Alibaba’s Third Quarter Profits Rebound as Entertainment Losses Contract

Jessica Alba recalled remembering a period when, in order to feel safe in Hollywood, she had to adopt a “tough” attitude.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Jessica Alba said on a recent episode of HBO Max and CNN’s “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?” that she adopted a more masculine persona as a teenager and young adult in Hollywood in order to deliberately avoid being preyed upon by various Hollywood predators. Alba started acting at age 13 and landed her breakthrough role as Max Guevara on Fox’s “Dark Angel” when she was 19 years old. The James Cameron-created series made Alba both a feminist TV icon of the early 2000s and a sex symbol. “I guess I understood that I needed to help sell the product,” Alba told Wallace when asked if it bothered her how the media objectified her as a sex symbol. “And they sell it how they do so I understood it as a business decision and a strategy. And so I was able to distance myself from it. But I guess, you know, you can’t change other people’s minds about what they may or may not think of you. I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with owning your sexuality. I just frankly was definitely not that person. I was very nervous about all of that, and I was quite uncomfortable in my own skin.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Post-Truth,” a Chinese comedy film about a cemetery plot salesman trying to salvage his reputation in the face of online assaults, topped the cinema box office in mainland China over the weekend, ahead of another new release title “Revival.” Data from consultancy Artisan Gateway showed that “Post-Truth” earned $17.0 million between Friday and Sunday. Including preview, it has a cumulative of $20.3 million. Crime drama, “Revival” earned $10.3 million over the weekend and has a running total of $11.4 million including previews. The two newcomers dominated the box office and relegated Hong Kong-produced courtroom drama “A Guilty Conscience” to a distant third place. “Guilty” took $2.3 million (RMB15.8 million) for a cumulative of $23 million since releasing on Feb. 24.

Madeleine McCann is 'happy she is getting the truth'. Julia Wendell went viral after uploading a video online to an Instagram called 'I am Madeleine McCann', saying that she thinks she could be the missing girl who vanished in 2007 at the age of three. Now, after receiving 'a number of death threats', Julia was taken to California by Dr Fia Johansson, a self professed physic and has said she is investigating the case.

Jessica Alba loves parenting. The mother of 3 recently opened up about motherhood on Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace? where she shared how it helped her find her power.Alba shares her three kids, Hayes, 5, Haven, 11, and Honor, 14, with her husband, Cash Warren. She told Chris Wallace motherhood connected her with her femininity and, “true power as a person that’s here for a reason,” per PEOPLE.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic The upcoming Apple TV+ competition series “My Kind of Country,” executive-produced by Kacey Musgraves and Reese Witherspoon, is not just going to be a genre-specific knockoff of “American Idol” or “The Voice,” it’s clear from a first trailer released Friday. (Watch the new preview, below.) Fostering inclusiveness of every sort looks to be as high on the agenda as finding unknown talent, as is made apparent not just from the YouTube teaser but the previously known trio of celebrity talent scouts — Jimmie Allen, Mickey Guyton and Orville Peck — plus a just-released rundown of the dozen competing aspirants. “The people that i love in country music, they don’t look like me,” one contestant, Camille Parker, a Black woman from North Carolina, is seen as saying. “I’m ready to show people what they’ve been missing.”

Lala Kent wants to make one thing clear to Bravo fans! The show must go on!

There were so many celebs at the Miu Miu show during Paris Fashion Week, both in the front row and on the runway!

Starship Entertainment has bid goodbye to WJSN members Luda, Dawon, Xuanyi, Chengxiao and Meiqi following the expiration of their contracts.On March 3, Starship released a statement announcing the departure of WJSN members Luda and Dawon, as well as inactive Chinese members Xuanyi, Chengxiao and Meiqi from the agency.“Starship Entertainment recently renewed contracts with the eight members Exy, Seola, Bona, Soobin, Eunseo, Yeoreum, Dayoung and Yeonjung of our agency artist WJSN,” said the agency, per Soompi.“We carried out sincere and in-depth discussions with members Luda and Dawon for a long time, but unfortunately our exclusive contracts [with Luda and Dawon] will come to an end. We express deep gratitude for the great efforts and dedication shown by Luda and Dawon until now,” Starship added.The agency revealed that members Xuanyi, Chengxiao, and Meiqi, who joined WJSN through Starship’s partnership with Chinese entertainment agency Yuehua Entertainment, would also be leaving the group.

Jessica Alba was thrilled to attend Balmain’s Fall 2023 Paris Show. The 41-year-old Hollywood star looked stunning wearing a cinched minidress, featuring a plunging neckline, and puffed shoulders.The actress went for a classic all-black ensemble, paired with black velvet gloves, sheer tights, beaded stiletto heels and a black handbag.

EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based Alpha Violet has posted fresh sales on Mexican director Lila Avilés’s family drama Tótem, which world premiered in competition at the Berlinale to acclaim in February.

Jessica Alba stepped out during Paris Fashion Week!

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Fox has named John Hesling its new head of Alternative Entertainment, the broadcast network’s in-house unscripted studio. Responsible for overseeing the development and production of all unscripted series owned by Fox Entertainment (FAE), as well as programs FAE produces for third-party buyers in the U.S. and abroad, Hesling will be based in Los Angeles and report to Allison Wallach, president of unscripted programming at Fox Entertainment. “I am so excited for John to join FAE and lead the incredible team we have assembled,” Wallach said. “His creative vision and vast experience as both a producer and an executive working on a global scale will be key to our strategy of building FAE as a leading provider of innovative series and formats for Fox and third-party platforms throughout the world.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Multi-territory Asian streaming service Viu has publicly disclosed key performance metrics for the first time and said that it was cash flow positive on an annual basis in 2022. The company, which operates in 16 Asian and Middle East markets and is seen as a rare success story in regional streaming, counts Hong Kong conglomerate PCCW as its principal shareholder, which also unveiled its own profits and loss figures for the 2022 calendar year. Viu which operates both ad-supported and paying tiers, said that it had 66.4 monthly active users in 2022, an increase of 13% year-on-year. Paying subscribers increased by 45% to 12.2 million over the same period.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief China-based video streamer iQiyi achieved a surge in paying subscriptions and achieved net profits in the fourth quarter of 2022. While still loss-making over the full year, the company hailed its turnaround as “miraculous.” In the October-December period, gross revenues were RMB7.6 billion ($1.1 billion), representing a 3% increase year over year, the company said in a regulatory filing. Net income attributable to iQiyi was RMB304 million ($44.1 million), compared to a net loss of RMB1.8 billion in the same period in 2021. Over the course of the full 2022, total revenues were RMB29.0 billion ($4.2 billion), representing a 5% decrease from 2021. Net losses decreased from RMB6.2 billion to RMB136 million ($19.7 million).

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Writers Guild of America will begin negotiations on a new contract on March 20, as the industry holds its breath in anticipation of a possible strike. The current three-year agreement is set to expire on May 1. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers announced the date of the talks, making the WGA the first of the three above-the-line guilds to enter bargaining. “The AMPTP is fully committed to reaching a fair and reasonable deal that brings strength and stability to the industry,” the industry group stated. The WGA declined to comment, other than to confirm the date.

Motion Content Group, an industrious producer and co-financier of Love Island, Wynonna Earp and some 1,800 other series globally, is rebranding as GroupM Motion Entertainment in North America.

The “Boston Strangler” movie, which will debut on March 17, 2023, has now revealed its trailer and poster.

The gang is back for a second season of “Grand Crew” on March 3, and cast members Nicole Byer, Echo Kellum, Justin Cunningham, Aaron Jennings, Carl Tart and Grasie Mercedes break down what we can expect in this exclusive trailer for the NBC series. Says Tart, “We heard your messages. We read the tweets.

EXCLUSIVE: CNBC has ordered a new true-crime docuseries from Law & Order creator Dick Wolf.