‘Sinatra The Musical’ to Premiere at Birmingham Rep – Global Bulletin

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “The Bad Kids,” a hit series from Chinese streamer iQiyi, is to be remade as a Japanese feature film “Gold Boy.” The 12-episode gritty crime thriller depicts the troubles that arise after three children accidentally film a murder. The series was previously licensed to Japanese pay-TV group Wowow.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Indie sales agency All Rights Entertainment has achieved a string of pre-sales on “Lendarys,” a family adventure animation film that is currently in advanced stages of production and set for delivery later this year. The film was licensed to KMBO (France); Flins & Piniculas (Spain); Another World Entertainment (Denmark and Norway); Njuta Films (Sweden); Outsider Films (Portugal); Blitz Film (Ex-Yugoslavia), Five Stars Distribution (Israel), Selim Ramia and Co. (Middle East and North Africa), The Film Group (Greece & Cyprus), Kino Swiat (Poland), Nashe Kino (CIS excluding Baltics), ACME Film (Baltic States) and Madness Entertainment (Mexico).

EXCLUSIVE: Chris Chalk will star as James Baldwin in the latest installment of Ryan Murphy’s Feud series—Feud: Capote’s Women.

K.J. Yossman U.K. podcast production outfit Blanchard House has tapped HBO Max podcasting strategy director Hassan Chaudhry as its new head of partnerships and strategy, Variety can exclusively reveal. Meanwhile Amica Sciortino Nowlan, formerly of The Economist, joins as managing producer. The new hires come ahead of a busy year for the podcast outfit, which is set to launch five shows this year, including two at Audible. Chaudhry, who is based in New York, is responsible for establishing and leading HBO Max’s podcasting group, whose output includes “The Game of Thrones Podcast” and “Batman: The Audio Adventures.” At Blanchard House Chaudhry will look after film and TV relationships and lead growth.

Naman Ramachandran Real life husband and wife couple, celebrity cricketer Virat Kohli and Bollywood star Anushka Sharma, are merging their respective foundations – Anushka Sharma Foundation and Virat Kohli Foundation – to launch SeVVA, a joint non-profit initiative aimed at helping those in need. Sharma and Kohli said in a joint statement: “In the words of Kahlil Gibran ‘for in truth it is life that gives unto life – while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness.’ With this sentiment in mind, we have decided to work together through SeVVA aiming to reach out to as many people as possible. SeVVA’s work won’t be confined to a particular issue as it will continue to strive for social good by championing humanity which is the need of the hour today.”

EXCLUSIVE: Wind River alum Gil Birmingham has closed a deal to return for Castle Rock Entertainment’s sequel Wind River: The Next Chapter, with Alan Ruck (Succession), Kali Reis (Catch the Fair One) and Tatanka Means (Killers of the Flower Moon) also joining the cast.

Naman Ramachandran BFI Distribution has acquired Joanna Hogg’s gothic ghost story “The Eternal Daughter,” starring Tilda Swinton in a dual role, for theatrical release in the U.K. and Ireland and will release in cinemas this fall. In the film, an artist and her elderly mother confront long-buried secrets when they return to a former family home, now a hotel haunted by its mysterious past. The film had its world premiere at Venice in 2022 and also screened at the London and Toronto festivals. Alongside its wider distribution, it will also screen at London’s BFI Southbank as part of a complete Hogg retrospective season, which will run alongside a program of films that have influenced her work.  The film is the BFI’s second acquisition from A24, following “God’s Creatures” earlier this year.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Indonesian horror feature “Losmen Melati” (aka “Motel Melati”) has set theatrical releases in Malaysian and Singaporean cinemas on April 6, and April 13, respectively, following its release in Indonesia on Thursday.  The film is co-directed by Mike Wiluan and Billy Christian. It tells the story of a secluded and enigmatic guest house, run by its mystifying owner, Madam Melati. As she lures in unsuspecting visitors to the guest house, they are confronted with their worst nightmares, never to be seen again.  The movie features a cast of Alexandra Gottardo (“Tanah Air Beta”), Kiki Narendra (“Perempuan Tanah Jahanam”), Fandy Christian (“Letters for You”) and Samuel Panjaitan (“Ghost also Selfie”). Presented by streamer Catchplay and Infinite Studios, “Losmen Melati” is co-distributed by Clover Films and Golden Village Pictures in Singapore.

T-Pain has released his unique rendition of Black Sabbath‘s ‘War Pigs’ from his latest record. Check it out below.As a part of Pain’s newly released seven-track covers album ‘On Top Of The Covers’, the usually-autotuned star takes a much more soulful take on the anti-war song.The popstar-turned-streamer shows off his powerful vocal chops, especially when delivering the bridge and reworking it into a Prince-esque rock’n’roll moment.‘War Pigs’ is on Black Sabbath’s seminal second studio album ‘Paranoid’. Despite being often recognised as an anti-war song, the band’s bassist Geezer Butler claimed the track “wasn’t about politics or government or anything.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The rapper Logic has been unabashed about his love for Frank Sinatra, even adopting the nom de plume “Young Sinatra” for some of his mixtape releases. But he’s been just as up-front with his adoration for the man many consider the real young Sinatra: Seth MacFarlane, who, besides irreverently having created several of the world’s most popular animated comedy series, has released seven reverent albums of standards culled from the Great American Songbook. Logic was finally able to bring his MacFarlane fandom to the ultimate fruition by enlisting the animation mogul to croon the soothing bridge of an otherwise typically hyperactive new hip-hop song, “Self-Medication.” Although not a single per se, it’s a track that’s gotten significant streaming boosts as Logic’s (and MacFarlane’s) fans have discovered it since the late February release of the rapper’s new album, “College Park.” It’s all of a piece for Logic that his first independent album, distributed to BMG, after a long run with Def Jam, is a nostalgic look back at his youth that includes a vocal cameo from an entertainment giant that he says helped get him through a troubled upbringing.

Naman Ramachandran Netflix has renewed International Emmy-winning hit Indian series “Delhi Crime” for a third season. The streamer’s India operation has also renewed “Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives,” “Kota Factory,” “Mismatched” and “She” for third seasons. Netflix India has also commissioned a documentary on the life of hip hop artist and rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh who will deep-dive into the reasons behind his sudden disappearance at the peak of his career. The documentary will be directed by Mozez Singh (Disney+ Hotstar series “Human”) and produced by Guneet Monga and Achin Jain‘s Sikhya Entertainment, 2023 Oscar winners for “The Elephant Whisperers.”

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival has announced a dozen projects from young filmmakers from Saudi, and the wider Arab and African region, selected for its development program, the Red Sea Lodge, in collaboration with TorinoFilmLab and sponsored by the Film AlUla film commission. The Lodge is a 10-month mentorship program that has now opened up to African works along with Saudi and Arab projects. Winners will take home a portion of the total $200,000 pot in prizes that will be awarded during the fest’s 2023 edition in December.  The selected projects from Saudi Arabia are:

Gogglebox star Sandra Martin stole the show as she showed off a striking new look as she spoke about the tenth anniversary of the programme. Appearing on Saturday's BBC Breakfast, Sandra, 61, sat alongside best mate Sandi Bogle, 57, to speak about how they first got onto the hit Channel 4 show and how it was able to surprise everyone and become one of the top shows on TV. Sandra was a Gogglebox favourite, taking part in the show from its start in 2013 up to 2017, while Sandi called time on her stint on the show a year earlier.

UPDATE: Sinatra The Musical will receive its world premiere production at the Birmingham Rep theater in Birmingham, England. Joe DiPietro’s musical will be directed by Kathleen Marshall and run from Saturday, September 23 to Saturday, October 28.

K.J. Yossman The Edinburgh International Film Festival is returning for its 76th edition following financial difficulties.

Naman Ramachandran “Fleabag” star Phoebe Waller-Bridge is launching a £100,000 ($120,000) Keep it Fringe fund, a new initiative to support artists at the Edinburgh Fringe festival. Waller-Bridge serves as president of the Fringe Society. The fund, supported by the Fleabag for Charity campaign and funds donated to the Fringe Society, will distribute 50 bursaries of £2,000 to individual artists or companies bringing work to the Fringe in 2023. It seeks to protect artists’ prospects by removing some of the growing barriers to performing.  “Fleabag” launched as a play at the Fringe in 2023. Waller-Bridge said: “For a creative, the festival is one of the most unique places on the planet to launch work, meet other artists and be discovered by audiences, agents, producers and the media. For me, today’s announcement is incredibly personal. Edinburgh Fringe gave ‘Fleabag’ a game-changing platform for everyone involved and we are thrilled that the show can continue to pay it forward to the creatives of tomorrow and contribute to those who might not otherwise have the opportunity to take their work to this amazing festival.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund (PIF) has increased its stake in Japanese film and TV studio Toei Company, from 5% to 6.03%, according to a report by the Reuters financial news agency. The move comes shortly after Toei published a ten-year plan for international expansion. Toei includes film and TV production operations, the T-Joy cinema chain and Toei Animation. Last month, it said that it had beaten its film revenue record, thanks to the success of titles including “The First Slam Dunk,” “The Legend of Butterfly” and “One Piece Film Red.” The stake increase also follows PIF’s February announcement that it had increased its stake in Japanese games and console maker Nintendo to 8.26% and that (along with the Singapore state fund GIC) was a buyer of a $966 million bond issue from Korean entertainment-tech firm Kakao Corp.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Already the highest grossing local film in its home market, courtroom drama, “A Guilty Conscience” has broken into Hong Kong’s all-time top ten box office ranking with a cumulative of HK$107 million ($13.7 million). Data from Hong Kong Box Office Ltd. shows the film achieving the feat after just 41 days in cinemas and coming within HK$1 million ($150,000) of overtaking “Top Gun: Maverick.” The data firm noted that the last time a Hong Kong film got this far was with fantasy-action-comedy “Kung Fu Hustle” in 2004. Since then, it has been overtaken by a fleet of Hollywood titles. Hong Hong’s current top ten is headed by “Avengers: Endgame” and includes six Marvel movies, the two “Avatar” titles and “Titanic.”

Naman Ramachandran IMG will be the exclusive publishing agent for the hit mobile game franchise Angry Birds, expanding its existing global licensing representation agreement with the brand’s parent company Rovio Entertainment. This is the first time the Angry Birds brand’s consumer products and location-based entertainment licensing and publishing rights will be consolidated under one global agency. IMG will seek to expand the franchise’s current publishing program, which includes regional deals with Penguin Children’s Puffin and Nordic publishing house Storytel, with new global and regional deals for books, comic books, audiobooks and activity books featuring the brand’s characters.

The Masked Singer is back for season nine!