XR Distributor Diversion Cinema Picks Up Venice Winner ‘The Man Who Couldn’t Leave,’ Upcoming Doc ’21-22 USA’ (EXCLUSIVE)

The 22nd edition of the Tribeca Festival unveiled a 2023 lineup with a record number of female helmers and heavy on films directed by actors like Chelsea Peretti’s First Time Female Director, John Slattery thriller Maggie Moore(s) with Tina Fey and Jon Hamm, David Duchovny’s Bucky F*cking Dent and Steve Buscemi’s The Listener.

Flights from Manchester Airport to mainland China will return to pre-pandemic levels from next month in what has been described as a 'significant' economic boost for the city region, it was confirmed today.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Jackie Chan-starring nostalgic stuntman comedy film “Ride On” trotted to a second weekend atop the mainland Chinese box office. “The Super Mario” Bros. Movie” remained in fourth place. “Ride On” earned $6.0 million (RMB41.5 million) between Friday and Sunday, a 48% week-on week drop, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. That took it to a $22.6 million total since release on April 7. Below it, Japanese animation “Suzume” and Chinese shaggy dog story “Hachiko” swapped places. “Hachiko,” on its third weekend outing, earned $4.9 million, for a cumulative of $35.1 million. “Suzume” earned $4.5 million in its fourth weekend on release in China, giving it a $109 million cumulative.

President Joe Biden plans to appoint producer Bruce Cohen and Lady Gaga as the co-chairs of the revived President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

EXCLUSIVE: Briarcliff Entertainment has taken domestic distribution rights to Sight starring Terry Chen (Almost Famous, Falling) and Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning Greg Kinnear (Little Miss Sunshine, As Good as It Gets). A wide theatrical release has been set for Oct. 27.

Beijing-based sales agent Rediance has revealed first look stills for Anthony Chen’s The Breaking Ice, which has been selected for the Un Certain Regard section of this year’s Cannes Film Festival. 

South Korean auteur Park Chan-wook returned to theaters last year with “Decision To Leave.” And by all accounts, it’s another masterwork from him, and one of the best films of 2022. Now Park returns to TV for the first time since 2018’s “The Little Drummer Girl” with “The Sympathizer,” set for an exclusive release on Max in 2024.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Wanda, the Chinese conglomerate that once threatened to take over Hollywood, has put up for sale the Hoyts cinema chain in Australia that it bought in 2015. Hoyts is Australia’s second largest movie theater operator with 46 multiplexes housing 412 screens, according to 2022 data from Screen Australia. It also owns Val Morgan, Australia’s biggest cinema advertising firm.Wanda Cinema Line, itself China’s biggest theater operator, has appointed Credit Suisse and Nomura to handle the sale. Bidders are understood to have access to a “stapled debt” package (a line of agreed financing arranged by the banks) if the potential buyer cannot arrange sufficient finance of their own. A first deadline for bids is set at the beginning of May, with final offers to be submitted by the end of June.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Jackie Chan-starring stunt-man comedy drama “Ride On” pratfalled its way to first place at the mainland Chinese box office with a lowball $11.7 million opening. Still, that was enough to beat another new release, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which ranked fourth over the latest weekend. Chan is an enduring, but fading, star in China and in the past his new release titles were often scheduled for the three biggest holiday seasons. “Ride On,” which sees Chan in an ode to the stunt players he has worked with, was released two days after the Ching Ming (Wednesday 5 April) holiday, when many folks honor their ancestors. Its opening three days were enough to depose “Suzume” from the top spot, where “Suzume” had ranked for the previous two weekends. “Suzume” earned $8.0 million over the latest weekend in China, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. That gives it a $103 million cumulative after 17 days in mainland theaters, a China record for a Japanese animation film.

John Cena is to feature in and exec produce a WWE docuseries for free streamer Roku.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Actor Kevin Cahoon donned a famous Nudie Suit by iconic tailor Nudie Cohn to the Broadway red carpet premiere of “Shucked.“ The decorative rhinestone-covered suits — made famous by Elvis, Hank Williams and Post Malone — were on loan to Cahoon, who plays Peanut in the show, from Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors in Hollywood. The musical is filled with catchy numbers and, as the title suggests, is about corn. It’s set in the fictional Corn Cob County, a small-town Southern haven surrounded by… corn. “‘Shucked’ is a brand new, completely original, rhinestoned, star-spangled, American musical with its roots planted firmly in the country, its heart celebrating all of the Nashville greats that have come before, and I am in it,” Cahoon tells Variety. “What in Cob County do you wear?”

Donald Glover has spoken candidly about his time working on 30 Rock, and said that Tina Fey told him he was a “diversity hire”.The actor and rapper, also known as Childish Gambino, was speaking during a new interview yesterday (April 4), when he explained how he got his first writing job, working for the US sitcom 30 Rock.According to Glover, he got the role back in 2006, back when he was still a resident assistant in Goddard – living in a dorm in New York City. However, despite performing well in his role, he consistently felt like an outsider.“It definitely didn’t feel like I was supposed to be there,” he told GQ.

André Holland (Passing) and Gemma Chan (Don’t Worry Darling) will top Neon‘s The Actor, the second feature (and first in live-action) from Oscar-nominated Anomalisa helmer Duke Johnson, which has wrapped production. Holland takes over the male lead from Ryan Gosling, who was forced to drop out due to scheduling conflicts but remains aboard the project as an executive producer.

Cohen Media Group (CMG) has acquired US rights to the feature documentary Slava Ukraini, co-directed by French philosopher and activist Bernard-Henri Lévy.

Hollywood Diversity Report separated its findings between films made for streaming and those made for theatrical. The results showed that the industry’s push for diversity is making much more progress on the small screen than the big screen. Among the top 100 original streaming films in 2022, 64% had casts that had at least 30% actors of color, compared to 57% for theatrical films.

American presenter, Nick Cannon, recently revealed that despite having 12 children, none of the mothers receive any child support. The Home Morning Show radio presenters Shorty Da Prince, Brittish Williams and Andrew Caldwell asked the 42 year old TV presenter about how much money he has paid in child support for having 12 children with different women. Nick responded that none of the mums have received pay cheques, but instead receive anything they ask for.

“The X-Files” will return with a new face.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “The Bad Kids,” a hit series from Chinese streamer iQiyi, is to be remade as a Japanese feature film “Gold Boy.” The 12-episode gritty crime thriller depicts the troubles that arise after three children accidentally film a murder. The series was previously licensed to Japanese pay-TV group Wowow.

The New York Post.Umberger, 33, and Ramirez, 25, died from “acute intoxication” from a mix of fentanyl, cocaine, ethanol, and other drugs, according to the New York City Medical Examiner’s office, which ruled both deaths homicides earlier this month. Ramirez was found dead inside a taxi on the Lower East Side in April of last year after being seen leaving the Ritz Bar and Lounge, a gay club in Hell’s Kitchen, with three unidentified men.His wallet and phone were missing, delaying notification, and his family later reported that his bank account had been emptied of about $20,000 through apps such as Venmo and Zelle. His credit cards were maxed out after being used to purchase items like expensive dinners and spa services. In January, an NYPD spokesman told ABC New York that a man, Andre Butts, had been arrested last June for using Ramirez’s credit card to buy two pairs of Nike sneakers for $544.38 at an upscale store in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood, just hours after Ramirez’s body was discovered. Umberger was last seen on Saturday, May 28, 2022 after a night out at the gay nightclub Q NYC, while in town for a work trip.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Doug and Kris Tompkins’ dream sounded like a fanciful one. Seduced by a region of ravishing South American wilderness in which they found particular sanctuary, and wishing to protect it from any insensitive or unseemly development, they landed on a solution both simple and absurd-sounding: Why not simply buy as much of it as possible? Backed by the fortune they’d collectively amassed from the clothing industry — Doug as the founder of Esprit and The North Face, Kris as the former CEO of Patagonia — the couple successfully parlayed business tycoon status into an unprecedented scale of eco-activism: As one talking head notes in “Wild Life,” Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s soaring documentary tribute to the Tompkins’ romance and shared conservationist mission, they “could do anything, and chose to do anything.”