Singapore Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Naman Ramachandran Netflix has acquired Indonesian filmmaker Yosep Anggi Noen’s festival favorite film “24 Hours with Gaspar.” Adapted from a detective novel of the same title that was published in 2017 by Sabda Armandio, “24 Hours with Gaspar” follows the life of private detective Gaspar, who has only 24 hours to live. He discovers clues leading to the mysterious disappearance of Kirana, a childhood friend, and later to Wan Ali, who’s involved in a human trafficking syndicate.

J Balvin has announced huge shows in London and Europe as part of his “Que Bueno Volver A Verte” 2024 world tour.The tour comes off the heels of the Spanish singer’s most recent Summer festival circuit where he headlined multiple sold-out shows in Paris, Spain, Switzerland, Singapore, Australia and many more.Kicking off on April 26 at Festhalle in Frankfurt, Germany, Balvin will then go on to hit arenas across 20 European cities including Geneva, Zurich, Milan, Vienna, Berlin, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Helinski, Kaunas, Cologne, Paris, Brussels, Esch, Barcelona, Madrid, and Lisbon. The tour will wrap up on June 5 in London at The O2 Arena.A ticket pre-sale will begin on Thursday, November 30th at 10am local time.

Grace Dent has landed back in the UK after she quit I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. The BBC food critic was pictured in Brisbane Airport hours it was announced that she left the jungle on Monday.

EXCLUSIVE: Cuban star Mario Cimarro and Hong Kong actress Nina Paw Hee-Ching are joining the cast of historical scripted drama series Coolie, produced by Meileen Choo’s Singapore-based Cathay Film Company.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Lightning International, the Hong Kong- and U.K.-based content distribution and solutions company, is expanding its staff ahead of the upcoming Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) in Singapore. It has hired Eric Tan to be director of content sales Asia. He will be responsible for all aspects of channel and content distribution.

Sheynnis Alondra Palacios Cornejo became Miss Universe 2023, Miss Spain Athenea Paulinha Pérez was named Miss Congeniality. This award goes to the friendliest contestant and is the only honor determined by a contestant vote.Miss Philippines Michelle Dee, one of the top 10 finalists, won the award for Voice for Change alongside Miss Angola Ana Coimbra and Miss Puerto Rico Karla Guilfú.

Grace Dent has been spotted for the first time since her shock exit from I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! which saw her removed by bosses after concerns from viewers. News that the food critic had quit the jungle emerged on Monday, 27 November after a statement was issued by ITV bosses.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Philippines’ ABS-CBN is to launch its new series “The Bagman” at next month’s ATF market in Singapore. Series star Arjo Atayde will attend as part of the promotional team. “The Bagman” is a spin-off from the original, locally-produced digital series “Bagman” that was aimed at the Filipino audience.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese films “Trending Topic” and “The Invisible Guest” will be given theatrical releases in Malaysia and Singapore in the coming month. This step follows agreements between Chinese streamer iQiyi and Malaysian cinema chain GSC and Singaporean distributor Clover Films.

Chinese streamer and producer iQiyi is joining forces with Malaysia’s GSC Movies and Singapore-based Clover Films to handle theatrical distribution of its Chinese-language films in their respective territories. 

Philippines media and entertainment company ABS-CBN is set to launch tentpole co-production The Bagman at this year’s Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) in Singapore, with the star of the series, Arjo Atayde, also attending the event. 

XG have announced a new song called ‘Winter Without You’ and teased an upcoming world tour.Yesterday (November 26), XG released a teaser for the upcoming music video of their new song, titled ‘Winter Without You’. The girl group have yet to confirm a release date for their new single.The teaser clip for ‘Winter Without You’ features the members of XG in a spaceship traveling out into the galaxies, as they await a message from their loved ones back home.XG tear up as they hear the voices of their loved ones, before previewing the song in question.

Naman Ramachandran India‘s Film Bazaar, the Singapore-based Asia TV Forum & Market’s (ATF) IP Accelerator Project Market (AIPA) and the Southeast Asian Audio-Visual Association (SAAVA) have formed a project market partnership. Film Bazaar, South Asia’s largest film market is operated by India’s National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) and runs concurrently with the International Film Festival of India (IFFI).

Single in Seoul made his reflect on his own love life.Single in Seoul is a romantic-comedy that stars Lee Dong-wook as Young-ho, a writer and influencer who has learned to be comfortable with doing everything alone after a series of bad relationship and heartbreaks.Starring opposite Lee Dong-wook is Cobweb actress Im Soo-jung, who plays Hyeon-jin, the editor-in-chief of a publishing company. Unlike Young-ho, Hyeon-jin is a hopeless romantic who is working on a series of essays about singles in the city.Lee Dong-wook revealed in an interview with The Korea Times that he relates strongly to his Single in Seoul character of Young-ho.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The QCinema Project Market, the industry initiative that accompanies The Philippines’ QCinema International Film Festival, revealed its winners list on Tuesday delivering almost $500,000 of grants and in-kind support. The prizes followed a two-day networking and pitching event on Nov. 18 and 19 for 19 feature-length fiction film projects from Southeast Asia.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Cannes’ Directors Fortnight section has joined forces with The Philippines for the latest edition of its Directors Factory professional training program. Operating since 2013, when it kicked off in Taiwan, the Directors’ Factory works with a new partner country each year to mentor eight budding filmmakers who are preparing ambitious first or second feature projects that they will make in pairs. The four resulting co-written and co-directed short films will be screened as part of the Directors’ Fortnight (aka Quinzaine des Cineastes) in May. Four pairs were selected in Manila in October: Eve Baswel (Philippines) and Gogularaajan Rajendran (Malaysia); Maria Estela Paiso (Philippines) and Ashok Vish (India); Arvin Belarmino (Philippines) and Lomorpich Rithy (aka YoKi) (Cambodia); Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan (Philippines) and Tan Siyou (Singapore). They have now begun writing their screenplays and are expected to shoot their films March in Dapitan, a city in The Philippines’ Zamboanga Peninsula, known for its many shrines and as the place of exile of Philippines’ national hero, Jose Rizal. These days it is a hub for domestic and international tourism. Post-production of the four titles will then be hosted in Quezon City, which seeks to become the new film capital of the Philippines and where many of the country’s post-production houses are already based. The program is operated and co-produced by Epicmedia Productions of The Philippines and Dominique Welinski, founder and curator of DW (France).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief iQiyi, the NASDAQ-listed Chinese streaming firm, confirmed its recent swing from loss to profitability with a July-September quarter that saw revenue and profits growth even as subscription numbers dipped fractionally. Net income attributable to iQIYI was RMB476 million ($65.2 million), compared to a net loss of RMB396 million in the same period in 2022, the company said in a filing on Tuesday. Using the company’s preferred non-GAAP statement of its accounts, net income was RMB622 million ($85.3 million), compared to non-GAAP net profits of RMB187 million in the same period last year. Total revenues in the period were RMB8.0 billion ($1.1 billion), a 7% year over year increase. Within that figure, subscription revenue was RMB5.0 billion ($687 million), up 19% year over year.

Disney original animation is looking at a comeback this Thanksgiving. The princess pic Wish is looking at as much as $45M-$50M over five days after the studio suffering a setback over last year’s holiday with Strange World, which did $18.8M.

Taylor Swift is spending Thanksgiving weekend in Brazil.The 12-time Grammy winner has three back-to-back-to-back ‘Eras Tour’ concerts with special guest Sabrina Carpenter at Sao Paulo’s Allianz Parque on Nov. 24-26.These three gigs hold special significance; they will be Taylor’s last until the tour picks back up in Singapore in March 2024.Per usual, prices are sky high to see the “Bad Blood” singer live.At the time of publication, the lowest price we could find on last-minute Swift Sao Paulo tickets was $418 USD before fees on Vivid Seats.However, based on our findings from when Swift toured North America, ticket prices typically plummet on the day of the concert.Therefore, if you’re on the fence about buying last-minute tickets, we recommend refreshing this page all week to see if a deal pops up.Who knows?You just might find “Enchanted” ticket prices.In the meantime, here’s everything you need to know and more about Swift’s short stay in Sao Paulo this weekend.All prices listed above are subject to fluctuation.A complete breakdown of all the best prices on seats for each of Taylor’s trio of Sao Paulo gigs can be found here:(Note: The New York Post confirmed all above prices at the publication time. All prices are in US dollars, subject to fluctuation and include additional fees at checkout.)Vivid Seats is a verified secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese authorities have banned artist and film director Guo Zhenming from traveling to Singapore for the world premiere of his documentary film “Tedious Days and Nights.” The film is scheduled to play at the Singapore International Film Festival on Dec. 4 in the festival’s Standpoint strand. It was advertised as including a Q&A session with the director.

NBC News, some of those placards stated that they felt the group is an LGBTQ “propagandist” that undermines “faith and morals.” Throughout their years together, the members of Coldplay have been outspoken about their support for various groups of people, including the LGBTQ community. Sometimes, the singer of the band, Chris Martin, will speak about issues that are important to him and his group mates while in concert. He has also been known to, from time to time, wave a rainbow flag or wear items that identify him as an ally.A post shared by Coldplay (@coldplay)This support is in contrast to the views of some conservative Muslims around the world.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Get ready for Gawker 3.0: The twice-shuttered blog site has a new owner, who plans to bring the gossipy pop-culture brand back to life — but not in exactly the same way. Meng Ru Kuok, CEO and founder of Singapore-based Caldecott Music Group, acquired the assets of Gawker from Bustle Digital Group. In an email to Variety, Kuok confirmed that he has closed the deal buying the Gawker trademarks and domain name but not its article archives.

K.J. Yossman The BBC has apologized after a news anchor mis-reported a Reuters news story to suggest the Israeli arms was targeting medical staff.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor TikTok has long touted the app as a place to discover new music — and its ability to propel songs into viral hits. Now TikTok is hoping to derive incremental revenue from music fans who use the app. The company’s new Add to Music App feature lets users save songs from TikTok to third-party music streaming services.

Guneet Monga Kapoor (“The Elephant Whisperers”) and Michelin-starred chef and filmmaker Vikas Khanna (“The Last Color”) have boarded Oscar-qualified animated short “American Sikh” as executive producers. The film tells the true story of an American-born, turban-wearing Sikh illustrator, writer, performance artist, diversity speaker and creator of Sikhtoons.com, Vishavjit Singh, who after a lifetime of facing prejudice, self-doubt and violence, finally finds acceptance in a superhero costume.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “The Marvels” narrowly missed the top spot at the mainland China box office on its opening weekend. And its debut was far short of its blockbuster predecessor. Data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway shows “The Marvels” earning RMB82.7 million or $11.5 million between Friday and Sunday in Chinese cinemas. Of that some $2 million or 17%, was earned in Imax theaters. The film’s debut weekend haul was a fraction below the RMB84.2 million ($11.7 million) earned by Chinese film “Last Suspect” in its second weekend of release.

While reflecting on his first year as the Prince of Wales, Prince William says he aims to focus on a smaller number of causes than members of the Royal Family have done in the past to avoid spreading himself too thinly.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Auto-bio Pamphlet,” a Marathi-language film that is both a love story and a rage against class divisions, will open the 18th edition of the Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival later this month. The festival will close with the world premiere of spy thriller “13 Bombs in Jakarta.” JAFF run Nov.

Taylor Swift has postponed tonight’s Eras Tour concert in Buenos Aires due to what she called “truly chaotic” weather, a description that might also apply to the media frenzy with the arrival in Argentina last night of Travis Kelce.

Ethan Shanfeld Taylor Swift has rescheduled her concert tonight in Buenos Aires due to “chaotic” weather. She will perform at the Estadio River Plate stadium on Sunday, Nov. 12, instead.

New artists often face a creative conundrum; parsing through a lifetime of influences to slot themselves into, or create, an easily defined sound of their own. For Singapore-based artist Xena Giam, feeling is what guides her music far beyond the confines of genre.

being left “isolated” if the Waleses continue to expand their brand transatlantically. Hewson told the Sun’s Fabulous that William, the heir to the throne, now has a “whole army of female fans” following Harry’s bombshell revelations in “Spare,” while Kate “looks like a queen in waiting.”“It could have very much gone the other way for Kate and William and I think they were very concerned about how the American public might respond to these revelations,” she said.“But it looks from the polling, that they are siding with Kate and William.”She went on, “When William was in America he was right at the top of the polls, even beating homegrown leaders like Joe Biden and Donald Trump.“He has really raised his profile as a global statesman – this week wooing crowds in Singapore – and now has a whole army of female fans after he waded around in his boots in the Hudson River.”“The Americans love her.

Taylor Swift has debuted a new outfit for the South American leg of the Eras Tour!

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Adele Lim, the screenwriter behind “Crazy Rich Asians” and Disney’s “Raya and the Last Dragon” animation, says that the opportunities for Asian filmmakers are growing as Hollywood is becoming more receptive to international talent. “[In Hollywood] I felt that I was disadvantaged, coming from Malaysia. It is not the cultural nexus,” said Lim, whose infancy was in Malaysia, before her family moved to the U.S.

Kate Middleton and Prince William are making sure they do not repeat Princess Diana's 'parenting regret' with their own brood, a Royal expert has claimed. Kate, 41, and William, 40, are known to be hands-on parents to Prince George, nine, Princess Charlotte, seven, and Prince Louis, five, and are said to have been influenced by the love and support of William's late mother Princess Diana. However, Diana had one "big regret" when it came to her parenting technique, and that was down to having to be away for long periods of time due to work, according to royal expert Duncan Larcombe.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Spotify has launched its audiobook perk for Premium subscribers in the U.S., offering access to more than 200,000 audiobooks — available for no extra charge, but limited to only about two titles per month. The rollout comes after the audio streamer launched the audiobooks catalog for paying members in Australia and the U.K.