‘The Roundup’ Star Don Lee on Plans to Expand the Action-Packed Franchise: ‘I Need to Entertain More People’

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Escaping Man,” a Chinese drama feature about a man dragged into a kidnap plot, heads the FilMart slate of Hong Kong-based sales agency Autumn Sun Company. The protagonist is a man who spent 20 years in jail after being falsely accused of rape. After his release, he intends to confront the woman, but instead falls for her again — to the point that she is able to manipulate him into kidnapping the child for which she is the nanny.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief China’s unprecedented economic and social transformation in the latter part of the 20th century has been picked over in dozens of movies by filmmakers ranging from Jia Zhangke to Wang Xiaoshuai. But with more than one billion people affected by China’s transformation, there is no shortage of personal stories and no end of ways to tell the tale. Sophomore filmmaker Huo Meng trains his eye on one of those stories in his second film, “The Wind Is Unstoppable,” which he is just finishing off.

Sacha Baron Cohen and Chris Rock had the good sense to arrive early at the Jean-Michel Basquiat Made on Market Street exhibition at the  Larry Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief This month’s Hong Kong International Film Festival will showcase over 190 films from 62 countries and regions, including five world premieres, and 64 Asian premieres. Running 12 days (March 28 – April 8), the festival will open with the Asian premiere of local director Ray Yeung’s “All Shall Be Well,” which won the Teddy Award at the recent Berlin festival.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a story of friendship so timeless that fans are still revisiting it nearly 20 years after it first premiered.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Exhuma,” a locally produced occult drama-thriller, expanded its domination of the South Korea box office on its second week of release. That left the newly-released “Dune 2” several sand dunes behind in second place. “Exhuma,” about two shaman, a feng shui master and a mortician who attempt to undo the mysterious events happening to a U.S.-based Korean family, earned $17.2 million between Friday and Sunday, representing a 69% share of the overall box office market.

declared on X, formerly Twitter. Other fans mocked Skarsgård’s appearance in the first look photos, saying, “They casted The Crow reboot by asking pedestrians from Miami if they’d like to be in a movie,” and that Skarsgård was “hotter as Pennywise,” and “Getting Jared Leto Joker vibes off this.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief New Zealand-set detective Series “A Remarkable Place to Die” is being launched by Banijay Rights at the London Screenings. The 4 x 90’ murder mystery was created by Screentime New Zealand and is co-produced with Real Film Berlin (Berlin, Berlin,” Netflix’s “Unorthodox”) in association with Banijay Rights. Smart and savvy detective Anais Mallory (portrayed by Chelsie Preston-Crayford) returns to her hometown, Queenstown, in South Island, New Zealand and is met with a series of startlingly different homicides.

Jessica Kiang The shortest distance between two points is popularly believed to be a straight line. But if one of those points is the chin, cheekbone or torso of some sneering and/or psychotic Korean gangster, the shortest route is actually the arc described by either one of Korean megastar Don Lee‘s fists, here playing the fists of Detective Ma, protagonist of the ludicrously watchable “Roundup” series.

The cast of Barbie experienced life in plastic while filming 2023′s hottest, Oscar-nominated blockbuster. The very pink extravaganza grossed over $1 billion in less than a month and became the top grossing movie of 2023 in North America!

UPDATED with latest release date outlook. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav confirmed Friday that a long-planned Harry Potter series is aiming to debut on Max in 2026.

Matty Healy has given a shout out to Harry and Paul from The Traitors during a recent show with The 1975. Check out footage of the moment below.The moment took place during the band’s show in London last night (February 20) – the final scheduled show in the city as part of their ‘Still… At Their Very Best Tour’.Held at the O2 Arena, frontman Matty Healy paused the set mid-way through to highlight some special guests in the audience – Paul Gorton and Harry Clarke, who were contestants on the latest season of the BBC One show, The Traitors.Initially, Healy began by reminiscing about the famous faces that have come to visit their shows over the years and explaining how it takes a lot for him to be left feeling “starstruck”.“Lots of people come to our shows [and] I’m very happy to have them here.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief North American digital distributor Echelon Studios has come on board “12.12: The Day,” the highest grossing film from Korea last year. The film has been on theatrical release in North America, through 815 Pictures since last year and grossed over $1 million.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Two Taiwan-based production companies with features in this week’s Berlin Film Festival have joined forces to launch new venture, Long Hu Bao × An Attitude. Taiwan’s Yi Tiao Long Hu Bao International Entertainment, is one of eight co-producers on main competition film “Shambhala,” from Nepal’s Min Bahadur Bham.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The route from idol group member to TV and film acting is a well-trodden one for multiple Japanese performers as they mature and attempt to broaden and extend their career. Few, however, can have received the plaudits of SixTONES member Matsumura Hokuto, who flies in to the Berlin Film Festival for the international premiere of two handed drama feature “All the Long Nights.” Derived from a novel by Seo Maiko and directed by Miyake Sho, the narrative features a woman (portrayed by Kamishiraishi Mone) whose pre-menstrual tension is so intense that it changes her character and disrupts her career. She is befriended by a younger, somewhat solitary man who, in turn, suffers from panic attacks.

Holidaymakers can embark on an adventure into the unknown as a budget airline is offering people the chance to fly to a mystery destination. Wizz Air is sending travellers on what could be the trip of a lifetime with its #LetsGetLostwithWIZZ campaign.

Naman Ramachandran Vanessa Williams will take on the role of queen of fashion Miranda Priestly in the London West End stage adaptation of “The Devil Wears Prada.” “The Devil Wears Prada” is a new musical based on the hit 2006 film and bestselling 2003 novel. It features an original score by Olivier and Tony Award winner Elton John (“Tammy Faye,” “Billy Elliot: The Musical,” “The Lion King”), direction and choreography by three-time Tony Award winner Jerry Mitchell (“Kinky Boots,” “Legally Blonde,” “Pretty Woman,” “Hairspray”), lyrics by singer-songwriter Shaina Taub (“Suffs”) and book by Kate Wetherhead (“Ever After,” “Submissions Only”), The story follows fresh out of college, aspiring journalist Andy who scores a job at the prestigious Runway magazine working for fashion’s most powerful and terrifying icon – editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief France’s Isabelle Huppert, one of the leading actors of her age, has crafted a unique relationship with Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo. Hong’s “A Traveler’s Needs,” which premieres this week in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, is the third time that Huppert has starred in one of his unique pieces of minimalist cinema. She says she hopes the partnership can go much further. Huppert plays a footloose and intense French woman at large in Korea and vaguely making ends meet as an untrained language tutor with eccentric methods.

Rita McKenzie, known for staging the longest-running one-woman show in theatrical history, died Feb. 17 in Los Angeles days before her 77th birthday. She succumbed to what her family described as a long-term illness.

Saoirse Ronan is hitting the red carpet at the 2024 Berlinale International Film Festival.