ZDFE to Distribute WWII Docu-Series ‘Inside Japan’s War’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Also Read: 'Bring Your Own Brigade' Director Says Climate Change Isn't the Only Reason Wildfires Are Worse (Video)Lindström added, “He said, ‘I made sure no one could listen to these songs.’ And then when we came to Japan and talked to people, they all said, ‘He sings such perfect Japanese,’ and he just started to like them.”Petri said it was an important moment for Andrésen, who was finally able to “reclaim his experience and the place of Japan as another way, as an adult.”Also Read: 'A Glitch

Joe Otterson TV ReporterNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) will air on the Roku Channel in the U.S., U.K., and Canada under a new television deal, Variety has learned.The professional wrestling promotion will air a one-hour weekly series on the Roku Channel beginning Feb. 11 and will air every Thursday thereafter beginning at 5 p.m.

Davide Abbatescianni Swiss sales outfit Lightdox has acquired Julien Faraut’s documentary “Les Sorcières de l’Orient,” taking part in the Big Screen Competition of the Rotterdam Film Festival.The film follows the former players of the Japanese women’s volleyball team. Now in their 70s, they used to be known as the “The Sorcerers of the East” because of their seemingly supernatural powers on the courts.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic means international film buyers won't be able to travel to Berlin this year for the European Film Market —the 2021 EFM will be a virtual affair—but select distributors will get a chance to watch Berlin titles at their local cinema.

With international buyers unable to travel to Germany to scout movies at year’s Berlin International Film Festival, the event will instead bring a selection of titles from its program to them through new initiative ‘EFM goes global’.

Naman Ramachandran Amazon Prime Video has announced several German original series and a soccer documentary.The originals include a series adaptation of fantasy classic “The Gryphon,” based on the cult novel of the same name by Wolfgang Hohlbein, Germany’s most successful living novelist with 40 million books sold worldwide, that follows three outsiders who must deal with a monster. Show runners Erol Yesilkaya and Sebastian Marka are adapting the material into six 45-minute episodes.

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentShochiku, a major Japanese film producer and distributor, has announced its remake of “Cube,” a 1997 fantasy-thriller by Vincenzo Natali about six people who find themselves trapped in a maze-like cube and have to figure a way out, while evading fatal traps.A Canadian production that premiered at Toronto, the original film became a cult hit in Japan following its September 1998 local release.The remake stars Suda Masaki, Okada Masaki, Tashiro Hikaru, Saito

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentTheatrical box office takings in Japan fell by 45% in 2020, compared with the previous year, as coronavirus took its toll on cinemagoing. But that makes Japan one of the most resilient major box office territories.Data published Wednesday by the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (Eiren) show that total box office was $1.37 billion (JPY143 billion) 45% down on 2019’s $2.5 billion (JPY261 billion).

The Japanese box office plummeted more than 45 percent in 2020 after the novel coronavirus pandemic briefly shuttered cinemas in the country and weighed on moviegoing throughout much of the year. Total ticket sales revenue clocked in at $1.38 billion (143.3 billion yen), down from $2.39 billion (261 billion yen) in 2019, which had set an all-time record.

Jamie Dornan (A Private War) has been tapped as the lead of The Tourist, the six-episode limited series from Fleabag production company Two Brothers Pictures.

Jamie Lang The Walt Disney Company Germany has picked up a pair of Beta Films series for its Fox pay TV network for German-speaking territories: Spanish YA drama “Alive and Kicking” and Russian thriller “Dead Mountain – The Dyatlov Pass Incident.” Both series were presented to buyers at Mipcom in October and several more deals for each are in advanced negotiations, and expected to be announced shortly.A Movistar Plus original series from Spain, “Alive and Kicking” will participate in the

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefSingapore-based TV production firm, Beach House Pictures is expanding its Asian production capacity. It has acquired a majority stake in Japanese producer Vesuvius Pictures and appointed Felix Feng as GM in China.Founded in 2012, Vesuvius specializes in premium original factual, factual entertainment, reality and scripted programming.

Refresh for latest…: Disney/Pixar’s Soul got off to a jazzy start in Korea this weekend, debuting at No. 1 and seeing the second best bow for a non-local title since the Covid pandemic began. The Pete Docter-directed original also launched in Russia, at No. 1, and came in ahead of several pre-Covid animation openings. In total, Soul led the international box office with a $10.4M weekend from 13 markets. See more on Soul below.

Ed Meza @edmezavarSony Pictures Entertainment Germany has picked up “Hide and Seek,” Ukraine’s first crime noir series, in a deal struck with ZDF Enterprises.The show is expected to air on the Sony Channel, available on German pay TV via cable and satellite, this fall in both German and original Russian language.Filmed in over 80 locations in the Ukraine, “Hide and Seek” is a tension-filled story about children who mysteriously disappear from a small industrial town and the two determined

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefTwo East Asian drama series — Japanese sci-fi thriller “Alice in Borderland,” and Korean fantasy horror “Sweet Home” — have been lapped up by international audiences on Netflix.“Borderland” has been viewed by 18 million member households and has already been renewed for a second season.

Leading German actors Sebastian Koch (The Lives Of Others) and Paula Beer (Frantz), co-stars in Oscar-nominated 2018 drama Never Look Away, are set to topline the German adaptation of hit Israeli series Your Honor, we can reveal.

Nintendo Switch dominated the Japanese market in 2020, selling over six million units and accounting for 87 per cent of all consoles sales in the country, according to a new report.New data from Famitsu/Kadokawa (via gamesindustry.biz) shows that the popular hybrid console maintained a strong lead over its competitors in the Japanese market, despite the release of next-gen consoles in Q4 2020.It sold over six million units in Japan in 2020, well ahead of its closest rival the PS4 with 542,000