Zhou Xun, Jelly Lin Head the Cast of Chinese Sexual Assault Drama ‘Imperfect Victim’

EXCLUSIVE: Outgoing Berlinale co-director Mariette Rissenbeek shared a surprising statement during an industry keynote this week at Locarno. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Meg 2: The Trench” serves up a school of prehistoric fish that chew up the seas, a snapping pack of imaginary hybrid dinosaurs that wreak havoc on land and a surprising cinema business model — the Chinese-controlled franchise intended for a global audience. And while early reviews are predictably mixed, the film’s box office debut looks promising. In China, on Friday, it bit off a $19.5 million first day and enjoyed a 50% market share.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Theatrical cinema in July enjoyed its highest revenues since pre-pandemic times, with global box office hitting $4.54 billion during the month. “This is the single highest-grossing month since before the pandemic began.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Heavens: The Boy and His Robot,” a Singapore-produced movie, will have its world and commercial premiere in Japanese cinemas this November. The film is Singapore’s first live-action feature film of the mecha genre, a genre of Japanese manga and anime that features or focuses on mechanical innovations such as robots and cyborgs.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Short-form video platform TikTok enjoyed a huge increase in viewership in the first six months of the year in Southeast Asia, contributing to a sudden halt to the overall growth of premium (SVOD) video, according to a new report. Data from AMPD and analysis from consultancy firm Media Partners Asia show that TikTok is increasingly a major driver of viewership growth on mobile and web platforms in the region, responsible for over 70% of growth in streaming minutes over the past two years.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms,” the first part of Wuershan’s big-budget “Fengshen Trilogy,” topped the mainland China box office for the second weekend and expanded its week-on-week haul by 35%. ‘Barbie’ also showed signs of resilience in a market where it opened a week earlier in a disappointing fifth place. “Creation of the Gods I” grossed $57.6 million.

Spoiler Alert: This post contains spoilers about the final scene in Barbie. Read with caution if you haven’t seen the movie yet.

The Lathums are set to play secret set at Kendal Calling today (July 28) – and then immediately release it on vinyl.The Wigan band will play Tim Burgess‘ Tim Peaks stage at the festival, with the set then being immediately mixed and mastered and cut to vinyl at Press On Vinyl in Middlesbrough.200 copies of the vinyl will be available, with 100 of them returning to Kendal Calling for sale from 4pm on the day, with the others going online here.All proceeds from the online sale will go to The Lathums’ own charity Chance To See, while number 1/200 will be raffled off, with proceeds going to Burgess’ bursary scheme Help Us Help Bands.Burgess told NME of the event: “iI’ll be brilliant to have The Lathums back in Tim Peaks – Kendal Calling in 2019 was the first festival they had ever been to, this time they’ll have two number one albums under their belts.”The Lathums launched Chance To See earlier this year, with the charity helping provide young people with creative opportunities in their hometown of Wigan.The charitable endeavour – launched as part of a long-term partnership with the cultural education charity Curious Minds – will see 100 per cent of funds directed to established youth and community providers in Wigan, particularly to help young people who face economic or social inequality.“Just having an acoustic guitar when times have been tough has meant that The Lathums became possible and offered us escape from whatever was happening in our lives at the time,” the band said in a statement.“Some people can’t get their hands on a guitar or encounter any other form of creativity and the idea of never having that opportunity breaks our hearts.

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup is underway. The biggest international tournament in women's soccer is being co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand this year. For the first time, 32 teams — eight more than the previous edition held in France — will face off for the coveted FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 trophy.The USA women's team won their first match on Friday, July 21 against the Vietnam soccer team.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Kris Wu, the Chinese-Canadian pop megastar who was jailed last year for rape and group sex, appeared in court in Beijing on Tuesday to appeal his convictions. The case was heard at the Beijing No. 3 Intermediate People’s Court.

At its Max streaming event earlier this year, Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed a new era is coming for Harry Potter fans. The company announced a TV series based on all seven books about the boy wizard written by J.K. Rowling. See below for the most current answers to the most important questions about the project.

Mady Gosselin made a rare statement about the reason for her estrangement from brother Collin Gosselin after he discussed their family dynamic in a new docuseries.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korean TV series and films are increasing still further their hold on streaming audiences across East Asia. They accounted for half of viewing time in the first half of the year, according to new third-party research. Korean-made premium VOD content captured 50% of SVOD viewership and 42% of freemium viewership between January and June 2023, with a record 58 million VOD users tuning in nine East Asian territories (Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam), according to Singapore-based research and consultancy firm Media Partners Asia. The analysis is based on the measured media consumption activity of 40,000 Asia Pacific consumers, conducted by AMPD, the analysis firm’s sister company.

Ryan Gosling is revealing the most embarassing role of his life, one he regretted bringing up the minute he spoke about it. While promoting “Barbie,” Gosling and his co-star Margot Robbie opened up about some of the most embarassing things they’ve done over the course of their career.Eva Mendes says Ryan Gosling is the most outstanding actor she’s ever worked withAll Barbie looks worn by Margot Robbie: See the original dollsIn an interview with BBC One, Gosling and Robbie spoke about some of the most ridiculous moments over the course of their lives. “I’ve looked very ridiculous my entire life,” said Gosling, cracking up.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Cineverse, the streaming and content distribution company previously known as Cinedigm, has acquired North American rights to the Chinese animated fantasy film “Warrior King.” Inspired by the legend of the hero and warrior, King Gesar, the film is directed by Lu Qi from a screenplay by Lu Wunan and Wang Yunsheng. Cineverse says that it will release the film in U.S. theaters Aug. 25, following its international theatrical debut.  The story of Gesar is considered one of Central Asia’s literary classics and was passed down in oral tradition for some 1,000 years, as well as literary, poetic and stage play versions. Its Tibetan iteration may now be the most prominent, It is certainly one of the longest, running to over 100 volumes and a million verses, according to some calculations.   

Hooking up with your step-mom in any form is obviously a big no-no. Still, when you’re step-mom wants to hook up with you, a teenage boy, well, I guess only French provocateur Catherine Breillat can be bold enough to pull off such a shocking tale which she seems to do in her new film, “Last Summer” (L’Été Dernier” in French; at least shocking to Americans, maybe it’s not as wild for the loose and free Europeans who think we are all Puritans).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Exports of K-pop albums increased by 17% year on year to reach an all-time record of $133 million in the first six months of the year. The U.S. is now the second biggest overseas market for Korean music worth $25 million, having overtaken China, but still trailing Japan ($48 million), according to data from the Korea Customs Service. The next largest were Germany, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Canada, the U.K. and France.The record was achieved despite the absence of BTS as a group (though BTS members Jimin, and Suga put out solo efforts) and saw Stray Kids, Tomorrow X Together, Seventeen, Ateez and Twice all make an international impact.

Kevin Spacey ‘s lawyers enlisted the help of an A-list star Monday in his sexual assault trial, calling Elton John and his husband to cast doubt on one of the Oscar winner’s accusers at the end of the defense case.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Specialty distributor, Trinity CineAsia is releasing China’s summer blockbuster “Lost in the Stars” in the U.K and Ireland on some 30 screens from Friday. “I was fortunate to watch the film when it opened in China and once I saw it I just knew we had to have it,” said Cedric Behrel “‘Lost In The Stars’ is a very clever, uncanny thrill of a ride that harks back to classic Hitchcock and any noteworthy thriller since – the master himself had in fact once optioned the rights to the same story. We organized the fastest turnaround premiere known to man and we’ve been delighted by the reactions to the early previews. It epitomizes the best of what new Chinese cinema can bring to audiences.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Wanda Investment, a subsidiary of the privately-owned Chinese property giant Dalian Wanda, has sold an 8.3% stake in Wanda Film Holding for RMB2.2 billion ($306 million). Wanda Film, which is listed on the Shenzhen stock exchange, operates China’s largest circuit of multiplexes and retains a stake in Hollywood producer Legendary Entertainment (“Dune”). The buyer is Lu Lili, the wife of Shen Jun, the controller of East Money Information, a financial data platform, Wanda Film said in a regulatory filing this week. The share sale appears to be a move to raise finance for Dalian Wanda and Wang Jianlin, the politically-connected former army officer who built one of China’s largest property empires and from 2012 mounted a seven-year campaign to own a large chunk of Hollywood.