Netflix Picks up ‘Mukai-kun’ Completed Japanese Romance Series From Nippon TV

If you were watching Zac Efron‘s docu-series Down to Earth on The CW, you’re going to have to go to Netflix to watch the remaining episodes.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Ichikawa Ennosuke, a leading Japanese Kabuki actor, was indicted in Tokyo on Friday on charges of assisting his parents’ suicides. The indictment, reported by public broadcaster NHK and other major Japanese media, alleges that Ichikawa gave an excessive amount of sleeping drugs to his father, Kabuki actor Ichikawa Danshiro IV, and his mother Nobuko.

Netflix has sparked an outcry by listing a vacancy for a new $900,000-a-year product manager role for their AI Machine Learning programme in the midst of the SAG-AFTRA strike.The Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) union went on strike earlier this month, after negotiations broke down with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) over streaming residuals and safeguards against AI technology.According to the job description, the Product Manager position will focus on “increasing the leverage of our Machine Learning Platform.” The MLP is Netflix’s in-house AI program, which has traditionally been used to power the streamer’s algorithmic recommendations. Per Netflix’s research page, the company is now making more use of the program to “optimise” film and TV production, although it’s not clear how they plan to do so.We all know one of the biggest issues both of the striking guilds, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, have with AMPTP’s offer for a new contract is a lack of protection against and regulation of AI.

Frank Iero has released a statement claiming Lego called for the removal of an L.S. Dunes music video that features the toy bricks.According to Iero, the toy company’s lawyers have called the band’s label, Fantasy Records, to ask them to “take down” the band’s video for the track ‘Grey Veins’ which features Lego figures throughout.Iero, of My Chemical Romance fame and one of the guitarists in L.S.

EXCLUSIVE: Tubi has acquired Aardman Animations’ series Lloyd of the Flies.

There’s a missing face at the That ’70s Show 25th anniversary activation at San Diego Comic-Con. Danny Masterson, who co-starred as Eric Forman’s best friend Steven Hyde in the Fox sitcom, is conspicuously missing from a shot of the main ensemble cast at the activation behind the Omni hotel.

Lazarus, a new series from Cowboy Bebop creator Shinichirō Watanabe.Per a report from Variety, Lazarus has been picked up for released on Toonami, though a release date has yet to be announced. The upcoming animated series is currently in production with MAPPA (Attack On Titan, Chainsaw Man, Jujutsu Kaisen) on animation duties.Also contributing to the series is John Wick series director Chad Stahelski, who Variety reports has “designed several action sequences for the series”.

J. Kim Murphy Adult Swim has greenlit “Lazarus,” a new Toonami series from renowned anime director Shinichirō Watanabe, known for his work helming episodes of “Cowboy Bebop,” “Samurai Champloo” and “Kids on the Slope.” Produced by anime studio MAPPA, “Lazarus” also recruits the contributions of “John Wick” series director Chad Stahelski, who designed several action sequences for the series, along with the musical talents of saxophonist Kamasi Washington; producer, DJ and musician Floating Points; and producer, DJ and musician Bonobo. The trio will provide a jazz and electronic score for the project. Watanabe will pull the curtain back on the series at the Adult Swim Festival in San Diego on Saturday at 5:15 p.m., as part of the Comic-Con event Toonami on the Green.

Michael Cera has been announced to star in a new sci-fi series from director Steven Soderbergh.Command Z sees the actor take on the role of a project leader in the future who sends three people (Roy Wood Jr., Chloe Radcliffe and J.J. Maley) back to 2023 to infiltrate the minds of a number of people and change the course of the future.The series, which sees Soderbergh direct and produce, is available to watch now on the director’s website Extension765 – which also has a trailer.Command Z has also been promoted with a meta letter written by a likely fictional character called Fabrizia del Dongo, which confirms it consists of eight episodes and runs for a total of 90 minutes.“This very morning, our fearful leader explained that in three days (July 17th for those who don’t want to do the math) we will be ‘dropping’ a series of some sort called COMMAND Z,” it begins.“If I seem hedgy, it’s because A) None of us have seen it; and B) it’s apparently about ninety minutes long, but there are eight episodes of varying length, so is it an actual series or just a movie cut up into pieces?”It adds of the secrecy of the project: “When I asked Mr/Dr Soderbergh why he’d done this, why he’d made this project and why he’d made it in secret, he said, ‘Hope, Fabrizia.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Netflix is to release its Japanese live action film “Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead,” on Aug. 3. The horror comedy film is based on the hit manga (comic book series) by Aso Haro and Takata Kotaro that debuted in the Shogakukan magazine Monthly Sunday Gene-X in October 2018. It has also spawned an animated series that plays on Hulu in North American and other territories. The underlying comic is a wackily original melding of the salaryman gag manga – a popular genre in Japan seldom exported abroad – with the sort of zombie holocaust story that has become a Hollywood staple.

Love Island star Catherine Agbaje has broken her social media silence after being brutally kicked off the show in a twist turn of events. The 22 year old took to Instagram stories to issue a message to her fans. Alongside a selfie of her holding a bunch of red roses, she said: “So glad to be back home to all my family and friends! What a surreal experience which I’m so grateful for.Thanks to everyone who’s supported me on my journey.” Love Island fans were shocked when Catherine was axed from the show on Wednesday, 12 July, when Ella received a text telling the villa that the public had been voting for the least compatible couple.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Major Japanese studio Toho Co. has announced “Godzilla Minus One” as the title of the latest instalment in its “Godzilla” film franchise. The film will premiere in Japanese theaters on Nov. 4. A U.S. release is set a few weeks later, on Dec. 1. The company revealed an understated poster and a short but punchy teaser trailer. It suggests that an already-devastated postwar Japan faces a new threat in the form of Godzilla, an enormous, mutated kaiju. Directed by sci-fi and fantasy specialist Yamazaki Takashi, the picture is the first Japanese-produced “Godzilla” movie since 2016’s “Shin Godzilla.” The previous picture topped the Japanese box office, earning JPY25 billion ($181 million at current exchange rates).

French publishing house Gallimard.“Unbearable Lightness,” about a philandering Czech surgeon who regularly cheats on his wife with a carefree artist, was a global hit reprinted in dozens of languages. Its political undertones mirrored Kundera’s own experiences during the 1968 Prague Spring, the setting for the novel, which was crushed by Soviet invaders and sent him to exile in France in 1975.“Lightness” was adapted for the screen by Philip Kaufman in 1988, and starred Day-Lewis as Tomas, who becomes a window washer after his political views get him expelled from his profession.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Milan Kundera, whose novel “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” was turned into an Oscar-nominated film, has died at the age of 94. Kundera died Tuesday in Paris after a long illness, Jindra Pavelková, a representative of the Moravian Library, the Czech library housing his personal collection, told Variety Wednesday. “Milan Kundera was a writer who reached whole generations of readers across all continents and achieved global fame,” Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said. “He leaves behind not only notable fiction, but also significant essay work.” The 1988 film adaptation of “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” was directed by Philip Kaufman and starred Daniel Day-Lewis and Juliette Binoche. Jean-Claude Carrière and Kaufman were Oscar nominated for adapted screenplay, and Sven Nykvist was Oscar nominated for cinematography.

Czech-born French writer Milan Kundera, author of the novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being, has died aged 94, according to Czech media and sources close to the writer.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief ITN Distribution has picked up distribution rights in North and Latin America for the live action fantasy epic, “Fight For Freedom” from Incredible Film. The completed film, which is also available as a 5×30 mins. mini-series, is a live action fantasy epic about Friesland’s greatest hero known as Grutte Pier. Fabled Frisian freedom fighter, Peer Gerlofs Donia, is a gentle giant who turns into a blood-thirsty, revenge-driven killer when his family is brutally murdered. His quest for revenge forges him into a beacon for his people as he becomes their leader in a fight for independence. The film is directed by Steven de Jong.

Netflix has acquired romantic comedy drama Turn To Me Mukai-Kun from Japan’s Nippon TV. The series will stream on Netflix starting July 12, immediately after its broadcast on Nippon TV’s Wednesday primetime slot. Hulu Japan, which is owned by Nippon TV, will also stream the series in Japan immediately after its primetime broadcast. Based on the award-winning manga by Yoko Nemu, the series stars Eiji Akaso as a young man with a perfect life but disastrous love life who reconnects with an unforgettable ex.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Toho International, an offshoot of the storied Japanese film and TV giant Toho, is to launch twin e-commerce sites serving the growing legion of North American fans of Japanese pop culture. One platform is specific to the Godzilla brand. The other, iiZO, will cater to a wider range of anime fans who will be served with original Japanese merchandize. The moves are being headed by Kristin Parcell GM at Toho International, and her U.S.-based team who joined the firm from Crunchyroll at the end of last year. They foresee the twin initiatives as a business with $100 million of revenue within a few years. Their in-house operation comprises anime and “Godzilla” brand experts, and also includes specialist in merchandizing, buying and fashion. The sites go live at unspecified dates this summer.

Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher have a love story made for Hollywood.From growing up on different sides of the world, to both being cast together in their first major television show, drifting apart and then reuniting and falling in love years later, you couldn't script things much better for the happy couple and parents of two.«I mean, how do you not love him, right?» Kunis gushed to ET about her husband at the premiere in February 2015. «He's so great.»And the pair are so in sync, they even have fun mocking tabloid headlines speculating about their marriage.

Naman Ramachandran Kajol and Kriti Sanon will lead the cast of Netflix India’s mystery thriller original film “Do Patti.” The film also marks the producing debuts of Sanon and writer Kanika Dhillon. Billed as a “thrilling suspense-filled ride,” the film is set in the hills of northern India. A director has not been revealed yet. Kajol, one of India’s best-loved actors, has credits that include romance “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai,” melodrama “Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham…,” romantic thriller “Fanaa” and drama “My Name Is Khan.” She made her streaming debut with Netflix film “Tribhanga,” which played from 2021, and stars in a segment of the streamer’s “Lust Stories 2,” which released June 29. She will next be seen in Disney+ Hotstar series “The Trial – Pyaar, Kaanoon, Dhokha,” the Indian adaptation of CBS series “The Good Wife.”