YouTube Gaming Star Markiplier Signs Exclusive Video Podcast Partnership with Spotify

“Elemental,” which you can watch above.From the studio that brought toys to life, populated a world full of monsters and took you under the sea, “Elemental” explores what a vibrant metropolis would be if that metropolis was populated exclusively by anthropomorphic elements (made of fire, water, air, earth). The story follows a young fire woman named Ember (Leah Lewis) who falls in love with a water man named Wade (Mamoudou Athie).

World premieres for some of the global streamers’ biggest upcoming launches will take place at next month’s Canneseries.

Rebecca Souw One of the leading actors of his generation, Korea’s Choi Min-sik is tackling his first TV role in some 25 years, with Disney+ crime drama series “Big Bet.” Choi says the gamble was a challenge, but ultimately worth the risk. While he has notched up iconic cinema roles in “Oldboy” “Shiri,” “I Saw the Devil,” Luc Besson’s “Lucy” and all-time Korean box office record holder “Roaring Currents,” Choi’s last significant TV role was in dark comedy “The Moon of Seoul” (aka “Seoul ui Dal”) in the 20th century’s pre-streaming era. Choi says that the changes in the TV industry are palpable and mostly for the better.

Amy Poehler is taking her comedic chops to the audio world.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Writer and director He Shuming has signed with Sugar23, the multimedia and management company founded by Oscar-winning producer, manager and entrepreneur Michael Sugar. The signing comes following He’s breakout debut feature “Ajoomma,” about a widow obsessed with Korean soap operas who travels abroad for the first time to Seoul, finding more than she had bargained for in the process. That movie collected several nominations and prizes on the film festival circuit. It premiered at the 2022 Busan International Film Festival in the New Currents section; was nominated at the Palm Springs International Film Festival for the FIPRESCI Prize for Best International Film; received four nominations at the Golden Horse Awards in Taipei, including Best New Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Leading Actress and Best Supporting Actor; and won the Film AIUla Audience Award for Best Film at the Red Sea International Film Festival.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Prime Video drama “The Devil’s Hour” has cast “Top Boy” star Saffron Hocking for Season 2. The British actor has joined the Hartswood Films-produced drama in the role of Sam Boyd, a detective sergeant who worked under DI Lucy Chambers (played by Jessica Raine) in a past life. “The Devil’s Hour” was created by Tom Moran, and is executive produced by “Sherlock” showrunner Steven Moffat. The six-part thriller premiered on Prime Video in October. The show follows Lucy, a social worker suffering from insomnia, who is inexplicably connected to a number of brutal murders in her neighbourhood, and is drawn into the search for a serial killer. The show also stars Peter Capaldi as Gideon Shepherd, a mysterious criminal with a unique relationship with time.

MAMAMOO+ have released a music video for their new song ‘Chico Malo’, from their upcoming first single album.The music video opens with a scene inspired by pansori, or a Korean genre of musical storytelling, with an appearance by former TVXQ! member Kim Junsu.The clip the launches into the song, with MAMAMOO+ members Moonbyul and Solar performing in modernised versions of traditional Korean outfits. Notably, the melody of ‘Chico Malo’ also features the traditional Korean instruments gayageum and daegeum.“Those flowers that bloom and fall / Don’t seem to understand how I feel / How much I’m hurting now / I’ll take light steps along the flowery road / Even the birds chirp full of sorrow,” Solar sings on the pre-chorus.‘Chico Malo’ will appear on MAMAMOO+’s upcoming first single album ‘Act 1, Scene 1’, due out on March 29.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Will Sharpe, who endeared himself to audiences on “The White Lotus,” is directing a feature film adaptation of Michelle Zauner’s 2021 memoir “Crying in H Mart.” Zauner’s novel centers around her relationship with her Korean heritage and her mother, who died from cancer in 2014. Best known as the frontwoman for indie-pop band Japanese Breakfast, Zauner is adapting the screenplay and will also play a part in the film’s music.  According to the official synopsis from MGM, which is backing the movie, “Crying in H Mart” is a “coming-of age story about a half-Korean daughter who returns to small town Oregon to care for her Korean mother. Critical and smothering Chong-mi and creative and independent Michelle struggle to understand each other across a cultural fault line, only learning to see and accept one another through the formative power of music and the vibrant flavors of Korean cooking.”

On the heels of a breakout performance in The White Lotus Season 2, Will Sharpe has been tapped to direct Crying in H Mart for MGM’s Orion Pictures, Deadline can confirm.

Thania Garcia Twice will be Pandora’s newest guest DJs for the streaming platform’s Artist Takeover series. Starting today, the nine-member girl group will be the new faces of the newly minted K-pop station for “The Takeover: Twice” — the first-ever feature on the streaming platform with content in both English and Korean, Variety can exclusively share. The Takeover will allow users access to exclusive content and guided listening experiences, where members Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu, discuss each song on “Ready to Be.” In addition, the singers will customize fans’ listening experiences with commentary on their recent successes, upcoming world tour and more, while their songs and others play in between.

Lily Tomlin is looking back at her first encounter with BFF Jane Fonda. ET's Denny Directo spoke to Tomlin at the premiere of the pair's new film,, where Tomlin shared how she met her longtime pal.«It was absolutely like a glamor trip.

Jeff Benjamin The past year has seen the K-pop industry expanding into everything from ETFs to Broadway, and today, March 15, marks its leap into the comic and graphic novel world: Top group NCT 127 has teamed up with Z2 Comics alongside Universal Music Group and its Korean label SM Entertainment for “NCT 127: Limitless,” an original graphic novel from the act to mark the first officially licensed K-pop print comic. With its title taken from the group’s 2017 single of the same, “Limitless” is both a hardcover and deluxe hardcover manhwa (a general term from South Korea for comic books and graphic novels with a distinct, detailed artistic style) to share a multiverse-hopping, reality-blurring tale of NCT 127 rehearsing for a sold-out stadium show in New York City.

In the age of social media-centered video content creation, who was the first to do it? Many millennial or Gen Z-ers may say it all started when Jawed Karim uploaded “Me at the zoo” on Youtube in 2005, but the father of video art is actually Korean artist Nam June Paik, who predicted a future in which “everybody will have his own TV channel.”  READ MORE: ‘Nam June Paik: Moon Is The Oldest TV’ Review [Sundance] Paik was born in Seoul, Korea, but found himself in Germany as an adult to pursue his interest in avant-garde music, composition, and performance.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Hasan Minhaj’s Riddler is coming back to your earbuds. The comedian-actor made a virtual appearance at Spotify’s Stream On event Wednesday, announcing “The Riddler: Secrets in the Dark,” the next podcast series from Spotify, DC and Warner Bros. under their exclusive multiyear partnership. Minhaj had voiced The Riddler in 2022 hit Spotify podcast “Batman Unburied,” which starred Winston Duke in the title role. “Audiences are going to travel back to Gotham City with me in a story that leaves clues, puzzles and shines a spotlight on my personal favorite character, The Riddler,” Minhaj said in the video (watch the clip below).

Angelique Jackson CAA has signed “Industry” and “Rye Lane” star David Jonsson for representation. News of Jonsson signing with CAA comes just hours after the actor was confirmed to be part of the cast of the yet-to-be-titled “Alien” movie, written and directed by Fede Alvarez. 20th Century Studios announced that Jonsson would be among the actors joining Cailee Spaeny in the sci-fi film — the ninth in the franchise started by Ridley Scott, who is returning to produce. According to a new plot synopsis provided by the studio, the film will follow “a group of young people on a distant world, who find themselves in a confrontation with the most terrifying life form in the universe.” Also officially joining the project are Archie Renaux (“Shadow and Bone”), Isabela Merced (“Rosaline”), Spike Fearn (“The Batman”) and Aileen Wu (“Away From Home”).

Angelique Jackson British actor Vivian Oparah has signed with CAA. Best known for playing Tanya Adeola in the “Doctor Who” spinoff “Class,” Oparah currently stars in the forthcoming rom-com “Rye Lane,” which premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival. In the film, Oparah stars as Yas, while David Jonsson (“Industry”) plays Dom, two twenty-somethings reeling from bad break-ups who connect over the course of an eventful day in South London. (The film gets its title from the real-life Rye Lane in Peckham.) The rom-com follows the pair as they “help each other deal with their nightmare exes, potentially restoring their faith in romance.” The Searchlight Pictures movie is directed by Raine Allen Miller, in her feature debut, from a screenplay by Nathan Bryon and Tom Melia. “Rye Lane” will be released on March 31 via Hulu in the U.S. and on Star internationally.

BTS’ J-Hope is about to release his dream collaboration with his childhood idol.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Demi Singleton is the latest addition to the cast of the “Bass Reeves” series at Paramount+, Variety has learned exclusively. Singleton will appear in the period drama as a series regular opposite series lead David Oyelowo, who will star as the titular legendary lawman. Additional cast members include Barry Pepper, Dennis Quaid, Forrest Goodluck, Lauren E. Banks, and Grantham Coleman. Per the official logline, the show “will bring the legendary lawman of the wild west to life. Reeves, known as the greatest frontier hero in American history, worked in the post-Reconstruction era as a federal peace officer in the Indian Territory, capturing over 3,000 of the most dangerous criminals without ever being wounded.”

"Hunger Games" star Jena Malone spoke out about allegedly being sexually assaulted while filming the adventure movie. Malone, 38, took to Instagram to share her traumatic experience after working on the final film of the franchise, "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2." "---trigger warning--- This photo was taken right after I wrapped up mocking Jay part two and I had to say goodbye to everyone on set," Malone wrote.

Jena Malone has claimed that she was sexually assaulted while filming The Hunger Games.The actress starred as Johanna Mason in the popular franchise, which ended in 2015 with its final movie, Mockingjay - Part 2. Now almost ten years on from her experiences as a member of The Hunger Games cast, Jena, 38, has opened up about being sexually assaulted “by someone I worked with”.The star has not named her abuser.Taking to Instagram, Jena, who has also starred in the likes of Pride and Prejudice and Donnie Darko, wrote alongside a snap of her in a field in France: “This photo was taken right after I wrapped mocking Jay part two and I had to say goodbye to everyone on set.