Yeon Sang-ho to Direct ‘Parasyte: The Grey’ Series for Netflix

Blockbuster,” is packed with a variety of talent, including Latinas Melissa Fumero and Olga Merediz.‘In the Heights’ star Stephanie Beatriz is excited for everyone to see the movie, especially Marc Anthony’s role‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ star Melissa Fumero reveals ghost encounter, sweet new project and moreA post shared by Melissa Fumero (@melissafumero)Netflix provided a first look of the series, including photos and a synopsis. “Timmy Yoon (Randall Park) Is an analog dreamer living in a 5G world.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Netflix announces production of upcoming Japanese series “House of Ninjas,” set for release in 2024. Ninjas are the legendary Japanese heroes of the shadows, known for their ambush attacks and ferocious fighting style. But they remain figures of mythology or, at least, the past. Set in modern-day Japan, “House of Ninjas,” tells the story of the Tawara family, the last ninja clan. It had abandoned its roots after an incident in the past, but now the family must take on the greatest crisis in Japanese history, one that threatens to shake the nation to its core.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Prolific Japanese film director Miike Takashi and Indonesian genre specialist Kimo Stamboel will be among the star names in the ‘On Screen’ section of the Busan International Film Festival given over to TV series. Miike has made “Connect,” a Korean-language crime fantasy thriller about a man who is kidnapped and has one of his eyes removed by a gang of organ harvesters and transplanted into the body of a notorious serial killer. The unwilling donor now has terrible visions as he witnesses terrifying attacks on the residents of Seoul. The show was written by Nakamura Masaru and Heo Dam (“Monstrum”). It features Korean talent including Jung Haein (“Snowdrop,” “Start-Up,” “Tune in for Love”) in the lead role and Ko Kyungpyo (“Decision to Leave,” “Seoul Vibe,”) as the serial killer, and Kim Hyejun (“Inspector Koo,” “Kingdom,” “Sinkhole”) as the mysterious Irang.

Rapper Vince Staples is set to headline his own scripted comedy series at Netflix. The streamer has given a series order to The Vince Staples Show, starring and executive produced by the critically acclaimed artist, actor and creator, from Kenya Barris and his Khalabo Ink Society.

For all the noise that Nicolas Winding Refn makes with his daring, provocative, controversial, and challenging films, perhaps one of the least-seen things any modern auteur has made in recent years is his series, “Too Old To Die, Young,” starring Miles Teller which was seemingly not promoted and dumped on Amazon in the summer of 2019. That’s a shame because as difficult as it was to watch, violent, gruesome, brutal, and confrontational as it was, “Too Old To Die Young” was a blistering statement about America.

For all the noise that Nicolas Winding Refn makes with his daring, provocative, controversial, and challenging films, perhaps one of the least-seen things any modern auteur has made in recent years is his series, “Too Old To Die, Young,” starring Miles Teller which was seemingly not promoted and dumped on Amazon in the summer of 2019. That’s a shame because as difficult as it was to watch, violent, gruesome, brutal, and confrontational as it was, “Too Old To Die Young” was a blistering statement about America.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Indonesia is often described as the world’s most populous Muslim nation. But the country’s development as a global-scale media market has been uneven and full of promises unfulfilled. Many of the old connections between media ownership and political influence appear to have been transplanted from the analog era into the digital one, making it a tricky place for foreign film, TV and (latterly) streaming companies to operate in. The slate announcement and Friday’s Jakarta event, however, appear to normalize Netflix’s position in Indonesia after a politically-charged and controversy-laden first few years. The presentation included a gushing video message from Sandiaga Uno, Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy.

EXCLUSIVE: We are hearing from sources that Cattywumpus, the Gore Verbinski-directed animated movie about outer space felines, will be getting shopped around town to other studios.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Kore-eda Hirokazu will be the star turn at Emerging Japanese Films, a Los Angeles showcase organized by Japan’s Visual Industry Promotion Organization. The event, running Sept. 27 – Oct. 1, 2022, at the Harmony Gold Preview House, consists of four newly-released, dramatic and awards-worthy Japanese feature films and a retrospective night that honors Kore-eda, whose “Shoplifters” won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2018. Kore-eda will take part in a live video conversation after the screening of his “Like Father, Like Son,” a child-swap drama film that Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks previously optioned for remake.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Travis Fimmel (“Vikings,” “Warcraft”), Simon Baker (“The Mentalist,” “Breath”) and Phoebe Tonkin head the adult cast of “Boy Swallows Universe,” an Australia-set fantasy-drama series. Production has now begun in Brisbane, Queensland. The eight-part limited series is an adaptation of Trent Dalton’s international best-selling novel “Boy Swallows Universe” and is being produced by Brouhaha Entertainment, together with Anonymous Content and Chapter One, for streaming platform Netflix. “Boy Swallows Universe” follows working-class Brisbane teenager Eli Bell in a whirlwind story about drug addiction, ex-cons, poverty, violence and the discovery of hope through the power of love. Dalton has pitched the story as involving “a boy who receives a message on a red rotary dial phone in a secret underground room that tells him he must bust into Brisbane’s notorious Boggo Road Prison to save his mum’s life on Christmas Day.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Song Kang-ho, known for his roles in “Memories of Murder” and “Parasite,” has signed up to make his TV series debut. He will star in indie-produced drama “Uncle Sam Shik.” “Uncle Sam Shik” is a 1960s-set tale of two men, their pride, greed and bromance, local Korean media reports. Song’s co-lead actor has not been disclosed. The series is to be directed by Shin Yeon-shick, with whom Song has recently shot feature films “Coweb” and “One Win.” Both films have completed physical production but have not yet been released. The series is reported to be a ten-episode drama, produced by Slingshot Studio. A broadcast or streaming partner has not yet been announced.

Andy Garcia, Catherine O’Hara, Jay Duplass, Brian d’Arcy James and Chloe Coleman are attached to join Emily Blunt and Chris Evans in the cast of “The Pain Hustlers,” director David Yates’ feature film for Netflix.Production on “The Pain Hustlers” kicked off this month. The project is described as a “hilarious, dramatic and wild journey to the corrupt heart of the American dream” in the vein of Adam McKay’s “The Big Short.” The film follows Blunt as a blue-collar woman who, upon losing her job struggling to raise her daughter, takes a position at a failing pharmaceutical start-up, only to get involved in a dangerous racketeering scheme.Yates, best known for the final “Harry Potter” and all of the “Fantastic Beasts” films, is directing “The Pain Hustlers” from a script by Wells Tower (“Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned”).

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Catherine O’Hara, Jay Duplass and Andy Garcia will join the cast of “The Pain Hustlers,” teaming up with Emily Blunt and Chris Evans in the Netflix movie. Brian d’Arcy James (“Spotlight,” “West Side Story”) and Chloe Coleman (“My Spy,” “Marry Me”) are rounding out the ensemble. David Yates, best known for directing several “Harry Potter” movies, is helming “The Pain Hustlers,” which is said to be tonally similar to American Dream-esque crime dramas like “The Big Short,” “American Hustle” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.” According to the official logline, the film follows an unemployed “blue-collar woman struggling to raise her daughter [who] takes a job at a failing pharmaceutical start-up, only to get involved in a dangerous racketeering scheme.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Nippon TV, a leading Japanese entertainment company, has licensed 13 of its most popular anime titles to Netflix to stream non-exclusively around the world.  The first titles to start streaming on Sept. 2, 2022 include the first 38 episodes of ever-popular “Hunter x Hunter,” which will be available in 104 countries, including Spain, Italy, Finland, Turkey, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and the UAE; “Ouran High School Host Club,” in 190 countries; and “Claymore,” in 136 countries. Others – listed in the order in which Netflix will upload them – include “Death Note” (37 eps. x 30 mins); “Death Note: Relight 1” (130 mins), “Death Note: Relight 2” (120 mins) in 14 countries” “From Me to You” (25 eps. x 30 min); “From Me to You 2nd Season” (13 eps. x 30 min); “Berserk” (25 eps. x 30 mins); “Parasyte-the Maxim” (24 eps. x 30 mins); “Nana” (47 eps. x 30 mins); “Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting!” (76 eps. x 30 mins); and Monster” (74 eps. x 30 mins). 

Blockbuster,” a Netflix comedy series about the flagship movie rental store starring Randall Park, has set a premiere date for Nov. 3. The half-hour comedy’s 10 episodes will premiere all at once on the streaming service. Park plays Timmy Yoon, an analog dreamer who is in charge of the last operating Blockbuster Video in the United States. Timmy, alongside the rest of his employees, must work to remind their community that the local store can provide the human connection that big corporations can’t. Alongside Park, the cast includes Melissa Fumero as Eliza Walker, Tyler Alvarez as Carlos Herrera, Madeleine Arthur as Hannah Hadman and Olga Merediz as Connie Serrano. Recurring guest stars for the series include J.B. Smoove as Percy Scott and Kamaia Fairburn as Kayla Scott.

Streaming killed the video store, but Netflix is keeping the spirit alive.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Lee Jung-jae, the star of hit Netflix series “Squid Game,” is to reprise his role as a manic killer in “Ray,” a TV series spun off from 2020 Korean action-horror film “Deliver Us From Evil.” Korean media sources report that Lee will star in and co-produce the series through his own Artist Studio company and Hive Media, producer of “Deliver Us From Evil.” Variety has reached out for further details. In the original movie, Hwang Jung-min played In-Nam, a former black ops agent who travels to Thailand to investigate an abduction. There he is pursued by Lee’s character Ray, a Korean-Japanese ruffian whose brother had been killed by In-Nam. Both heavily tattooed and charming, Ray embarks on a bloody rampage of revenge.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Film studios in Asia-Pacific are expanding the scale of their operations and want location incentives to keep pace. “Incentives are fundamental, they are an expectation [of production managers] and having one is no longer a USP,” said Rashid Karim, CEO of Iskandar Malaysia Studios. He was speaking at the Content Asia summit conference in Bangkok on Thursday. The IMS facility opened ten years ago around the same time as Malaysia introduced a location production incentive scheme. These days, the scheme offers a generous 35% uncapped rebate. But since the scheme launched, rival locations in the Asian region including Thailand, India and Mongolia have launched or are in the process of launching rebate schemes.

Narco-Saints. Created by The Spy Gone North filmmaker Yoon Jong-bin, Narco-Saints stars Ha Jung-woo (Ashfall, Entourage) as protagonist Kang In-su, an modest entrepreneur who lands in Suriname for business and ends up getting framed by a Korean drug lord operating in the country and sent to prison.As he’s beginning to serve his sentence, In-su is roped into a secret mission by Choi Chang-ho (Squid Game’s Park Hae-soo), an agent of the Korean National Intelligence Service. Their goal is to eventually snare Jeon Yo-han (Hush’s Hwang Jung-min), the head of a notorious drug cartel and the one responsible for In-su’s imprisonment who is moonlighting as a pastor as a cover for his operations.The trailer begins with the conversation between Chang-ho and In-su as they discuss the details of the secret mission and what the latter needs to do for the NIS.

Arden Cho rocks a bold blue suit for the premiere of her new Netflix series, Partner Track, in Los Angeles on Tuesday night (August 23).