‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers’ Original Cast Reunites to Fight Rita Repulsa in ‘Once & Always’ Trailer on Netflix

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief A growing range of Thai, Japanese and Chinese-language films and TV shows are reaching global audiences – joining the by-now well-established international viewership for South Korean shows.Netflix’s Global Top 10 for the week April 3-10, sees made-for-streaming Korean title “Kill Boksoon” on top of the non-English-language films list, with 27.5 million hours watched in its second week of release. It is immediately followed by Thai film “Hunger,” about a young woman apprentice in an upmarket restaurant working under a tough boss. The film is directed by Sitisiri Mongkolsiri and stars “Bad Genius” breakout Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Jackie Chan-starring stunt-man comedy drama “Ride On” pratfalled its way to first place at the mainland Chinese box office with a lowball $11.7 million opening. Still, that was enough to beat another new release, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which ranked fourth over the latest weekend. Chan is an enduring, but fading, star in China and in the past his new release titles were often scheduled for the three biggest holiday seasons. “Ride On,” which sees Chan in an ode to the stunt players he has worked with, was released two days after the Ching Ming (Wednesday 5 April) holiday, when many folks honor their ancestors. Its opening three days were enough to depose “Suzume” from the top spot, where “Suzume” had ranked for the previous two weekends. “Suzume” earned $8.0 million over the latest weekend in China, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. That gives it a $103 million cumulative after 17 days in mainland theaters, a China record for a Japanese animation film.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Cinedigm has acquired all North American rights to the Japanese sci-fi horror film “New Religion.” “New Religion” is a surrealist body horror film written, directed and produced by first-time feature filmmaker Kondo Keishi. It stars Seto Kaho, Nunami Daiki, Oka Satoshi and Ryuseigun Saionji. After her daughter’s death, divorced Miyabi begins working as a call girl. One day, she meets an unsettling customer who wants to take pictures of her body parts. Soon, she realizes that every time she allows her body to be photographed her daughter’s spirit gets closer. She must decide how far she is willing to go to connect with her daughter once again.

Kim Kardashian is relaying a well-deserved apology to her sisters.

Charna Flam “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies” music producer and songwriter Justin Tranter says their prolific career actually started with a passion for musicals. “Musicals are why I started making music as a kid. Even though I was in a rock band and now I make pop music, musicals are why I started making music in the first place,” the Grammy-nominated songwriter told Variety at the Paramount+ series’ premiere Wednesday night in Los Angeles. Tranter has worked with Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa, Selena Gomez, Lady Gaga, the Chicks, Leon Bridges, Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber, just to name a few. After “fighting hard” to join “Rise of the Pink Ladies” and providing demos for showrunner Annabel Oakes, the two then teamed up with choreographer Jamal Sims for the series. Along with some co-writers, Tranter wrote and produced 30 original songs for the 10-episode season.

Scott Pilgrim will be back, and in computer-generated living color: Netflix has picked up an anime series about the beloved slacker-musician from the classic graphic novels, which was made into a 2010 film that starred Michael Cera.

A new pan-Asian street food bar, takeaway and restaurant, is set to open this weekend on Deansgate, but it’s been over 40 years in the making. Suki Suki will be serving up sticky wings, steaming ramens and katsu curries, but bringing with it generations of culinary pedigree.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Netflix will give a May launch to “Sanctuary,” a sports drama series set in the specialized world of Japanese sumo wrestling. Produced by the Slowtide company for the streamer, the show follows a juvenile delinquent who becomes a sumo apprentice. He soon finds himself on a collision course with a voiceless wrestler carrying a secret. Netflix pitches it as “a gritty look into the underbelly of professional sumo, a world full of young men with ambitions for money, women, fame, and power […] where some may find sanctuary with a history of more than 1,500 years in Japan’s traditional culture and as a religious ceremony.”

Amy Jo Johnson is setting the record straight. The 52-year-old actress, who played Kimberly Hart (a.k.a.

Amy Jo Johnson is speaking out.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Netflix has announced new series “Ooku: The Inner Chambers,” the first anime adaptation of a hit Japanese manga by Yoshinaga Fumi. At the ongoing Anime Japan convention in Tokyo, the streamer also unveiled “Yakitori: Soldiers of Misfortune,” another anime series, adapted from a military sci-fi novel by Carlo Zen and set to upload in May. Directed by Abe Noriyuki and produced by Studio Deen, “Ooku” is inspired by tales emerging from the Ooku women’s quarters within Edo Castle and imagines that gender roles are reversed. After a plague threatens the male population women take up positions of authority. The new (female) Shogun Yoshimune enquires into why the women adopt male names when taking power and starts to unravel other mysteries within the inner sanctum. The original manga was published by Hakusensha / Melody.

Sead Haksabanovic has sparked injury fears after the Celtic winger was surprisingly hooked at half-time during Montenegro's win over Bulgaria.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent U.S.-Lebanese actor Tony Shalhoub, who played the “defective detective” on “Monk,” is set to star as former auto mogul-turned-fugitive Carlos Ghosn in a high-profile TV series directed by Michael Winterbottom. Ghosn is the French-Lebanese-Brazilian former CEO of automakers Nissan and Renault who in 2020 jumped bail and absconded to Beirut hidden in a music case on a private jet while on trial in Japan for alleged financial misconduct. Lebanon does not have an extradition treaty with Japan. The six-part series titled “Fall of the God of Cars” is written by Winterbottom, the prolific British director of “Welcome to Sarajevo,” whose TV work comprises hit sitcom series “The Trip” and, more recently, “This is England” starring Kenneth Branagh as Boris Johnson.

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.

Picturestart and Picture Perfect Federation have set JC Lee to direct the English-language remake of Thai hit Bad Genius and also announced key cast members as well as a raft of international presales.

It’s Morphin time! Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always is 30 years in the making.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Amazon Studios’ head of international originals, James Farrell, who started overseeing Europe six months ago, said at Series Mania Festival that the service isn’t pulling out of local content but is keeping an eye on costs. Farrell, who previously worked at Amazon Studios in Japan where he backed the creation of the original format behind “LOL” in 2016, said Amazon “won’t cut down on the number of shows or films” they’re doing, but “want to continue to be really good corporate stewards.” “The world is having a tough time. There’s wars, you know, political situations are tough. That means, you know, you got to be thoughtful about what you spend,” said Farrell.

The new trailer for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always, a stand-alone special premiering on Netflix globally on April 19, has been unleashed.

EXCLUSIVE: Crunchyroll has tapped Nichole Sakura (Superstore) for the title role in the English-language dub of their acclaimed animated feature Suzume, which in addition to the original subtitled version, debuts in theaters in Australia and New Zealand on April 13, coming to the U.S., Canada, the UK and Ireland the following day.