Wildbrain CPLG to Represent Licensing of Peanuts in Asia Pacific

Paramount+ has picked up the missing person docuseries Never Seen Again for a second season, with the next debut set for Tuesday.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefProduction has begun on “The Roundup: No Way Out,” a sequel to record-breaking Korean action film “The Roundup.” Korean American actor Don Lee (“The Eternals”), also known as Ma Dong-seok, returns to the franchise as star and producer.The cast of “No Way Out” also includes Lee Jun-hyuk (“Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds,” “Along with the Gods: The Last 49 Days,” TV’s “Stranger”) and Japanese actor Aoki Munetaka (“Rurouni Kenshin” series, “True Mothers,” “Silence”). The directing reins are once again held by Lee Sang-yong.The production is a re-collaboration between Don Lee’s Bigpunch Pictures, Hong Film and B.A.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe Asia-Pacific region is now the largest contributor to growth of the global online video industry, a major new study published Monday finds.With the U.S. and Europe fast maturing and China inaccessible, APAC’s large markets – India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea and Thailand – will be increasingly important to global platforms, said consultancy and research firm Media Partners Asia in its report “Asia Pacific Online Video & Broadband Distribution 2022.”The report, which covers the AVOD and SVOD sectors and spans China, India, Australasia, Southeast Asia as well as South Korea and Japan, shows the overall industry on course to grow by 16% in the current year to $49.2 billion.

Naman Ramachandran Popular stars Suriya and Ajay Devgn shared the best actor prize at India’s national film awards for 2020, which were revealed on Friday.The awards for 2020, were due to be announced in 2021. But they were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is not immediately clear when the ceremony for the 2021 awards will be held.

Caroline Kennedy arrived in Australia on Friday morning to begin her posting as the US ambassador to the country, but already she has given the locals a lesson in manners.

Jhene Aiko and Big Sean are getting ready for their baby with a mystical maternity photo shoot.

Stephen and Ayesha Curry celebrated a childhood milestone on Tuesday and it made her parents emotional. On Wednesday, the Golden State Warriors player shouted out Riley's 10th birthday on Instagram, admitting that he wants time to slow down. «July 19, 2012.

Jhene Aiko definitely has that pregnancy glow! The 34-year-old singer stuns ina nude photo shared to Instagram, tastefully covered by an orb of glimmering effects, cradling her baby bump and smiling subtly for the camera. Aiko simply captioned the photo with a galactic emoji. Aiko is expecting a child with rapper and frequent collaborator, Big Sean.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Top Gun Maverick” reclaimed the lead at the South Korea box office as “Thor: Love and Thunder” slowed rapidly and Korean cinemas endured a weekend that slowed the recent recovery trend.“Top Gun Maverick” earned $5.77 million between Friday and Sunday, in its fourth week of release in Korea, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). That was a drop of only 11% from its previous weekend.In contrast, “Thor Love and Thunder” registered a 66% weekend-on-weekend tumble, falling from $9.88 million previously to $3.34 million.

Big Mouth, starring Girls’ Generation’s YoonA and Lee Jong-suk.The newly released visual starts off on a lighthearted note, with scenes from Park Chang-ho (While You Were Sleeping’s Lee Jong-suk) and Go Mi-ho’s (Girls’ Generation’s YoonA) earlier days as newly weds. Things quickly turn awry after Chang-ho is publicly and wrongly accused for a murder, with Mi-ho declaring to the press, “I sincerely hope you reveal who on earth would do such a thing.”Chang-ho tries to juggle both clearing his own name and ensuring the safety of his wife in snippets shown through the teaser as he gets himself into physical altercations, telling his aggressors: “Don’t touch my wife.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefAfter soldiering through COVID with hybrid editions, South Korea’s Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan) is getting ready to hold a scaled-up, largely in-person festival beginning Thursday, complete with a red-carpet opening ceremony and foreign visitors. But BiFan organizers say that the ground has moved under their feet.Variety spoke to producer Shin Chul, who once said he was tricked into becoming festival director, and BiFan head programmer Ellen Kim on the eve of the event.Festivals have had a tough time under COVID, but Korean entertainment has found new audiences. How do you explain that?Shin: For past two years the Korean entertainment industry experienced the deployment of a highway connected to the world.

Disney has signed a former Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution and DMED exec to manage international content strategy across EMEA, LatAm, Asia Pacific and India.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefNew president of the Philippines Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Tuesday swore in a swath of new officials at government agencies. Among them, veteran actor Tirso Cruz III, was appointed as chair and chief executive of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP). He replaces Liza Dino Seguerra who has held the post for the past four years.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefTrinity Cine Asia has acquired upcoming Hong Kong comedy “Chilli Laugh Story” for distribution in the U.K. and North America. The work-from-home story of the director Coba Cheng’s relatives sees a locked-down family starting an online business during the pandemic.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorThe CEO of TikTok tried to reassure U.S. lawmakers — who have renewed concerns over its sharing of U.S. user data with employees in China — that the video app company is taking steps to restrict that access to only a “narrow” slice of data.TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew sent a letter dated June 30 to nine GOP senators in response to their inquiry this week “demanding answers on TikTok’s backdoor data access for Beijing,” a reference to China’s communist regime.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area” has become Netflix’s latest Korean-made international hit. The Korean remake of “La Casa de Papel” (aka “Money Heist”) is in first place on the streaming giant’s Global Non-English top ten chart over the last week.The series premiered on Friday (June 24), meaning that it only had three days to claim its spot in chart that covers the period June 20-26.