Ateez, Cravity, (G)-Idle to Headline KCON LA Convention and Concert Series

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Zhang Yimou, China’s most enduring filmmaker, is joining the worldwide shift by feature film directors into the streaming arena. Zhang, who directed “Full River Red,” the most successful film of 2023 in China, is to be involved with his first TV series. He will executive produce “The First Shot,” his representatives confirmed to Variety. The show is to be directed by Xing Lu and is backed by Tencent Video. It is currently in development, with a tentative air date in 2025. That’s because Zhang has a film directing project with an anticipated Chinese New Year release date, due to begin shooting this summer.

Zendaya and Tom Holland are going strong in their romantic relationship.

Prime Video’s unscripted originals push in the Nordics is continuing.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Pixar animation “Elemental” rose to the top of the South Korean box office over the latest weekend. It overtook “The Roundup: No Way Out” and kept new release “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” at bay, in third place. Released a week earlier, “Elemental” rose from second place to first and grew its revenue by 19% in its second frame. According to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council, “Elemental” earned $3.86 million between Friday and Sunday for a 12-day cumulative of $9.47 million. “The Roundup: No Way Out,” which had dominated the sector for the previous three weekends, slipped to second position. It earned $3.34 million over the weekend, a 34% week-on-week decline. Since releasing on May 31, it has amassed $73.2 million, from 9.67 million ticket sales, by far the biggest haul of any film released this calendar year.

K.J. Yossman Comedian Harry Deansway is suing Steve Coogan’s production company Baby Cow over a comedy series called “Live at the Moth Club,” which he claims rips off his YouTube show “Shambles.” In his filing, Deansway, whose real name is Joshua Rinkoff, describes “Shambles” as a sitcom “centered around a live comedy night” at a run-down club struggling to make ends meet. The show blends fact and fiction by combining a sitcom set behind the scenes of the club with real comedy performances in front of a live audience. “Shambles,” which featured appearances from well-known comedians including Aisling Bea and Dan Schreiber, was released on YouTube in 2013 as a six-part series, followed by a second season in 2015.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large The decision to realign “variety talk” and “variety sketch” this year into “talk” and “scripted variety” didn’t do much to change that. If anything, it further narrowed the field, as perennial variety talk winner “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” has now been kicked over to scripted variety. As a result, my colleague Clayton Davis counts only 14 series eligible for the outstanding talk nomination. And it’s not much better in scripted variety, where just 10 shows appear to be eligible.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief KC Global Media, a leading multi-territory operator of linear TV channels in Asia, has sold Animax Korea to Aniplus, an Asian multinational television channel and anime distributor based in Singapore and South Korea. The deal “aims to elevate Animax Korea’s offerings while focusing on horizontally integrating its content across Aniplus’ platform and reach,” the companies said. The deal was agreed in April, but was subject to regulatory approvals. These have now been obtained. Deal terms were not disclosed. But sources close to the transaction suggest that it was valued at some KRW46 billion ($35.5 million).

Maybe Tom Schwartz was serious about dropping his friendship with Tom Sandoval?

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief NBCUniversal is to expand its One Platform advertising, technology, data and measurement system further into global markets through an alliance with international broadcast and tech partners. The move was announced on Tuesday at the Cannes Lions advertising convention in Cannes, France.International partners include Atresmedia from Spain, Bell Media from Canada, Channel 4 from the U.K., Mediaset from Italy, Seven West Media from Australia, Sky Media from the U.K., Italy and Germany, and Talpa from the Netherlands, TF1 Pub of France, Japan’s Tokyo Broadcasting Systems and Omnicom Media Group. “By bringing together leading local broadcasters and publishers across the world, NBCUniversal seeks to enhance the premium video ecosystem and build the foundation for greater industry advancement and collaboration at an international level, across data and identity, activation and automation, ad innovation, and measurement,” NBCUniversal explained in a statement.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Disney is to close its six remaining linear TV channels in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea as the conglomerate puts a greater emphasis on direct-to-consumer streaming. The channels concerned are National Geographic, National Geographic Wild, Star Chinese Movies, Star Chinese Channel, Star Movies and Star World. Linear services will end from September in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Korea, and by December in Taiwan. The group expects to retain a streamlined television portfolio with channels in Japan, China, Australia and New Zealand for the time being.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Bravo’s “Vanderpump Rules,” Hulu’s “The Kardashians” and TLC’s “90 Day Fiancé” are among the 45 reality programs hoping to nab their first Emmy nominations. This is down from the previous three years, which had 65, 48 and 44 submissions, respectively. Nomination voting opened on Thursday to members of the Television Academy, with the three juggernaut-rated shows vying for consideration in the outstanding unstructured reality series category. “Vanderpump” is coming off its biggest season yet after star Tom Sandoval was revealed to be cheating on his partner of nine years, Ariana Madix (with her best friend and fellow co-star Raquel Leviss). Dubbed on social media as “#Scandoval,” the talk surrounding the show’s 10th season has been electrifying, adding another massive hit for the Bravo network, which also steers franchise hits like “Real Housewives” and “Below Deck.” The latter has received two consecutive noms in 2021 and 2022.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Skip City International D-Cinema Festival, in Saitama, on the outskirts of Tokyo, will hold its 2023 edition with both in-person and online components, long after COVID, which necessitated such hybrid formats, has retreated. The festival, which sees itself as a gateway for emerging talent, and has operated since 2004, will hold its physical edition July 15-23 and its online from July 22- 26, organizers said on Wednesday. This year, the festival will begin with the world premiere of “Confetti,” which was produced to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the festival as well as the 90th anniversary of its Kawaguchi City base.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hong Kong icon Johnnie To will head the jury of the sixth edition of the Malaysia International Film Festival (MIFFest) next month. Other jurors include: Truong Ngoc Anh from Vietnam, Ryuichi Hiroki from Japan, Zizan Razak from Malaysia, and Eric Khoo from Singapore. The event will open with the world premiere of “Eraser,” directed by Mark Lee See Teck. The Malaysian film features the final on-screen appearance of the late Adibah Noor, a beloved Malaysian gem known for her timeless charisma. MIFFest will play “See You at the Rally,” directed by Taiwanese filmmaker Kanny Chang as its closing title. The festival is set to take place at LaLaport BBCC from July 23-29 and will play a total of 42 films from 15 countries.

Shoppers could get expensive tech products for less than £10 including a PS5, an Xbox Console, Samsung TV or the popular GHD original Hair Straighteners, as Wowcher launches a 'Mystery' tech deal.

Marta Balaga Ukrainian phenomenon “Mavka” is expanding its universe. Following the premiere of feature film “Mavka. The Forest Song,” it is now set to become a 3D animated series as well. Directed by Oleh Malamuzh, it will be produced by Animagrad Studio – part of the Film.UA Group – with France’s TeamTO already on board as co-development partner. The project, which will be teased at Annecy’s Partners Pitch, will serve as a prequel to the film, explains Film.UA’s Kseniya Baranova. “It’s set immediately after the battle between humans and Lesh, the forest guardian, which happened while the rest of the forest dwellers were in their deep winter sleep,” she said.

A “Vanderpump Rules” alum is calling out Tom Sandoval.

Whitney Friedlander Whether it’s a collision in an office elevator or a case of mistaken identities, fans of romantic comedies have a love-hate relationship with meet-cutes: The central couple must meet somehow and, since this is a love story, preferably they should do so in a cute way. But how many more white shirts must be killed in the name of clumsy-cute trip-and-falls while holding cups of coffee or orange juice?  For serialized romances, the challenge is even greater. Directors and writers must create interesting run-ins for characters to help sustain interest for longer than it takes for audiences to eat a bucket of popcorn.  “I feel like the bar now is, if you are expected to figure out a meet-cute, it has to be your new slightly subversive never-before-seen version of it,” says director Jay Karas. “I don’t think it’s a trope that we can totally get away from, because people have to meet somehow, and it’s just about how do you modernize it.” 

Dave Matthews Band concerts are ever the same.Like Phish and Dead and Company before them, the jam band mixes up their set list every night much to the delight of devoted Dave-Heads.Thus, fans that attend their live shows get a one-of-a-kind performance — one that will never be seen again.And if you want to see the lively outfit unique shows on their 2023 ‘Summer Tour’ in support of their recently released “Walking On The Moon” album, you can pick up tickets for all 38 remaining concerts on the summer run.That includes gigs at Queens’ Forest Hills Stadium on June 9, Darien Center’s Darien Lake Performing Arts Center on June 14, Saratoga Springs’ Saratoga Performing Arts Center on July 14-15 and Wantagh’s Jones Beach Theater on July 19.They’ll also hit New Jersey twice too.First, the “Crash Into Me” group is set to headline at Holmdel’s PNC Bank Arts Center on July 18.Then, Dave and co. wrap the Northeast leg of the run with back-to-back gigs at Camden’s Freedom Mortgage Pavilion on July 21-22.For fans that haven’t picked up tickets yet, we’re happy to report they’re available for all remaining dates.Some are quite reasonably priced too.At the time of publication, we found seats going for as low as $34 before fees on Vivid Seats.Want to find out how much tickets cost for the show closest to you?Keep reading — we’ve got all the juicy details you need below.All prices listed below are subject to fluctuation.A complete calendar of all remaining Dave Matthews Band 2023 ‘Summer Tour’ dates, venues and links to the cheapest tickets available can be found below.Vivid Seats is the New York Post’s official ticketing partner.

There’s a new Lisa Vanderpump show coming!

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief U.S. film and television content captures 30% of viewing time in key Asia-Pacific territories, according to a new research report by consultancy Media Partners Asia. Korean product takes 40%. The study “U.S. Content in the Asia Pacific” tracked the video consumption behavior between January and March this year of some 40,000 consumers in ten Asia-Pacific markets: Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Australia, a $2.2 billion SVOD market, exhibits the highest reliance on US entertainment with 72% of measured SVOD viewership, followed by Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines where U.S. content accounts for 40-50% of viewership on average, with Indonesia close behind at 35%.