Venice Classics: Unapologetic, ‘Bugis Street’ Director Yonfan Says Film Restoration Reveals New Layers of Image and Meaning

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Japan’s Dean Fujioka (“Fullmetal Alchemist,” “The Man From The Sea”) and the U.K.’s Callum Woodhouse (“All Creatures Great and Small,” “The Durrells”) are set to star in “Orang Ikan,” a WWII-set creature horror film. The picture is scripted by Singapore and Indonesia-based Mike Wiluan (“Buffalo Boys,” HBO series “Grisse”) who will also direct the picture from next month. International rights to “Orang Ikan” have been picked up by London-based SC Films International, which will give the project its sales launch at the Busan festival and accompanying market next month. Set in the Pacific, 1942, a Japanese ship transports prisoners of war to occupied territories as slave labor.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief ‘Expendables 4’ narrowly took top place at the mainland China box office on a quiet weekend preceding the National Day holiday season at the end of the month. “A Haunting in Venice” opened outside the top five. Data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway shows “Expendables 4” earning $10.9 million (RMB78.6 million) over its debut weekend.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief That the Toronto world premiere of “The Movie Emperor” is sponsored by high-end home appliance manufacturer Dyson is deliciously and understatedly ironic. In the movie, innocuous-seeming domestic equipment — from the humble suitcase to floor sweeping robots — run quietly amok.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Blue Ant Media, the Canadian-owned group with operations spanning TV production, distribution and channels management, is creating a new Asia-Pacific base in Sydney, Australia. It has hired Jon Penn as its Asia-Pacific MD and Jason Soh as VP of distribution, based in Singapore.Penn is a veteran with ten years in Asia with BBC Studios and 11 years of experience at Fremantle. Latterly, he has been a partner at ACT Media Ventures and advised Blue Ant on its expansion in Australia. “The appointments signal the expansion of Blue Ant Media’s channel and program distribution business in Asia Pacific, combining the company’s channel distribution and content sales in the region into one unit.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hong Kong Disneyland has confirmed Nov. 20 as the opening date for the World of Frozen themed land based on the hit animated movies “Frozen” and “Frozen 2.” And, with two months until opening, first look images are now being released. The cinematic land of Arendelle contains attractions that enable guests to participate in Summer Snow Day, the day that the film’s Princess Anna saved Elsa and the kingdom with an act of love, meet Elsa at her Ice Palace, board Wandering Oaken’s Sliding Sleighs and enjoy an interactive play experience with the characters at Playhouse in the Woods. The films’ Anna, Elsa and Kristoff characters are represented by fully-electric ‘Audio-Animatronics’ figures, which Walt Disney Imagineering says are its most advanced. Visitors to the land can wear rosemaling patterned clothes, add glittering ice-inspired face paint, style their hair like Elsa or wear a cape like Anna. Landmarks within the new land include: North Mountain, with its peak as the highest point in Arendelle; the Ice Palace where Elsa unleashes her icy powers freely for the first time; Arendelle Castle, home of the royal family; the Bay of Arendelle, featuring the small fishing boat that Anna fell on when she met Prince Hans; Clock Tower where Anna danced with Hans; and Friendship Fountain where Elsa uses her magical powers to freeze its water into snowflake ornamentations. There are new retail and food and beverage facilities, as well.

Jockstrap have spoken with NME at the Mercury Prize red carpet and shared their love of Irish folk band Lankum, as well as teasing a new song set for release next week. Check out the full interview above.Ahead of their performance at Hammersmith’s Eventim Apollo last night (September 7), the duo – comprised of Georgia Ellery and Taylor Skye – caught up with NME to reflect on the response to new album ‘I Love You Jennifer B’ and the upcoming song they have on the horizon.While keeping any specific details on the track firmly under wraps, the duo did say that since they formed in 2016 they have become more “confident” in their artistic choices, and more willing to collaborate with other artists.This, they explained, will be seen in a new song set for release next week, which features a mystery guest. “We’re joined by a star… I can’t tell you who,” Ellery teased, while Skye provided another hint at who the artist may be, saying: “New gen.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Strong summer season performances by movies across the world have sped up the movie industry’s global recovery. And for the second time this year, analysis firm Gower Street Analytics has revised its forecast for the 2023 cinema year upwards. The London-based firm is now forecasting that the full-year global gross box office will weigh in at $34.5 billion, a $2.5 billion increase on its April forecast. The upgrade reflects a strong July-August period globally, but with the majority of the increase due to the summer movie season boom in China. If the new projection holds good, it would see global box office finish 33% ahead of 2022 (35% at current exchange rates). It would also come in just 12% behind the average of the last three pre-pandemic years, 2017-2019, the firm said. The forecast is based on the currently known release calendar for the remaining four months of the year.

Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert’s transgender drama Women Of world premieres in Competition at the Venice Film Festival on Friday.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Identity, incomplete understanding and urban poverty are among the many themes touched upon in “Oasis of Now,” which is set to make its debut next month in the prestigious New Currents competition section of the Busan International Film Festival. The story revolves around a mother and a daughter who inhabit the invisible corners of an old apartment block in Kuala Lumpur. They meet in the stairwells, play furtive games and snatch moments of shared happiness, before slinking off to their separate homes.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “No More Bets,” the smash hit Chinese crime thriller that has earned more than half a billion dollars in its home market, is hurriedly adding new territories to release. It will release in the U.K. and Ireland from Friday through distributor Trinity Cine Asia.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Entertainment, sports and brand licensing firms WildBrain CPLG and WildBrain Ltd. have brokered location-based entertainment (LBE) deals on behalf of Peanuts Worldwide for “Peanuts,” “Teletubbies” and “In the Night Garden” with China’s Max-Matching Entertainments. These are expected to lead to the opening of family entertainment centers and IP-themed hotel rooms for each brand in Beijing, in Zhongshan City, Guangdong and a third city yet to be announced.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Kim Jee-woon’s black comedy “Cobweb,” which debuted this year at Cannes, is set for a U.S. theatrical release in early 2024.

Despite announcing her new romance recently, actress Maureen Lipman walked the red carpet at the National Television Awards solo. The Coronation Street actress, 77, had opened up about her new beau, named David, in an interview days prior to the event and revealed she was planning to attend the NTAs with her new man. Follow our live NTAs blog here However, it appears there was a change of plan as Maureen graced the red carpet alone at the O2 Arena on Tuesday, looking stylish in a black and pink ensemble.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The QCinema International Film Festival in the Philippines has beefed up its industry program by introducing a project market strand, QCinema Project Market (QPM). It acts as a networking and funding platform for Filipino and Southeast Asian projects in advanced development.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Busan International Film Festival put aside many of its recent internal and local political problems to Tuesday unveil a large selection ranging from bleeding edge art titles to international festival favorites. “The difficult times are not behind us, but hard work has made this year’s festival better than ever,” said programmer and interim festival chief Nam Dong-chul, speaking at an online press conference. International guests expected to attend the festival include Luc Besson, Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing, Japanese directors Hamaguchi Ryusuke and Kore-Eda Hirokazu, Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, and Korean Americans Justin Chon (“Gook”) and Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”). Hong Kong-based superstar Chow Yun-fat has been named as Busan’s Asian Filmmaker of the Year and will be in person to receive the award.

Naman Ramachandran The European Film Academy has revealed the nominations for Lux – The European Audience Film Award. The nominated films are: “20,000 Species of Bees” by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (Spain); “The Teacher’s Lounge” by İlker Çatak (Germany); “Fallen Leaves” by Aki Kaurismäki (Finland, Germany); “On the Adamant” by Nicolas Philibert (France, Japan); and “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood” by Anna Hints (Estonia, France, Iceland).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Renowned Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai ditched his quiet, brooding persona on Saturday in Venice, where he is to receive a Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award. Instead, at a press conference in his honor, Leung positively gushed about his upcoming first European movie role and about the strengths of the “golden era” acting training he received in Hong Kong in the 1980s. Leung has made a speciality of saying little in many of his films.

A third Italiana Fiftyfive restaurant - formerly Cibo - has opened in Manchester.

A Georgia judge confirmed on Thursday that all of Donald Trump’s court proceedings, including hearings and the trial, will be live streamed on the Fulton County Court’s YouTube channel.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Variety legend Tim Gray, who first joined Hollywood’s dominant trade publication in 1981, has departed after 42 years to start a new chapter with the Golden Globes organization as executive vice president. Gray, who will also serve on its board, will work closely with Golden Globes president Helen Hoehne to evolve the entity — which was formed in June, when Dick Clark Prods. and Eldridge Industries acquired the Golden Globes’ assets, rights and properties from the now-defunct Hollywood Foreign Press Association.