New K-Pop Boy Band RIIZE Changes Fandom Name Amid Controversy

The Great British Bake Off is back on our screens tonight (Tuesday September 26), with the new series including two huge firsts.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Neo Sora’s concert documentary “Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus,” a standout at the Venice Film Festival, has sold for theatrical distribution in North America to Janus Films ahead of its North American premiere at the New York Film Festival. The theatrical release will be followed by a Blu-ray Disc release on the “Janus Contemporaries” label. This is the latest deal inked by London and Paris-based production, finance and sales outfit Film Constellation, following a slew of sales to Spain (Filmin), Portugal (Midas Filmes), Germany and Austria (Rapid Eye), Scandinavia (NjutaFilms), Baltics (Kino Pavasaris), South Korea (Media Castle), China (JL Vision Films), Hong Kong and Macau (Edko Films), Taiwan (Cai Chang) and Singapore (Anticipate Pictures).

Studio Ghibli has a new lead shareholder in the shape of Nippon Television Holdings.

Eva Mendes is living her best life selling sponges, reading books, and finding her light for epic Instagram posts. On Wednesday, the 49-year-old beauty shared a sultry video on Instagram standing on a balcony with the wind perfectly blowing through her luscious hair.A post shared by Eva Mendes (@evamendes)Shot from outside the window, Mendes’ video looks like it could be from a movie.

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.

The 2023 series of Strictly Come Dancing is just around the corner, with the new season scheduled to launch of BBC One on Saturday 16 September. A new set of celebrities are set to take to the iconic dance floor on the hit BBC One show, including Bobby Brazier, Les Dennis, Ellie Leach and Angela Scanlon. This year's pairings are yet to be revealed, with Strictly bosses being careful to keep them under wraps until the launch show.

Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation of Christ” stirred up no end of controversy when it was released in 1988, met with protests and condemned by religious groups, while a terrorist attack in a Paris theatre showing the film injured 13 people.

Japan’s Visual Industry Promotion Organization (VIPO) and Japan Film Commission have announced details of a new incentives program for offshore film and TV productions shooting in the country. 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Vogter,” a psychological thriller directed by Gustav Möller, whose previous film “The Guilty” won the Audience Award at Sundance, has been pre-sold by Les Films du Losange to multiple territories. “Vogter,” which was just completed and is now in post, has been picked up for Germany, Austria, Switzerland (Ascot Elite), Spain (La Aventura), Italy (Movies Inspired), Japan (Happinet Phantom Studios), Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg (Cineart), Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania (Kino Pavasaris) and Hungary (Vertigo). Les Films du Losange has closed these deals since unveiling the project at Cannes and is negotiating further sales in other key territories.

A new film by Hayao Miyazaki filmmaker (or anything from animation house Studio Ghibli) is always worth celebrating. And for Miyazaki’s first feature film in a decade, TIFF pulls out all the stops.

In postwar Japan, a new terror rises Godzilla. Will the devastated people be able to survive… let alone fight back? So yeah, it’s a reboot of sorts.

YOASOBI have shared an exclusive playlist of J-pop recommendations to accompany the launch of NME’s The Cover.The Japanese duo of Ikura and Ayase are on this week’s (September 4) edition of The Cover, a renewal of NME’s commitment to supporting emerging talent across the globe on a weekly basis. Every week, a rising artist will feature on The Cover – you can read YOASOBI’s profile here, written by JX Soo and featuring photography by John Choi.Accompanying the story is an exclusive playlist curated by YOASOBI: “J-pop You Should Listen To”.

The Great British Bake Off will scrap its national-themed challenge weeks in the new series after viewers slammed these rounds in recent years.

Mark Schilling Japan Correspondent In 2021, Hamaguchi Ryusuke won truckloads of awards and nearly universal critical acclaim for his three-hour drama “Drive My Car,” including three prizes at Cannes and a best picture Academy Award nomination, the first ever for a Japanese film. (That Oscar went elsewhere, but “Drive My Car” was named best international feature film.) Instead of trying to top this triumph with a bigger budget and more internationally known names in the cast, Hamaguchi has returned to his indie roots with “Evil Does Not Exist,” which premieres in competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival.

For your listening pleasure and a trip down memory lane. John Stamos has dropped a new version of the Full House classic “Forever” the Beach Boys song performed by Stamos several times in the show. Stamos’ new iteration is a lullaby performed by the actor with American Idol alum singer-songwriter Jax.

Lizzo has unveiled a new ‘do amid the ongoing controversy surrounding that lawsuit filed by some of her former backup dancers.

One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda wasn’t always on board for a live-action adaptation of his long-running manga.

UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights released in early August found that Kitagawa had molested hundreds of boys and that the working environment in Japanese entertainment had enabled the activities of sexual predators.There was no immediate response from the agency or Fujishima to the findings of the investigation or its recommendation that she leave her post.The investigators said Fujishima must have known about the abuse but did nothing about it, despite her claim that she hadn’t been aware of it.

Mitski has announced listening parties for her upcoming LP ‘The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We’, along with film screenings.The music and film double features will occur next week on Thursday, September 7. These events will be presented in movie theatres in eight international cities, including Chicago, Dallas, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Nashville, Sydney, and New York — plus one planetarium in Tokyo, Japan — with the US events co-presented by Spotify.Fans will be able to gather together in an intimate setting for an early preview of ‘The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We’ in its entirety.

Korea’s Busan International Film Festival has announced the ten films in this year’s New Currents competition line-up, along with ten films selected for its Jiseok Section. Both competition sections feature titles from Bangladesh’s vibrant young industry as well as from Japan.