Tokyo Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Naman Ramachandran Distributor, Day for Night has acquired a trio of Asian titles for U.K. and Ireland at the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents and Film Market. Day for Night is acquiring the late Pema Tseden‘s “Snow Leopard” from Rediance.

Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou has been set as the recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement award at the forthcoming Tokyo Film Festival (TIFF), running October 21 – November 1.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Leading Chinese film director Zhang Yimou is to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Tokyo International Film Festival later this month. The award will be presented to him during the festival’s opening ceremony on Oct. 23. Later, Zhang will take part in a special talk session at the TIFF Loungeco-hosted by the Japan Foundation. Additionally, his “Full River Red,” which was a box office sensation in China at the beginning of the year, will play as a gala selection during the Tokyo festival. Zhang, consider to be among China’s “fifth generation” of filmmakers, has had an extraordinary career that he has sustained for over three decades.

U.S. producer E. Bennett Walsh, who has made films including Mortal Kombat, Meg 2: The Trench and The Kite Runner across the APAC region, says he’s got his eye on Japan and Korea as the next hot destinations for footloose Hollywood productions.

EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based genre specialist Reel Suspects has boarded sales on Japanese horror director Takeshi Kushida’s My Mother’s Eyes and will launch the title at the upcoming MIA Market in Rome.

Jessica Kiang The belief that the dead live on in our memories is often the only comfort anyone can think to offer the bereaved, or those in the process of losing a loved one. But for Takashi (Mirai Moriyama), the introspective adult son at the heart of Kei Chika-ura‘s quietly tectonic heartbreaker, that comfort is unavailable on multiple levels.

Manchester has been named one of the World’s Best Cities in a prestigious report - beating out the likes of Mexico City, Valencia and Bucharest, but missing out on the top spot, which was claimed by London.

Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s latest feature, Evil Does Not Exist, leads this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) with four nods, including the gong for Best Film. 

Powerhouse Japanese boyband agency Johnny & Associates, which is embroiled in a sexual abuse scandal relating to its late founder, Johnny Kitagawa, has announced it will change its name and split into two companies. In September, the pop giant acknowledged that Kitagawa, who died in 2019 at age 87, had sexually abused boys signed by the agency over a span of several decades.

Krystal Jung has opened up about her K-pop girl group f(x) and the possibility of a reunion.Krystal Jung started out her career as a member of K-pop girl group, which were active from 2009 to 2016. Since then, the act have been on hiatus, save for a brief reunion in 2019 at the SM Town Live concert in Tokyo.The singer has since opened up about the girl group and the possibility of a reunion, in an interview with Money Today.

Naman Ramachandran Charades has sold key territories on Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach’s hand-painted animation “Chicken for Linda!” (“Linda veut du poulet!”) that won dual honors at the Annecy Animation Festival. The film follows loving mom, Paulette, who feels guilty after unfairly punishing her daughter Linda and would do anything to make it up to her.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italy’s Coccinelle Film Sales has acquired world rights to German director Veit Helmer’s poetic love story “Gondola,” which will world premiere at the upcoming Tokyo International Film Festival. Helmer is well known on the international festival circuit for funny, fable-like films with little or no dialogue such as “Tuvalu”; the Azerbaijan-set “Absurdistan,” which went to Sundance in 2008; and “The Bra,” that launched from Tokyo in 2018.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italy’s Coccinelle Film Sales has acquired world rights to German director Veit Helmer’s poetic love story “Gondola,” which will world premiere at the upcoming Tokyo International Film Festival. Helmer is well known on the international festival circuit for funny, fable-like films with little or no dialogue such as “Tuvalu”; the Azerbaijan-set “Absurdistan,” which went to Sundance in 2008; and “The Bra,” that launched from Tokyo in 2018.

The Tokyo Film Festival has set the lineup for its bumper 2023 edition, running October 23 to November 1. Scroll down for the full list. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Equal numbers of Chinese and Japanese titles adorn the main competition section of the Toyo International Film Festival, which was announced on Wednesday – three each. Among the Chinese films is “Snow Leopard,” the last feature by the late Pema Tseden, and “Dwelling by the West Lake,” directed by Gu Xiaogang, the surprisingly inexperienced joint recipient of this year’s Kurosawa Award. The full competition with 15 titles, set to play between Oct. 23 and Nov.

The Tokyo Film Festival has set Gu Xiaogang and Mouly Surya as the recipients of the Kurosawa Akira Award at its upcoming 2023 edition, running October 23 — November 1. 

Quantic Dream‘s Star Wars Eclipse will share a lot of similarities with the developer’s previous titles, such as making no promises for the safety of its characters.Eclipse is an action-adventure but it will still feature a determinant and winding narrative that the French developer has become famous for. In 2021, a new studio was opened in Montréal, Canada, to support the development of Eclipse but details have been light on its progress.“Can I say it still exists? Because it exists,” replied vice president of marketing Lisa Pendse in an interview with IGN at Tokyo Game Show last week.

Big Brother,” which first launched 23 years ago, is set to return to ITV screens on Oct. 8.

The ongoing talks between the WGA and the AMPTP continued to look promising through the weekend, but the writers couldn’t help but have fun with the studios’ claim that they made their “best and final offer.”

Scientists have just discovered that a common kitchen ingredient often used in sandwiches could help lower the risks of dementia.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Director Clara Law (“The Goddess of 1967”) has been set as president of the jury which will discern this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards. She will be joined by Malaysia’s Yeo Yann Yann (“Ilo Ilo,” “Wet Season,” American Born Chinese”), German producer Anna Katchko (“Stepne,” “Happiness”), and Faisal Baltyuor, producer and CEO of Muvi Studios in Saudi Arabia. A separate jury for documentaries and animation will be headed by Taiwan-based Myanmar director Midi Z, India’s Rima Das and Japanese documentary maker Toda Hikaru. The APSAs will be presented at a ceremony in Gold Coast, Queensland on Nov.

Ahead of the game’s Feb 29, 2024 launch, Square Enix invited Deadline to play through two early sections of the upcoming title– that also debuted at this year’s Tokyo Game Show—which serves as the second part of the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy. The new game starts right where Final Fantasy VII Remake left off with Team Avalanche’s Cloud (Cody Christian), Aerith (Briana White), Tifa (Britt Baron), Barret (John Eric Bentley) and Red XIII (Max Mittelman) leaving Midgar to confront the boundless, terrifying freedom that awaits them on their journey to The Forgotten Capital.

EXCLUSIVE: EST N8, the international finance, production and sales company launched by EST Studios and Bangkok-based N8 Studios at Cannes this year, has hired Sophie Changhui Shi as acquisition and production executive, based in Los Angeles. 

Last year, it was confirmed that a popular Leeds ramen and dumpling spot, House of Fu, would be heading to Manchester. Now, the team behind the hit restaurant have confirmed the exact date it will open.

Taylor Swift will be releasing her upcoming album 1989 (Taylor’s Version) at the end of October and fans are eagerly awaiting news about the songs being released from her vault.

William Earl Visual effects firm Digital Domain and Production Resource Group have teamed to expand the menu of vfx and post-production services offered by both firms. Digital Domain and PRG together aim to offer clients one-stop-shopping for high-end visual effects, holograms, virtual production and other content creation-related services. The new partners bill the deal as a “co-branded” arrangement that extends the reach of both firms.

Microsoft suggest Bethesda Softworks has remasters for Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion in the works.In a Resetera post published today (September 19), an image appearing to be a “title release schedule” for Microsoft was shared, taken from court documents related to the company’s ongoing Activision Blizzard acquisition.While the schedule begins with releases from 2020, such as Doom Eternal and The Elder Scrolls Online: Greymoor, a number of unannounced projects are also listed.This includes a remaster for Bethesda Softworks’ role-playing game The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, which was listed as launching in 2022. There’s also a remake for post-apocalyptic shooter Fallout 3 marked down for 2024.However, certain dates – such as Redfall being listed for 2021 when it only launched this year – suggest this release schedule, if legitimate, is no longer accurate.These remasters would come at a time when both Fallout and The Elder Scrolls are going to be without new entries for a while.

Anya Taylor-Joy kept it super classic in a little black dress while out and about with fiance Malcolm McRae in Los Angeles on Monday afternoon (September 18).

Blac Chyna reached a huge milestone in her sobriety journey!

Indonesia has selected Makbul Mubarak’s award-winning drama Autobiography as its submission in the Best International Feature category of the Oscars. 

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Fresh off the world premiere of her last directorial effort, “Priscilla,” at the Venice Film Festival (where star Cailee Spaeny won best actress), Sofia Coppola joined Rolling Stone to reflect on the 20th anniversary of her beloved “Lost in Translation.” Coppola, whose script for “Lost in Translation” won the Oscar for original screenplay, partly used the dissolution of her marriage to fellow director Spike Jonze as inspiration for the film, which follows a college graduate (Scarlett Johansson) who accompanies her celebrity photographer boyfriend (Giovanni Ribisi) on a trip to Tokyo. While he’s out flirting with a Hollywood actress (Anna Farris), she befriends a faded movie star (Bill Murray) who’s in town to shoot a commercial. Since the film premiered in 2023, viewers have associated Johansson’s character with Coppola and Ribisi’s with Jonze.

EXCLUSIVE: Lighthouse Media & Management has signed the multi-hyphenate Kiko Mizuhara, best known for starring in Toho’s adaptation of Norwegian Wood and the beloved manga Attack on Titan, for representation in all areas.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Japan rugby union team on Sunday thrashed tournament newcomers Chile 42-12 on the first weekend of the freshly kicked-off Rugby World Cup. But in 2015, Japan were the underdogs and yet pulled off a surprise result against rugby titans South Africa. In the first ever match between the two nations Japan won 34-32, due to an 80th minute try. “The Brighton Miracle,” a docu-drama capturing and re-constructing that shock match, has been picked up by Blue Sky Media.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Identity, incomplete understanding and urban poverty are among the many themes touched upon in “Oasis of Now,” which is set to make its debut next month in the prestigious New Currents competition section of the Busan International Film Festival. The story revolves around a mother and a daughter who inhabit the invisible corners of an old apartment block in Kuala Lumpur. They meet in the stairwells, play furtive games and snatch moments of shared happiness, before slinking off to their separate homes.

Great Absence, the second feature film from Japanese director Kei Chika-ura, is receiving its world premiere in Toronto International Film Festival’s Platform section. Inspired by Kei’s real-life experiences, the film tells the story of an actor living in Tokyo who is forced to travel home when the police call to say his father is suffering from dementia and has lost touch with reality. Making matters worse, his father’s second wife appears to be missing. The actor makes the trip home with his own wife, full of conflicted emotions over a man who left the family when he was still a child, and starts an exploration into the mysteries of his father’s life.

at the next Olympic games, I have good news! The world's greatest gymnast told Hoda Kotb in a Today interview that she hopes to be on the mat/beams/parallel bars at the 2024 games in Paris.“That's the path I would love to go,” Biles said.After suffering a bout of “the twisties” at the Olympics in Tokyo, the gymnastics GOAT took a very public break from the sport, only to make a competition—which she won, of course. It turns out that while she was preparing for her extravagant destination wedding in Mexico, Biles was secretly training the whole time, per .“I think we have to be a little bit more cautious about how we do things, so everything that we're doing leading up to this next games or whatever is very intentional,” Biles told Kotb of the secrecy.