TikTok Chinese Owner ByteDance Accused of Spying on American Journalists in Justice Department Probe

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas received “luxury vacations,” approximately costing upwards of $500,000, from billionaire Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow, according to a new report.

Disney’s former head of communications Zenia Mucha is advising TikTok as the beleagued company fights calls to shut it down in the U.S. on security concerns, Deadline has confirmed. It’s already banned across the Federal government with President Biden recently ramping up demands that the global app’s Chinese parent sell the U.S. business to a company Stateside, or see it vanish.

EXCLUSIVE: Omar Epps (Power Book III: Raising Kanan) has closed a deal to join the star-studded ensemble of Netflix‘s limited series The Perfect Couple, based on the New York Times bestseller by Elin Hilderbrand.

Paramount and Hasbro eOne with the greatest of intentions have created an extremely fun, broad-audience appealing feature take on the classic roleplaying game, entitled Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, which already is 90% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes –not an easy feat with a genre movie of this caliber– and 94% with moviegoers.

Al Franken ended his week hosting “The Daily Show” with a bang on Thursday night — or rather, with a chant. The former senator led the audience in chanting “USA” after joking TikTok should be banned in the country, because only American companies should be able to steal user data and spy on them.Franken’s comments, of course, came in light of the congressional hearing held on Thursday, in which TikTok’s CEO was grilled about safety concerns.

NME is set to launch the second instalment of its new NME Screen series – hosting an advanced screening of Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves. Find out how to get tickets below.The series – which creates exclusive film and TV experiences for NME‘s millions of entertainment fans – was launched earlier this month, kicking off with a celebration of ’00s NYC indie documentary Meet Me In The Bathroom.Next, the series will host a special screening of the upcoming fantasy film, Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves – starring Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Hugh Grant and more.Taking place at London’s Finsbury Park Picturehouse on Thursday March 30, the screening comes ahead of the film’s release the following day.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Taiwan has become a go-to destination for Chinese language series production over the past few years, as international streamers have taken the initiative and as the local content trend has become entrenched in Asia. While some of Taiwan’s advantage may have been handed to it as a result of regional political factors, the movement has led to greater interest in Taiwan stories, both historical and modern.Five Taiwan TV projects are being pitched at Series Mania, that are deemed to have international appeal according to Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA), a government-backed agency that has become noticeably proactive over roughly the same period.

The chairwoman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee opened a hearing featuring the CEO of TikTok by telling him that “your platform should be banned.”

Lise Pedersen Documentary filmmaker Jialing Zhang, who was nominated for an Emmy for “One Child Nation,” spoke to Variety about her latest film, “Total Trust,” which is running in the main competition at CPH:DOX, the Copenhagen Intl. Documentary Festival. It tells the chilling story of three women and their families fighting for their human rights in China, where state control is ubiquitous thanks to high technology surveillance, such as facial recognition, big data analysis and points systems that mean citizens gain or lose points depending on their behavior. Zhang’s intimate footage offers unprecedented access to the impact of this all-controlling system on the protagonists’ everyday lives.

Although Filmart felt quiet on its first morning, with many attendees glued to their phones watching the Oscars, it soon turned into a reasonably vibrant market, with sales companies locked in back-to-back meetings, new project announcements and a few star appearances to liven up proceedings. 

Vanessa Bryant and her daughters are honoring the late Kobe Bryant.

The Biden Administration appears to be playing hardball, insisting TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance divest the hugely popular video-sharing app in the U.S. According to the WSJ, it’s threatening a ban if that doesn’t happpen.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The White House has told TikTok that parent company ByteDance, the Chinese internet giant, must sell its ownership position in the popular video app or face a ban in the U.S., TikTok said on Wednesday. The U.S. government made the demand citing national security concerns. The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. The U.S. government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS), which is an interagency group oversees national security risks led by the Treasury Department that has the authority to block foreign transactions involving U.S. entities, “recently” demanded that ByteDance divest TikTok, per the Journal. 

The Information, the US is prepared to ban the TikTok app if the Chinese fail to comply.U.S. officials have expressed concern about national security issues revolving around China’s government controlling an app that tens of millions of Americans have on their phones and computers.China’s massive internet company, ByteDance, has been negotiating with federal officials since the Trump administration, hoping to retain ownership of TikTok, which generates an estimated $10 billion per year.The Wall Street Journal reported that the Biden administration already had told TikTok and ByteDance to cut ties or lose the U.S.

Kobe Bryant.Vanessa Bryant and her three daughters -- Natalia, Bianka and Capri — all held hands as they unveiled the prints Wednesday in Hollywood, where Natalia also spoke about her late father's unparalleled work ethic and how he inspired her to study film at USC.Lakers president Jeanie Buss and former Lakers coach Byron Scott also attended the ceremony and briefly spoke before Natalia took the podium and offered a moving tribute to the «best girl dad.»«Most people knew him as a basketball player or storyteller. I got to know him as my dad, and lemme tell you, he's the MVP of girl dads, to say the least,» she said.

Trump admitted that Florida governor Ron DeSantis is “probably” his biggest challenger for the GOP presidential nomination.Of course, he immediately added that “we’re not going to have much of a challenge.” But Fallon thinks there was one other addendum to that.“Trump said his only other rivals are the Justice Department and high cholesterol,” he said. Indeed, the former president remains under several investigations, though not all of them are specifically from the Justice Department.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The American French Film Festival, formerly known as COLCOA, has set the dates of its 2023 edition to Oct. 18-22. Organized by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, the festival will host its 27th edition at the Directors Guild of America Theater on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. “Created by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, this event is the largest French film festival in North America and the largest festival dedicated to French Films and TV programs in the world,” said Cécile Rap-Veber, CEO of Sacem (the guild for authors, composers and publishers of music) who presides over the Franco-American Cultural Fund.

Richard Kuipers Murder, treachery and political intrigue are the juicy ingredients of Zhang Yimou’s “Full River Red,” an entertaining if overlong mystery-comedy set in the narrow passageways and dark chambers of a Song dynasty military compound in 1146. With a twist-packed plot to match its labyrinthine location, Zhang’s fast-paced film motors along nicely as an engaging “Knives Out”-style whodunnit before stumbling a little in the protracted final act. A Lunar New Year smash hit in China, “Full River Red” will be released on 150 North American screens by specialty distributor Niu Vision Media on March 17.  The biggest commercial success of Zhang’s distinguished 35-year career, “Full River Red” has already grossed a whopping $671 million at home since Jan. 22. The 157-minute blockbuster continues the string of hits (“Cliff Walkers,” “Shadow,” “Sniper”) he’s delivered since big-budget international co-production misfire “The Great Wall” in 2016. Much less ornately decorated and colorfully photographed than Zhang’s famous wuxia epics “House of Flying Daggers” and “Hero,” this intricately plotted outing is more concerned with wordplay than swordplay.

Marcus Lim Africa is turning out to be an unlikely market for Chinese television producers, according to one production executive. Hou Hong Liang, chairman of Chinese television production company Daylight Entertainment revealed his amazement at meeting African fans of Chinese television stars in a recent trip to the continent, even as he bemoaned the lower profitability of the region. “We had African fans coming to the airport to meet the cast for one of our recent productions. I was amazed to see we had fans in Africa. I thought they wouldn’t understand our culture, but they did. I don’t think Africa is a true market yet, our IP is not valued as much. We have to nurture the audience, so we sell our IP at a lower price to African broadcasters.”

Disney has released a new teaser trailer for its upcoming adaptation of Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese starring Everything Everywhere All At Once‘s Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu.The teaser trailer focuses on Yeoh’s character warning that a “gate between Heaven and Earth is opening” with the fate of the world “hanging in balance.” The trailer also shows glimpses of several multiverse settings as well as Ke Huy Quan’s and Stephanie Hsu’s characters.American Born Chinese is set to arrive in Disney+ beginning May 24. Based on Gene Luen Yang’s 2006 graphic novel the same name, the series will tell the story of a teenager named Ben/Jin Wang who struggles as a Chinese immigrant in an American high school.Upon meeting a fellow foreign exchange student Wei-Chen, the two become embroiled in a historical battle of Chinese mythological gods, with themes of identity, culture and family woven in.Jin Wang will be played by young star Ben/Jin Wang, while his fellow exchange student Wei-Chen is played by Jim Liu.