Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif in ‘Tiger 3’: India’s Yash Raj Films Unveils First Footage From Spy Universe Film (EXCLUSIVE)

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief India’s Yash Raj Films has set a mid-November release date through the Diwali holidays for “Tiger 3,” its anticipated spy-action film starring Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif and Emraan Hashmi. Holiday complexities have caused the company to devise what it called a “strategic and unique release plan.” Having previously only released teaser footage, YRF has now also unveiled a full trailer. Unusually, the film will open in Indian and international theaters on a Sunday – Nov. 12 – the first day of Diwali. “2023 is the year of ‘Adhik Maas’ which has led to complications regarding festival dates.

One More Level and publisher 505 Games have revealed ‘Aerial Assault’ from Daniel Deluxe, which will be included in Ghostrunner 2‘s soundtrack.Deluxe will return to feature on the anticipated cyberpunk action game’s soundtrack, as well as Arek Reikowski, Dan Terminus, Gost and We Are Magonia. Check it out below:Ghostrunner 2 will include “incredible boss fights, a deeper exploration of the world beyond Dharma Tower, worthwhile combat improvements, nonlinear levels with complex motorbike sections, exciting new modes, and all the action you loved about Ghostrunner“, said 505 Games.Set one year after the events of Ghostrunner, the last of the survivors are under threat from exiled Ghostrunners who would see humanity eradicated in a new world order.The Interface Council is the only ally left and the player will assist these characters in the restoration of hope for humanity in a desperately deprived cyberpunk city.Ghostrunner 2 will be released for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on October 26.There are three editions on sale – Standard, Deluxe and Brutal.

Steven J. Horowitz Senior Music Writer The South by Southwest Music Festival has announced its initial lineup for its 38th annual event, descending on Austin, Texas from March 11-16. Organizers have revealed the first slate of 149 musicians set to perform during the festival, including Lo Moon (from Los Angeles), Cumgirl8 (New York), Omar S (Detroit), Rawayana (Caracas), Dry Cleaning (London), Hinds (Madrid) and Red Axes (Tel Aviv).

EXCLUSIVE: Vision Films has acquired world rights to sci-fi romance feature Forever Young, starring Diana Quick (Brideshead Revisited), Bernard Hill (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King), Amy Tyger (Foundation), Mark Jackson (The Orville), Stephanie Beacham (Dynasty), Anna Wolf (The Unfamiliar), and Julian Glover (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade).

A first look at Peacock’s Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie is finally here!

Mumbai Film Festival has announced a packed line-up of 250 films, including the 14 titles selected for its inaugural South Asia Competition, part of an expansion of the festival’s vision to become a hub for works from South Asia and South Asian diaspora talent. 

Dear Jassi arrives with echoes of Madonna’s 1989 hit “Dear Jessie” and its sugary promise of pink elephants and lemonade, but none of that turns out to be forthcoming in Tarsem Singh Dhandwar’s beautiful and brutal sixth feature. Instead, we have perhaps the most disturbing bait-and-switch since George Sluizer’s original iteration of The Vanishing, a Punjabi Juliet-meets-Romeo story that’s much harsher that any so-far-filmed version of West Side Story and a whole lot funnier. This dissonance takes a while to reveal itself, but when it does, the shock is visceral. The fact that almost everything is true is the killer blow, and the shockwave of that reverberates through the poignant final credits, a static shot that forces the audience, or maybe just simply dares them, to think about what they’ve just seen.  

Naman Ramachandran India’s Crawling Angel Films and Singapore’s Akanga Film Asia are teaming on Busan Asian Film School (AFiS) alumnus Aakash Chhabra’s feature directorial debut “I′ll Smile in September.” The film is selected at the Busan International Film Festival‘s Asian Project Market. Akanga’s credits include Cannes winner “Tiger Stripes,” Locarno winner “A Land Imagined” and its “Oasis of Now” is in competition in the festival’s New Currents strand.

Naman Ramachandran Celebrated Indian filmmaker Rima Das is at the Busan International Film Festival‘s Asian Project Market with “Malati, My Love.” Like all of Das’ previous films, “Malati, My Love” is set in Assam, eastern India. It will follow Apurva and Malati who are happily married and madly in love, unabashed by what people in their small town think. When an unfortunate incident turns their lives upside down, in hardship, just as in love, they refuse to conform to societal norms.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam has revealed its lineups for the competitions for short documentary and youth documentary, as well as the rosters for its Best of Fests section and its newly minted Signed section. In total, 100 films have been included in the IDFA program to date. In addition, IDFA Forum, the festival’s co-production and co-financing market, has expanded to a total of 64 projects, including seven by Ukrainian filmmakers.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief A clutch of Chinese movies released for the end of September holiday season dominated the global box office over the latest weekend. Mainland Chinese-produced films took first, third and fifth places across the planet, according to U.S.-based data service Comscore. Comscore shows “Under the Light,” which released only in mainland China, grossing an estimated $54 million between Friday and Sunday.

Argylle, featuring Dua Lipa, has arrived – you can watch it above.Directed by Matthew Vaughn (Kingsman franchise), the star-studded film follows Bryce Dallas Howard’s (Jurassic World franchise) spy fiction novelist Elly Conway, who spends most of her nights at home with her cat, Alfie.However, when the plots of her books — centred on secret agent Argyle (Henry Cavill) — begin to mirror the covert actions of a real-life spy organisation, Elly’s quiet evenings at home quickly become a thing of the past.An official description adds: “Accompanied by Aiden (Sam Rockwell), a cat-allergic spy, Elly (carrying Alfie in her backpack) races across the world to stay one step ahead of the killers as the line between Elly’s fictional world and her real one begins to blur.”Alongside Howard, Rockwell, Cavill and Dua Lipa, the A-list ensemble cast also includes John Cena (Fast X), Ariana DeBose (West Side Story), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek), Sofia Boutella (Kingsman: The Secret Service), and Samuel L. Jackson.

Naman Ramachandran Rezo Gigineishvili’s “Patient #1” is the 2023 winner of the annual Werner Herzog Film Award. Set at the end of the Soviet era, the film focuses on the decline in power of Konstantin Chernenko, a Russian leader with failing health who is surrounded by a large medical team. He is old and frail, but has a tight grip on power.

Bodhi Tree Systems co-founder and former Disney APAC chief Uday Shankar outlined how his new venture – along with Reliance’s JioCinema – are building an alternative to legacy media in one of the world’s fastest-growing markets, on the first day of Media Partners Asia’s APOS conference in Bali, Indonesia. 

Nicole Midori Woodford’s feature debut “Last Shadow at First Light,” which world premieres at the New Directors strand of the San Sebastian Film Festival. The film is in competition for the New Directors Award.

Naman Ramachandran A first clip has been unveiled for Tarsem Singh Dhandwar’s return to feature film direction, “Dear Jassi.” Dhandwar, the filmmaker previously known simply as Tarsem, returned to the big screen and to his roots with the film which had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, where it won the 2023 TIFF Platform Award in an unanimous decision. Written by Amit Rai (“OMG 2”) and based on the reporting of journalist Fabian Dawson, “Dear Jassi” is a modern-day tragedy inspired by the tragic true story of Jaswinder “Jassi” Kaur and Sukhwinder “Mithu” Singh Sidhu, told in a Punjabi folk style. In 1996 Punjab, India, Canadian-born Jassi (Pavia Sidhu) falls in love with Mithu (Yugam Sood), a rickshaw driver beneath her social status.

Naman Ramachandran Indian streamer Disney+ Hotstar has unveiled a trailer for 1960s-set series “Sultan of Delhi,” directed by Milan Luthria (“Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai”). The nine-episode series is based on the book “Sultan of Delhi: Ascension” by Arnab Ray and produced by Reliance Entertainment. It stars Tahir Raj Bhasin, Anjumm Shharma, Vinay Pathak and Nishant Dahiya in pivotal roles, alongside Anupriya Goenka, Mouni Roy, Harleen Sethi and Mehreen Pirzada.

Naman Ramachandran Indian studio Excel Entertainment’s founders Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar have revealed a robust upcoming production slate. Up next is “Fukrey 3,” the next instalment of the hit comedy-crime franchise directed by Mrighdeep Lamba, which is due a theatrical release Sept. 28.

Maja Hoffmann has been officially confirmed as President of the Locarno Film Festival following a vote at an Extraordinary General Assembly on Wednesday.

Naman Ramachandran Crime thriller “The Last Stop in Yuma County” has unveiled its first clip. The debut feature from writer-director Francis Galluppi will bow at Austin’s Fantastic Fest before heading to Sitges. XYZ Films and UTA are co-representing North American sales.