 46th Japan Academy Film Prize ceremony, held on Friday at the Grand Prince Hotel New Takawana in Tokyo. The film, premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival in the Horizons section, had been nominated for 13 awards in 12 categories. In addition to the best picture award, Ishikawa won best director, while the film’s writer Mukai Kosuke won best screenplay, and its star Tsumabuchi Satoshi won best actor. In “A Man,” Satoshi plays a Korean lawyer who goes on a search for the truth about a man, killed in an accident, who was living under false identity. Best supporting actor went to Kubota Masataka for his portrayal of the mystery man, while Ando Sakura took best supporting actress her performance as his wife. The film also won best sound recording and best editing honors.

Naman Ramachandran International sales agency The Open Reel has boarded Indian film “Ek Jagah Apni” (“A Place of Our Own”). The film follows trans women Laila and Roshni who are looking for a house after they are evicted from their rental place. It soon becomes evident that their search for a home is also their ongoing search for a place in a society that wants to keep them away in a section away from the center. “A Place of Our Own” premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2022 and will have its North American premiere at SXSW on March 11. It will then head to the BFI Flare LGBTQIA festival in London later this month.

Doyoung, Jaehyun and Jungwoo, members of the K-pop boyband NCT, are set to debut as a sub-unit.Earlier today (March 9), South Korean media outlet Sports Today reported that the three K-pop idols are set to form a trio sub-unit as part of their work with the boyband. Notably, the three singers previously worked together on the song ‘Can We Go Back’, which they performed at the 2022 MBC Gayo Daejejeon, as well as a Christmas medley posted on the official NCT YouTube channel.Their label SM Entertainment has since confirmed the report.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Never fear, genre fans: Warner Bros. Discovery is intent on mining as much of its tentpole Warner Bros. IP as possible in the near future, whether that be through its upcoming revamped DC Universe, the newly announced “The Lord of the Rings” movies, or more projects based on J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” franchise amid the success of video game “Hogwarts Legacy.” “DC is an enormous opportunity and two important building blocks are in place now with the leadership team, Peter [Safran] and James [Gunn], and James has been breathing comics for as long as he’s been alive, essentially,” Warner Bros. Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels said during a panel at Morgan Stanley’s investor conference Wednesday. “A great creative leader here. And the second building block that is in place is the one-company approach, because I think you can only manage a franchise if everything is coordinated and the team is working together extremely well. There’s an enormous level of collaboration and joint decision making around what should work hand in hand across the franchise.”

Japanese streamer U-Next has renewed its content deal with Warner Bros Discovery, under which it will continue to be the SVOD streaming home of HBO programming in Japan. 

Because a list is never done and because we were inspired to dig that bit further, we have a few more updates on potential Cannes contenders this year.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners won Anime of the Year at the seventh annual Crunchyroll Anime Awards, which were handed out Saturday in Tokyo. Three other titles scored a leading six awards each: Spy X Family, Attack on Titan Final Season Part 2 and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Entertainment District Arc.

EXCLUSIVE: Soji Arai (Dead Ringers) has been tapped for a substantial role in the second season of HBO Max‘s crime drama series Tokyo Vice, which is currently in production in Tokyo.