Sometimes described as the world’s largest games company in revenue terms, China’s Tencent increased its net profits by 47% in the three months from July to September. Gains were driven by both its domestic and international games businesses. In addition to games, Tencent is China’s largest social media company, thanks toits ubiquitous WeChat/Weixin messaging platform) […]

COLDPLAY: HOTTER THAN EVER Due to fan demand, British rock band Coldplay has announced a fourth show in India for its “Music of the Spheres” world tour. The band will perform at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on Jan. 25, 2025, for a potential audience of 100,000 fans, making it the biggest stadium show of their career. The multiple Grammy-award winning band is already […]

South Korean actor Song Jae-lim was found dead at his home in Seoul on Tuesday. He was 39. Police sources said that Song’s body was found in Seoul’s Seongdong Ward at around 12:30 p.m. by a friend who had plans to have lunch with the actor, according to Korean media reports. The cause of death […]

Prime Video has launched a raft of add-on subscriptions and its Prime Video Store in New Zealand. These expand the selection of content available with the aim of making the platform into a one-stop entertainment destination for Amazon customers and for non-subscribing members. For a monthly subscription fee, payable directly to Prime Video, subscribing members […]

Tencent Music Entertainment, China’s largest digital music conglomerate, managed nearly 7% revenue growth in the July-September quarter as streaming services more than compensated for the continuing retreat of the group’s high-value ‘social entertainment activities. Net profits in the third quarter of its financial and calendar year, climbed by 35% to RMB1.71 billion ($244 million) on […]

The Monte-Carlo Television Festival has revealed the dates of its 64th edition: It’ll run June 13 to 17 at the Grimaldi Forum in the city. The festival team is set to travel to Los Angeles next month to meet with Hollywood studios as they work on assembling the program. During this year’s edition, the festival […]

Ace Japanese film director Kore-eda Hirokazu is in advanced post-production on “Asura,” a family drama series that marks his second show for global streaming giant Netflix. “Asura,” which will premiere on Jan. 9, 2025, is a modern take on “Like Asura” a 1979 family drama series that was originally based on a Mukoda Kuniko novel […]

Japanese multimedia franchise “Hypnosismic” is to expand and include an interactive feature film “Hypnosis Mic – Division Rap Battle” that will release in February next year. The franchise was developed at King Records in 2017 and involves a world where weapons have been banned and men must fight for supremacy through rap battles. The “Hypnosismic” […]

Leading Malaysian director Adrian Teh has begun filming thriller “Magik Rompak,” a high-stakes heist thriller. The narrative follows a leading magician who assembles a reluctant crew for an audacious and daring heist to steal a priceless gem. As their pasts intertwine and the stakes rise, the team must perfect the art of illusion, confront their […]

Chinese melodrama film “The Untold Story” opened on top of the mainland China box office on its debut weekend, despite playing for only two days. It earned RMB80.8 million ($11.4 million), according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway.Adapted from a novel, the film tells the story of an undercover drugs cop, who sometimes goes […]

The South Korean theatrical box office sunk to its lowest-earning weekend of the year, despite the release of new films including “Hear Me: Our Summer,” “Red One” and “Anora.” “Venom: The Last Dance” and “Hear Me: Our Summer” were essentially tied for first place. “Venom: The Last Dance” held on to the top place in […]

Sony Group Corporation reported little changed revenues of JPY2.91 trillion ($19 billion) for the July to September period, representing the second quarter of its April to March financial year. But group-level net income surged by 75% to JPY3.39 trillion ($2.21 billion). The ‘Pictures Division,’ which spans the feature film, TV channels and TV content production […]

The next film by leading Asian director Brillante Mendoza and the directorial debut of New York Asian Film Festival director Samuel Jamier adorn the 2025 production slate of Philippines label Fire and Ice Media. The company is headed by Liza Diño-Seguerra, a former actor and previous head of the Film Development Council of the Philippines. […]

Recent Asian feature films including Makbul Mubarak’s “Autobiography,” Lan Pham Ngoc’s “Cu Li Never Cries,” Nelson Yeo’s “Dreaming & Dying,” Jeremias Nyangoen’s “The Women of Rote Island” and Lyda Leak’s “The Night Curse of Reatrei” adorn the non-competitive lineup of the 2024 edition of the Blue Chair film festival in Luang Prabang, Laos. Previously known […]

Governments and agencies across Asia are taking steps to expand and extend the cross-border film coproduction movement. A seminar called ‘From Eurasia to Global Collaboration’ on Thursday, the third day of the Taiwan Creative Content Fest, represented a handy recap of funding and structural developments from four countries: The Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Turkey. Alex […]

In a stunning sweep of the main awards, Japanese drama “Teki Cometh” snared three top prizes at the closing night ceremony of the Tokyo International Film Festival on Wednesday. The film was named as the Tokyo Grand Prize, or best film, winner. Its helmer Yoshida Daihachi was named best director. Veteran lead performer Nagatsuka Kyozo […]

Reverse engineering a previously English-language script into a bilingual, dual-location thriller is one possible route to giving Taiwanese feature films a better shot in the international marketplace. So too, is adapting a previously successful romantic novel that could be partly filmed in the U.K. Both approaches were spelled out on Wednesday at a panel discussion […]

Thai film director Paween Purijitpanya has directed “Tomorrow and I,” a four-part anthology series for Netflix. It covers topics including cloning, prostitution, religion and global warming. The series expands the streamer’s roster of Thai content and represents its first from the country in the sci-fi register. The show will upload from Dec. 4. Purijitpanya is […]

The Boys Love (‘BL’) genre is getting bigger. Big enough for producers to organize fan meets similar to those for Asia’s mainstream TV shows or pop music stars. In an event organized at Westar, Taipei, the Taiwan-based LGBTQI-streaming platform GagaOOLala hosted its first fan meet for its original BL musical series “First Note of Love” […]