Tokyo Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson are taking their comedy to Paris for the 2024 Olympics. Peacock has given an eight-episode series order to Olympic Highlights with Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson, a commentary series in which the comedic duo will recap the best and most unexpected moments throughout the Games.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Leading Hong Kong actor Tony Leung has been set as the president of the jury that will decide the main competition prizes at the Tokyo International Film Festival later this year. “Japan is close to my heart in more ways than one. And to be involved in celebrating film in this way, is a big deal for me.

The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and teased his jam-packed year ahead. The ‘Gin & Juice’ singer opened up about his upcoming debut as a vocal coach on NBC’s The Voice later this fall and his return as an NBC correspondent at the 2024 Olympics in Paris this summer.“Well, if you know anything about me, you know I love all forms of music.

The Producers Guild of America has announced the first round of speakers for the 2024 edition of the Produced By Conference, which is taking place on the Fox studio lot in Century City on Saturday, June 8.

Warner Bros. Discovery has named Buddy Marini as its Japanese GM, reporting to WBD Asia-Pacific president James Gibbons.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Veteran Asian executive Buddy Marini has been appointed GM of Warner Bros. Discovery in Japan.The role covers all operations in Japan including home entertainment, digital & TV licensing, consumer products, anime production, franchise and pay-TV networks, but excluding theatrical and the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo: The Making of Harry Potter business. Marini joins WBD with 25+ years’ experience in leadership across media and technology companies in Japan, China and the U.S.

EXCLUSIVE: Production has wrapped in Singapore and the United States on Charlotte Hong’s debut feature Tropical Rain, Death Scented Kiss.

(G)I-DLE have announced the cities and dates for their upcoming 2024 ‘i-DOL’ world tour, featuring concerts in Asia, the US and Australia.Today (May 13), (G)I-DLE revealed details for their newly announced 2024 ‘i-DOL’ world tour, which will feature 19 concerts across Asia, the US and Australia from August to November this year.The K-pop girl group will kick off their tour with a two-date concert in Seoul, South Korea on August 3 and 4. In the same month, the quintet will also hold performances in Hong Kong, China and Tokyo, Japan.In September 2024, (G)I-DLE will bring their 2024 ‘i-DOL’ world tour to the US.

Former Britain's Got Talent child stars Bars and Melody have grown up and look unrecognisable in their recent snaps. The duo, who won hearts with their anti-bullying rap on the ITV talent show back in 2014, are still going strong as a rap and R&B act, ten years later.They've been sharing their journey together on Instagram, showing off their mature looks. Charlie Lenehan (Melody) is now covered in tattoos while Leondre Devries (Bars) has shot up in height.

Naman Ramachandran Billionaire Mukesh Ambani‘s streamer JioCinema is launching Anime Hub, with a slate of popular Japanese titles in the genre. Starting May 12, the hub will be headlined by the global simulcast of Season 4 of “Demon Slayer.” Highlights of the slate include: action-comedy “Spy x Family”; school chaos in “Assassination Classroom”; supernatural action-comedy “Mob Psycho 100”; time-traveling drama “Tokyo Revengers”; fantasy adventure “Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun”; psychological thriller “Welcome to the Elite”; fantasy “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime”; and mystery “The Junji Ito Maniac.” With a view to growing the Otaku (anime fan) community in India, the hub will also offer a curated selection of hits and hidden gems, including “Bofuri: I Hate Getting Hurt,” “So I Put All My Skill Points Into Defense,” “My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!,” “The Familiar of Zero,” “Goblin Slayer” and “In/Spectre.” The anime content is licensed from Taiwan-based anime distribution and licensing company Muse Communication, Variety understands.

Korean media conglomerate CJ ENM announced that it will co-produce films and television series with Japanese broadcaster Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) for the next three years.

NCT Dream have announced their upcoming 2024 ‘The Dream Show 3: Dream( )scape’ world tour, with concerts in Asia, Europe, the US and more.NCT Dream’s 2024 ‘The Dream Show 3: Dream( )scape’ world tour currently features 17 shows across Asia, with concerts in nine different cities. The Latin America, US and Europe legs of the tour will be revealed on May 8.‘The Dream Show 3: Dream( )scape’ kick offed with a three-date concert on May 2 in Seoul, South Korea.

David Benedict Hayao Miyazaki’s 2001 animated film “Spirited Away” won everything from the Oscar for Best Animated Feature to Berlin’s Golden Bear. That there’s an audience for a stage version was evidenced by its 2022 Tokyo run selling out in four minutes. Now in London and performed in Japanese with English surtitles, sales are brisk in the 2,263-seat London Coliseum with the limited run now extended by five weeks.

Olivia Rodrigo has announced the Asia and Australia leg of her 2024 ‘Guts’ world tour set to kick off later this year.The Asian leg of the tour will kick off on September 16 at the Impact Arena in Bangkok. From there, the ‘Love Is Embarrassing’ singer will be making stops in Seoul, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore.

Olivia Rodrigo will tour Asia and Australia for the first time in her career, the singer announced Wednesday. Rodrigo has added nine international dates to her massive “Guts” world tour for a total of 82 shows globally. The new dates kick off Sept.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer New transmedia company Iconic Arts launched Tuesday with $3.1 million in financing at a $20 million pre-seed valuation. The entertainment studio boasts support from screenwriter Eric Roth, Grammy winning artist Will.i.am and exec vets of Disney, Sony Pictures Entertainment and JP Morgan.

Lynda Carter is paying tribute and honoring the late Jeannie Epper, the Wonder Woman stunt performer.

EXCLUSIVE: Richard Shepard has signed with TFC. The move reunites the Emmy and DGA Award-winning director-writer with former WME partner David Stone who founded the management company in 2020 with UTA’s Ben Jacobson.

Jeannie Epper, a stunt double for Lynda Carter in the 1970s Wonder Woman TV series and performed stunts in such movies as The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and Kill Bill: Vol. 2, died Sunday at her Simi Valley, California, home. She was 83.

Selena Kuznikov Jeannie Epper, who was a stunt double for Lynda Carter in the original “Wonder Woman” TV series and performed stunts in many movies and TV shows, died Sunday evening at her home in Simi Valley, Calif. She was 83. Born in 1941, Epper went on to perform stunts on over 150 feature films like “Catch Me If You Can,” “The Amazing Spider-Man,” “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift,” “The Princess Diaries,” “Kill Bill: Vol.

Overmono have announced a ‘Pure Devotion’ world tour that will take place across five dates in autumn 2024. See all the details below.The Welsh electronic duo, made up of brothers Tom and Ed Russell, had already been confirmed for an extensive list of festival appearances for the summer, and they will now be adding major shows across the globe to their schedules.They will begin at Brooklyn’s Paramount on October 4, before heading north to Toronto’s Opera House the following night.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief China- and Netherlands-based sales firm Fortissimo Films has picked up the international rights to new Chinese sports feature film “Wild Punch.” It will launch the film in territories outside mainland China next week at the Cannes Market. Co-directed by well-established director Yu Lik-wai and Wang Jing (“The Best Is Yet to Come”), “Wild Punch is a sports and action drama about a top mixed martial arts athlete who has passed the peak of his career and faces competition from his young and gifted trainee. Both with something to prove, the two will have to face each other in the ring. Yu has directed four feature films, including Cannes competition title “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and Venice title “Plastic City.” He is also well-established as a cinematographer who has worked on films including “Still Life,” “A Touch of Sin,” and “Mountains May Depart” by Jia Zhangke, Lou Ye’s “Love and Bruises” and Ann Hui’s “A Simple Life.” “Wild Punch” is produced by Momo Pictures, the subsidiary of the NASDAQ-listed Zhiwen Group, which is best-known for its Momo instant messaging mobile application.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Takano Tofu” claimed double honors on the closing night of the Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy. It won the Golden Mulberry audience award and the MyMovies Purple Mulberry award. Directed by Mihara Mitsuhiro, “Takano Tofu” is a melodrama about an elderly tofu-making craftsman, who is stuck in his ways but is also experimental and who is kindly, but whose stubbornness brings suffering on those around him.

The Contestant,” out Thursday.In 1999, the then 24-year-old thought he was auditioning for a “showbiz-related job” on a new TV series called “Susunu! Denpa Shonen,” which translates to “Do Not Proceed! Crazy Youth.” It was the era of Japan’s outrageous challenge shows, which found contestants shutting their eyes and biting into mystery objects — maybe it was a bonbon; maybe it was a shoe — or trying to climb slippery steps, or picking a potential girlfriend based only on a lineup of bare butts.The point of “Denpa Shonen” was to put participants, often young comedians willing to do almost anything to get famous, in extreme situations.But Nasubi didn’t know what he was signing up for when Toshio Tsuchiya, known as the “King of Reality Television,” showed him to a windowless studio apartment in Tokyo. It contained a desk with postcards, magazines and a diary, in which Nasubi was told to chronicle his experiences in the room.“Tsuchiya was a very famous producer,” Nasubi told The Post. “I felt honored to have gotten picked.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Prolific Philippines-based Epicmedia Productions has come on board “The Passport,” a Malaysian coming of age story about a Tamil family and their punk rock daughter. Production is by Malaysia’s Sixtymac Pictures. Currently at financing stage, the project will mark the directing debut of Ananth Subramaniam, whose short films have played at BiFan and Fantasia, and whose works explore his Tamil-ancestral identity and family within the context of a multi-layered genre.

Ricky Martin’s adventures continue. The beloved Puerto Rican singer has been joined on a trip to Japan with his eldest sons, Matteo and Valentino.

Carolyn Giardina “The Imaginary,” an upcoming hand-drawn animated fantasy film from Japan’s Studio Ponoc that will play in competition at this year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival, is set to debut July 5 on Netflix. An Oscar-qualifying run is also planned.

Post Malone, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Mötley Crüe, it’ll be tricky for 2024’s schedule to outdo its predecessor – and yet, thanks to the likes of Taylor Swift, Blink-182 and Pink, plus Coldplay, Pearl Jam and SZA, it’s poised to do just that.From debut headline shows for breakout artists to bustling festival sideshow programs, there’s something for everyone to enjoy as a stellar batch of musicians make their way Down Under in 2024. Read on for NME’s roundup of all the biggest concerts and tours coming to Australia this year.James Taylor: An Evening with James Taylor & His All-Star BandWhen: April 12 – April 28Find tickets and more info hereIf there was ever a festival made for James Taylor & His All-Star Band at this juncture of his 50-year career, it’s Day on the Green.

Jamie Lang Anime artist Yoshitoshi Shinomiya cut his teeth working on films by superstar Japanese filmmaker Makoto Shinkai, including the director’s box office smash hit “Your Name.” Now, Shinomiya is prepping his feature directorial debut, “A New Dawn,” a profoundly personal film inspired by the changing Japanese landscape after the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. Tokyo-based Asmik Ace (“Inu-Oh,” ” Tekkonkinkreet”) and France’s Miyu Productions (“Chicken for Linda,” “Dozens of Norths”) are producing the feature, which the former will distribute globally. “A New Dawn” unwinds inside an inactive fireworks factory that is about to go into administrative action.

Move over 'clean-girl' nails and hello, maximalist nail charms.This fun and playful nail trend is set to be the next big thing and is guaranteed to up your manicure game. Nail charms very much play into the late 90s and Y2K fashion resurgence we’ve been seeing a lot of over the past couple of years.Think bedazzled phone cases, phone charms and rhinestoned clothing … now imagine those on your nails.That’s exactly what the nail charm trend is.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Macho sports-movie tropes meet with bright chick-flick framing to curious effect in “YOLO,” either an ostensible boxing drama that doesn’t pick up the gloves until the third act, or a misfit romcom that takes a late and unusual turn toward transformational self-help territory. Chinese audiences have been delighted by either formulation, as Jia Ling‘s second feature as director-star — following 2021’s popular time-travel comedy “Hi, Mom” — has racked up the year’s second-highest global gross so far, mostly on the strength of its domestic receipts.

Tess Daly has been told she 'hasn't changed' as she took a trip down memory lane and shared one of many throwback snaps with her fans. The Strictly Come Dancing host appeared to have been looking through an old catalogue from her modelling portfolio after starting her career in the industry.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief While multiple Korean TV series have connected with global audiences, Japan’s production committees, terrestrial broadcasters and talent agencies have kept their TV industry tightly focused on a local market. Anime and variety have long remained the Japanese TV industry’s best-known exports, while the premium end of the spectrum has largely escaped Japanese producers.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Online comic book platforms Marvel Unlimited and VIZ Manga are to begin cross-promotions that are aimed at expanding fandom in the genre. The move follows the 2022-23 collaboration between Marvel Comics and Viz Media that extended stories from the Marvel comics universe into the Japanese manga format, in a handful of titles. Subscribers to the VIZ Manga digital service can now access titles featuring fan-favorite characters including “Deadpool: Samurai,” “Wolverine: Snikt!,” “Spider-Man: Fake Red” and “Marvel’s Secret Reverse.” Later in the year other Marvel-manga crossover titles will be added including “Spider-Man: Octo-Girl” and “X-Men: The Manga: Remastered.” To launch their cross-platform cooperation, VIZ Manga and Marvel Unlimited will offer each other’s U.S.

on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Thursday, the Bon Jovi frontman, 62, said he and guitarist Richie Sambora were invited to party with the “Smooth Criminal” hitmaker while he was in Tokyo for the “Slippery When Wet” tour. “We walked into his hotel room, which was all done up in mirrors so he could dance,” the rocker explained.

Callum McLennan Comedy docuseries “The World’s Strangest Jobs,” from Johannesburg-based Mannequin Pictures, one of South Africa’s key production, finance, and distribution companies, has sold to Prime Video the rights to the African continent. Mannequin is now pursuing sales in all other territories. The eight-part series is hosted by comedian and actor Schalk Bezuidenhout.