Studio Not For Sale, Says Sony CEO Yoshida Kenichiro

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefCJ ENM, the South Korean entertainment giant behind “Parasite,” has struck a strategic alliance with Japanese terrestrial broadcast group Tokyo Broadcasting System.The deal, announced Tuesday, will see the joint production of content for the global market and cooperation in other new business areas.

Antonio Ferme editorSony Pictures has scheduled two major tentpole films for 2022: David Leitch’s “Bullet Train” will debut on April 8, and Kitao Sakurai’s comedy “Oh Hell No” will release on July 1.Based on the book “Maria Beetle” by Kotaro Isaka, “Bullet Train” follows five assassins who find themselves on a bullet train in Japan and realize that their assignments are related.

Tiffany Young has shared her first reaction when she heard that Sunmi would be a mentor on Mnet’s upcoming reality TV competition series, Girls Planet 999.Earlier today (June 14), the South Korean network uploaded a video introducing Tiffany Young and Sunmi as the mentors, dubbed “K-pop Masters”, for Girls Planet 999.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“F9” became the most-watched foreign film in South Korea since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic on another weekend where Hollywood and Japanese titles dominated the South Korean box office.The weekend box office chart was headed by “Cruella,” which held strong in its third frame and swapped places with newer “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.”“Cruella” scored $1.82 million according to data from Kobis, the Korean Film Council’s film tracking service,

Japanese Breakfast has performed in the trailer for new Sims 4 expansion pack Cottage Living – see her perform ‘Be Sweet’ in Simlish below.Simlish is the fictional language spoken within the video game, and Michelle Zauner performs her recent single, taken from her ‘Jubilee’ album, entirely in the language.As announced this week, Cottage Living will launch within The Sims 4 next month.

Naman Ramachandran Altitude Film Sales has boarded high concept survival thriller “The Wreck” and will introduce the project to buyers at the upcoming Cannes virtual market.Based on a screenplay by Nick Saltrese (“Jetski,” “A Prayer Before Dawn”), the film will follow a group of old college friends who reunite on a Caribbean scuba diving trip exploring the wreckage of a WWII battleship and find themselves trapped inside the underwater labyrinth of rusted metal surrounded by great white

EXCLUSIVE: Endeavor Content is gearing up to go to market later this summer to raise capital and take WME parent Endeavor’s ownership stake in the affiliated studio down to 20% to comply with the conditions of WME’s February deal with the WGA.

The New Yorker, in which she wrote about crying inside her local Korean grocery store after her mother passed away from terminal cancer. The book found Zauner reckoning with her relationship with her mother as well as time spent in Seoul with her grandmother.

NBCUniversal announced today that it will present an unprecedented 7,000 hours of coverage of the Tokyo Olympics this summer on two broadcast networks, six cable networks and multiple digital platforms serving both English and Spanish-language viewers.

NBCUniversal announced today that it will present an unprecedented 7,000 hours of coverage of the Tokyo Olympics this summer on two broadcast networks, six cable networks, and multiple digital platforms, serving both English- and Spanish-language viewers.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorConcerns about holding the Tokyo OIympics continue to surface, but at least one participant is ready to go all in on it.NBCUniversal plans to broadcast 7,000 hours of Olympics coverage across NBC, USA, CNBC, NBCSN, and Peacock, among other properties, signaling the intense economic interest in keeping the athletic extravaganza going despite the challenges of holding it amid coronavirus outbreaks in Japan.

number of stars have come out in support of the Japanese talent. This includes fellow player Coco Gauff and tennis icon Billie Jean King.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIt wasn’t all that long ago that Michelle Zauner, the creative force behind shoegaze-pop act Japanese Breakfast, was singing about the idea of becoming “Jimmy Fallon big.” The track from 2017’s “Soft Sounds from Another Planet” may have seemed like wishful thinking at the time, but Zauner’s tongue-in-cheek lyric came full circle in March when the band hit “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” to make Japanese Breakfast’s late-night television debut.The singer

Christopher Vourlias Sony Pictures International Productions has acquired remake rights for the Russian blockbuster comedy “Son of a Rich,” the country’s highest-grossing film of all time, Variety has learned.The studio has secured the Mexican, Indian, South Korean, Japanese, Spanish, and Italian adaptation rights.

Andy Murray and his family marked a very special event this week. The tennis star's mum, Judy Murray, took to Instagram to share the celebrations with her followers – and they were quick to react to her sweet post.Judy, 61, uploaded a photo showing her own mum Eileen enjoying the sunshine with one of her friends.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentStudio Chizu has unveiled the full international trailer for “Belle,” Mamoru Hosoda’s highly anticipated animated feature. The anticipated movie will be released in Japan on July 16 by Toho.

Amazon snatched up MGM. Disney has Lucasfilm, Pixar, and Marvel Studios.

Seth Rogen downplayed the impact of cancel culture by arguing that some comedians are going a bit overboard in reckoning with past jokes that have not aged well.  Rogen, 39, appeared on "Good Morning Britain" earlier this week to discuss his new book "Yearbook," a collection of essays about his life.The hosts made sure to ask the comedic actor and writer about jokes from his past that have not aged well and may be considered offensive to modern audiences.  Rather than balk or get defensive,

Sony Pictures Entertainment chief Tony Vinciquerra, one of the architects of the studio’s “arms dealer in an arms race” streaming strategy, will be a keynote speaker Thursday morning Japanese time as part of parent company Sony Group’s annual strategy presentation to staff and investors.Vinciquerra, SPE motion picture group chairman Tom Rothman, and the corporation will have much to crow about. SPE’s recently-inked, twin output deals with Netflix and Disney have been widely admired.