‘Sri Asih’: Disney+ Hotstar’s Superhero Flick Heads To EFM, Premiere To Launch World Sales

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Sculptor turned director Wu Lang made a splash at the Berlin Film Festival with his debut feature “Absence” playing in the festival’s showcase Encounters section. With a high-profile cast headed by Lee Kang-sheng (“What Time Is It There?” “The Wayward Cloud”) and Li Meng (“The Bad Kids,” “The Guillotines”) “Absence” is an art-house romance that uses skyscapes and urban landscapes as metaphors for inner feelings. The seduction starts with a man’s return to Hainan Island after ten years in jail and ends with a flock of sheep in an abandoned construction site. Wu: Shooting the first short film for me had two purposes. First, making a film is not easy in terms of financing and finding coproducers. So, first I wanted to make a short in order to get myself started.

EXCLUSIVE: For Banijay Asia’s Deepak Dhar, 2023 is shaping up to be one of the busiest in a three-decade career in Indian media. Not only has he just launched The Night Manager India on Disney+ Hotstar and is delivering several scripted and unscripted shows, he is also working to position India has Banijay’s Asian production hub.

Pet Shop Boys‘ Neil Tennant wrote and sent to the late Janice Long in the ’80s has been discovered at a record shop in Altrincham, Trafford.As BBC News reports, the frontman thanked the Radio 1 DJ for playing the synth-pop duo’s debut single ‘West End Girls’ in the note, which was found in a 12-inch vinyl edition of the track.The letter is dated “12 April, 1984” – three days after the song was released.Tennant, who worked as a journalist at Smash Hits at the time, provided some information on how he and bandmate Chris Lowe had recorded ‘West End Girls’ with producer Bobby Orlando after meeting him in New York.“We’ve now recorded over half an album and are due to go back to New York quite soon to finish it,” he continued in the unearthed letter.“Anyway, hope you like the 12″ I’ve enclosed and thanks for playing ‘West End Girls’ on Thursday. As far as I’m concerned, you’re now an honorary Pet Shop Girl!” See an image in the tweet below.A letter written by Pet Shop Boys star Neil Tennant, thanking Radio 1's Janice Long for playing the band's debut single (“West End Girls”) in 1984.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Multi-territory Asian streaming service Viu has publicly disclosed key performance metrics for the first time and said that it was cash flow positive on an annual basis in 2022. The company, which operates in 16 Asian and Middle East markets and is seen as a rare success story in regional streaming, counts Hong Kong conglomerate PCCW as its principal shareholder, which also unveiled its own profits and loss figures for the 2022 calendar year. Viu which operates both ad-supported and paying tiers, said that it had 66.4 monthly active users in 2022, an increase of 13% year-on-year. Paying subscribers increased by 45% to 12.2 million over the same period.

EXCLUSIVE: Following bidding wars in multiple territories, A24 has sold Past Lives, probably the year’s most critically acclaimed new film, to a raft of key territories.

Jennifer Garner and James Marsden have joined the cast of Starz’s Party Down for season three and they joined the returning stars at the red carpet premiere!

Imax said today it expects return to pre-pandemic gross box office level of $1.1 billion in 2023.

Oscar luncheon magnet Tom Cruise, all Emmy and Oscar un-nominated for their work over the past year but represented in the Critics Choice Super Award nominations, honoring horror, superhero, science fiction and action movies and television series.Oscar nominees such as Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) and Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”) are also repped here, as well as Colin Farrell, nominated twice for two of his other 2022 films, “After Yang” and “The Batman”. (Co-nominee Brendan Fraser managed a nod for the HBO Max series “Doom Patrol as well).

Naman Ramachandran A galaxy of A-list talent will participate in SXSW’s inaugural South Asian House initiative. Panel discussion Creating South Asian Content for a Global Audience, will feature actor Rizwan Manji (“Schitt’s Creek”), Emmy-winning producer/writer for Vice, Falguni Adams (“Dateline NBC”) and Apoorva Bakshi, producer of International Emmy-winning series “Delhi Crime,” moderated by CEO of Jingo Media and producer of South Asian House Jitin Hingorani. Another panel, Investing in the Future of Our South Asian Stories, will feature CEO and co-founder of URL Media S. Mitra Kalita and actor Kausar Mohammed (“The Flash”), moderated by co-founder of Box Office Guru Media Gitesh Pandya.

Todd Gilchrist editor Though she’s 26, Kathryn Newton has been playing a teenager for a long time — perhaps because she does it so well: with early roles in “Bad Teacher” and “Paranormal Activity 4,” she proved she can bring depth and dimension to whatever her character is struggling with, be it a dyspeptic teacher or an otherworldly entity. But after doing comedy (“Blockers”), drama (HBO’s “Big Little Lies”) and sci-fi-tinged mystery, growing up on screen takes on new meaning in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” where — spoiler alert — she gets to participate in the series’ size-changing action as Cassie Lang, the daughter of Scott Lang’s (Paul Rudd) Ant-Man. Newton had previously auditioned for another role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and though she didn’t divulge which one, she tells Variety how that experience paved the way for her to play a character who could become part of the next generation of MCU superheroes.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large As Showtime prepares to launch Season 2 of its hit thriller “Yellowjackets,” the network is bringing the show to Austin’s South by Southwest festival next month via a three-day interactive popup. “Camp Yellowjackets” will open the first weekend of SXSW, from Friday, March 10 to Sunday, March 12, at the Fair Market in Austin. The installation kicks off with a private opening event on Friday, and then will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. CT on Saturday and Sunday. The “Camp Yellowjackets” experience will create the look of a 1990s-era summer camp that has been abandoned. Visitors will be able to spot hidden Easter eggs from the show while exploring the campsite. Among the activities on site will be ax throwing, BBQ and specialty cocktails. Fans can sign up to attend at CampYellowjackets.com.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Growth of premium video services in Southeast Asia accelerated in the second half of 2022, to reach 48.4 million paid subscriptions, according to a new report. But the same analysis sees growth slowing and costs accelerating. The latest report from Media Partners Asia, “SEA Online Video Consumer Insights & Analytics” shows 48.4 million paid online video subscriptions at the end of 2022 in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The full year saw 11.8 million net new customers, with 7.3 million of that total coming in the second half, including 4.6 million in the fourth quarter. Indonesia accounted for half of the increase.

EXCLUSIVE: Black Bear International has closed a raft of international deals on EFM titles Longlegs and Fred & Ginger, we can reveal. The two projects were among the most in-demand with foreign buyers and the deals account for the lion’s share of each film’s budget.

Naman Ramachandran Singapore-based film production outfit Potocol, whose “Tomorrow is a Long Time,” by Jow Zhi Wei bowed at the Berlin Film Festival’s Generation 14plus competition, has revealed a diverse Asian slate. Potocol’s recent triumphs include Bangladeshi filmmaker Abdullah Mohammad Saad’s Cannes selection “Rehana Maryam Noor” and Indonesian director Makbul Mubarak’s Venice winner “Autobiography.” The company, led by Jeremy Chua who is currently at the Berlinale, has a growing reputation for championing the rise of young filmmakers from across Asia. Potocol has four films in post-production and several more in development. Nicole Midori Woodford’s debut feature “Last Shadow at First Light” is a supernatural road trip drama that follows a Singaporean teenager tracing the footsteps of her missing mother in Japan and explores the ripple effects of a traumatic event subconsciously buried within the family unit.

The stars of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania are taking over London!

Achieving her wildest dreams. Kathryn Newton spent years wanting to play a superhero, and she finally suits up as Cassie Lang in Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul has revealed plans to shoot a film in Sri Lanka, inspired by the work of science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hong Kong-based sales agency Golden Network Asia has amassed a large collection of advanced sales on upcoming Jackie Chan-starring film “Ride On.” The film, pitched as an action dramedy and one in which Chan pays homage to old-school stunt men, has recently been given an April 7 release date in mainland China. The date also mark’s the star’s 69th birthday. The film has already been licensed to: Well Go USA for North America; Plaion Pictures for Germany; Eagle Pictures for Italy; SPI International for Eastern Europe, Benelux and Israel; AN Media for CIS; ATV for Turkey; Phars Film for Middle East; Twin Co. for Japan; Contents Panda for South Korea; Shanghai Pictures for Malaysia; Shaw Renters for Singapore; Eagle International for Taiwan and worldwide Airline; Prima Cinema for Indonesia; Pioneer Films for the Philippines and Indo Overseas Film for India.

NCT Dream have announced US and Europe dates for their ‘The Dream Show 2: In a Dream’ world tour, and added new shows in Asia – find the full list of dates below.On Wednesday (February 15) the NCT sub-unit unveiled a poster revealing a fresh slate of tour dates alongside shows that had already been announced. The world tour will touch down in 22 cities with 32 performances, the group later confirmed on Twitter.NCT Dream kicked off their ‘The Dream Show 2: In a Dream’ tour in Japan last year.

Thania Garcia BTS’ Suga has unveiled a string of tour dates for his first solo trek outside of the K-pop supergroup. The tour has no official title just yet but has been tagged under Suga’s own name, as well as his other stage persona, Agust D. With the U.S. leg set to launch this spring, the tour will kick off with a pair of shows at the UBS Arena in Belmont Park, New York on April 26 and 27. Suga will then follow up with several performances in New Jersey, Illinois and California, with the U.S. run will closing in Oakland on May 16 and 17. Then the tour will hit Asia in Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea and Japan (with those dates to be announced soon).