Disney+ Unveils Four Korean Series Additions for 2024

Ellise Shafer During the reading of the U.K. government’s spring budget on Wednesday, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt revealed a 40% corporate tax relief for film and TV studios through 2034. The plan also includes independent films shot in the U.K.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief EST N8, the film and TV sales venture formed by U.S.-based EST and Thailand’s N8 company, has hired Chatsuree ‘Chat’ Sripamorn for an Asian sales roles. Reporting to Tenten Wei, she will represent the company at next week’s FilMart. Sripamorn has previously worked at three of the top Thai entertainment companies Mono Next, GMM Studios and Rose Studio over a span of ten years.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will deliver his Spring Budget later today (March 6).

Netflix’s Indian slate for this year includes a feature film about a group of drunk young men who crash a wedding, and a series about a plane hijacking.

The best fish and chips takeaways and restaurants in the UK have been crowned at a prestigious award ceremony, and a number of Scottish chippies were recognised.

Perth and Kinross Council has voted to freeze council tax in 2024/25.

The AA has announced the latest restaurants to receive a prestigious Rosette, with two destinations in Scotland being given their third.

Bad Bunny has kicked off his Most Wanted Tour and the setlist has been revealed after the first U.S. shows.

Primal Scream, Franz Ferdinand, boygenius and Raye all performed at last year’s event. A statement on social media from organisers read: “We’ve decided to take a break with Connect Music Festival in 2024 to take the time to build the next edition of the festival; to make sure it flourishes, evolves, and continues to offer wonderful experiences for fans.”The announcement comes in a year where many other grassroots festival events have also been cancelled by organisers. December saw Herefordshire’s Nozstock Hidden Valley announce that 2024 would be their final incarnation after 26 years due to “soaring costs” and financial risk”, while the fan favourite Shepton Mallet skating and music festival NASS announced that they wouldn’t be putting on an event this summer either as it was “just not economically feasible to continue”.Elsewhere, rising costs also cancelled Dumfries’ Doonhame Festival for 2024, Bluedot announced a year off for the land to “desperately” recover after being struck by heavy rain and cancellations last summer, Nottingham’s Splendour has been canned for this year due to planning delays from a financially-struggling city council, and Barn On The Farm shared that it would be taking a fallow year due to financial constraints.Standon Calling also recently announced its postponement due to a “very challenging climate”.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent “A True Novel,” directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, manga-inspired “Issak,” written by Itaru Mizuno (“Double Booking”) and “4 Blocks” Richard Kropf, look like potential highlights at this year’s Co-Pro Pitching Sessions, the centerpiece at Series Mania’s Forum, as its projects expand ever more their geographic compass, here welcoming their first titles co-produced by Japan. They are joined by titles from around the world such as Argentinean Daniel Burman’s “Witness 36,” which won the Series Mania Award at the Berlinale Series Market on Tuesday, and a slice of Vatican noir and which reunites the team of “De Grace,”and The Forum runs March 19-21 during Series Mania, Europe’s biggest dedicated TV festival, which will unspool this year over March 15-22 in Lille, Northern France.

Berlin’s European Film Market (EFM) has posted a record of number of visitors for its 2024 edition, with more than 12,000 professionals from 143 countries attending this year.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief North American digital distributor Echelon Studios has come on board “12.12: The Day,” the highest grossing film from Korea last year. The film has been on theatrical release in North America, through 815 Pictures since last year and grossed over $1 million.

The Roots have announced the acts for this year’s edition of their annual Roots Picnic festival in Philadelphia.The two-day music festival will return to its usual home of The Mann in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, PA on June 1-2. Lil Wayne with The Roots, Jill Scott and Nas are set to headline the festival with André 3000 performing a special set in support of his recently released debut solo LP ‘New Blue Sun’.Other acts set to play include Gunna, Victoria Monét, Sexyy Red, Babyface, Wale, Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Cam’ron, Funk Flex, and more.A post shared by The Roots (@theroots)The festival will also see various collaborations take place such as The Roots’ Black Thought performinf with Method Man and Redman, Fantasia and Muni Long teaming up with Adam Blackstone and Scarface and Amerie set to play with the Backyard Band.General ticket sale will commence on Friday, February 23 at 10am local time.

Unmasked, Blood Free, The Tyrant, Gangnam B-Side, Uncle Samsik and Light Shop, as well as the long-awaited third season of reality programme The Zone: Survival Mission. Blood Free will star Ju Ji-hoon (Kingdom) and Han Hyo-joo (Moving) in a tale of a former bodyguard haunted by the failures of his past, Meawhile, Unmasked, set in contemporary Seoul, follows a team of investigative journalists fighting for their careers as they reckon with the aftermath of broadcasting a controversial story.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief France’s Isabelle Huppert, one of the leading actors of her age, has crafted a unique relationship with Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo. Hong’s “A Traveler’s Needs,” which premieres this week in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, is the third time that Huppert has starred in one of his unique pieces of minimalist cinema. She says she hopes the partnership can go much further. Huppert plays a footloose and intense French woman at large in Korea and vaguely making ends meet as an untrained language tutor with eccentric methods.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Production firm Movierock and rights sales outfit Hive Filmworks are in advanced production on “Hear Me: Our Summer,” a Korean remake of hit 2009 romance film “Hear Me” from Taiwan. The story involves a motorbike delivery man who falls in love with a hearing-impaired younger woman. Comparing themselves with water birds and trees the pair slowly try to break through the barriers in their relationship, pursue their dreams and take things to the next level. The retread stars Hong Kyung, who has a recent string of appearances including Netflix’s “D.P,” “TV’s Revenant” and “Hero,” and the upcoming “Troll Factory.” Co-star Roh Yoon-seo has credits in “Crash Course in Romance” and “Our Blues” and is currently one of the most ubiquitous faces in Korea thanks to her position as the face of the Paris Baguette bakery and café chain. Stylistically, the adaptation aims for the feel of Iwai Shunji’s pan-Asian hit “Love Letter,” and is directed by Jo Seon-ho, who previously made “A Day.” Movierock previously produced a 2018 Korean remake of 2004 Japanese hit “Be With You.” The film is already being pre-sold to multiple territories in Asia.

Tim Chan If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Toyota is boldly going where few carmakers have gone before: into the anime world.

Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign have been announced as headliners for Rolling Loud California 2024.The two rappers will take to the stage for a special, bill-topping ‘Vultures’ set at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, California on Thursday, March 14.As Rolling Stone reports, Ty was initially scheduled to perform in a solo slot at the event on the Saturday night (March 16). Organisers of Rolling Loud California said on social media that single-day ticketholders would receive an email with a link to upgrade.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Roku revenue came in above Wall Street forecasts for the fourth quarter of 2023 — and it touted new milestones of more than 80 million active accounts globally as of the end of last year and more than 100 billion hours streamed in 2023. But shares of the streaming platform and connected-TV ad provider fell as Roku warned of a “challenging” environment for media and entertainment spending for the rest of 2024.

EXCLUSIVE: Film Independent has named the eight writers selected for the seventh edition of its Episodic Lab, designed to provide individualized story and career development for writers with original pilots for television. The participants and projects are Desdemona Chiang (ZHIZHA! (紙紮!)), Giovanni Maldonado Chinea & Myles Hawthorne (The Machetero), Robert Cohen & Ioana Uricaru (Overcast), Catherine Durickas (Beige Is Not Dead), Azza Malik (Dear Azza,) and Robert ToTeras (Jourdain).