Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Japanese animation film “Suzume” made just shy of $50 million on its opening weekend in mainland Chinese theaters. Data from consultancy Artisan Gateway, shows “Suzume” grabbing the top spot at the box office with $49.6 million (RMB342 million) between Friday and Sunday. That is the biggest opening score by any film this year outside of the Chinese New Year holiday week in late January. The next best is “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” which opened with $19.4 million in mid-February. Directed by Shinkai Makoto, “Suzume” was a hit in Japan where it was released late last year and has remained on screens for a $105 million total. It played in February at the Berlin Film Festival, where it came away largely empty-handed, but has subsequently performed strongly in the Asian territories where it has released. (In South Korea, where it is now the second highest grossing film released in 2023, its third weekend is its strongest to date.)
HBO Supply Deal With Japanese Streamer U-Next Renewed by Warner Bros. Discovery
07.03.2023 - 09:27 / variety.com
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Warner Bros. Discovery and Japan’s U-Next have announced an extension of their relationship with a renewed deal to supply content to the SVOD platform. The agreement sees U-Next continue as the streaming home of HBO in Japan. Featuring exclusive content rights for HBO, HBO Original and HBO Max Original series, the strengthened agreement includes: current and future seasons of HBO’s “House of the Dragon,” “The Last of Us” and “Succession” as well as returning HBO Original and HBO Max Original series “True Detective: Night Country,” “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” and “And Just Like That…”
Upcoming shows include “The Idol,” “White House Plumbers” and “Love & Death” and the exclusive Japanese premiere of Steven Soderbergh’s “Full Circle.”
The deal also spans a library of more than 2,300 episodes from HBO including newly-available “The Deuce,” “The Newsroom” and “Six Feet Under.” WBD last year announced that it would slow its planned international rollout of HBO Max and revealed recently that it is still toying with its own streaming platform options. The U-Next deal follows a similarly renewed agreement in Australia with Foxtel and U-Next’s announcement of plans to merge with another Japanese streamer Pallavi. The enlarged operation is expected to overtake Hulu Japan as the largest locally-operated streamer in the country. Analysis firm, Media Partners Asia recently said that net new subscriptions to streaming services in Japan have slowed. But upside potential remains significant. “SVOD household penetration is still only at 45% and there is significant room for growth in the future, driven by anime (largely non-exclusive), premium live action and Korean content and in
Korea Box Office: ‘Suzume’ Expands in Third Week as Japanese Animation Extends Strong Year
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hit Japanese animation “Suzume” improved its box office performance in its third week of release in South Korea and remained far ahead of all competing titles. “Suzume” earned $6.06 million over the weekend between Friday and Sunday, a 7% increase on its previous weekend, itself a strong hold that almost equalled its opening session. Data is sourced from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). The film, which has been a huge hit in Japan and some other Asian territories, enjoyed a 66% share of the entire Korean cinema box office over the most recent weekend and expanded its cumulative haul to $23.9 million after 19 days on release.
Warner Bros. Wins Fevered Weekend Auction For T.J. Newman Novel ‘Drowning: The Rescue Of Flight 1421;’ Deal Reaches $1.5M Against $3M
EXCLUSIVE: In one of the wildest book rights auctions the town has seen in some time, Warner Bros. production co-heads Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy tonight landed screen rights to the upcoming T.J. Newman novel Drowning: The Rescue Of Flight 1421. Studio paid $1.5 million against $3 million, and there were five seven-figure bids on the table, sources said.
Kodansha Launching K Manga Japanese Comics Platform in U.S.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Leading Japanese publisher, Kodansha is to launch an online comic book distribution service from May. Titled K Manga, the operation will go live in May and be exclusive to readers in the U.S. The company is publisher of many of the best-known manga titles in history including “Attack on Titan” and “Ghost in the Shell.” These and some 400 others will be available at the launch of the serialization platform.
Warner Bros. Discovery Stock Upgraded by Analysts Bullish on Execs’ Free Cash Flow-Based Bonuses
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Warner Bros. Discovery received stock upgrades from two media analyst firms Friday for, among other things, making the decision to tie bonuses for CEO David Zaslav and his team to free cash flow performance. “We threw everything and the kitchen sink at a Downside Case scenario for WBD, and it still delevers to 3x by ’25E,” Wells Fargo analysts wrote in a research note published Friday, in which they upgraded WBD’s stock to “overweight” with a price target increase from $13 to $20 per share. “We now have conviction in FCF to limit downside, while the stock has asymmetric upside.” Meanwhile, Wolfe Research moved WBD from its “peer perform” rating to “outperform” and also upped the price target to $20. (At time of publication Friday, WBD stock was trading at $14.51 per share.)
‘Fly Me to the Moon’ Wins Unprecedented Five Awards at the HAF Project Market
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Fly Me to the Moon,” a work-in-progress from Hong Kong, dominated the prizes presented at the Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum project market. It collected five awards and was invited to continue its journey at Cannes in May. Directed by first-time feature maker Sasha Chuk and produced by the veteran Stanley Kwan, the film tells the tale of a pair of sisters moving from Hunan to Hong Kong in the 1990s. They are faced with an identity crisis, poverty and their father’s drug addiction. It entered the market with $640,000 of its intended $705,000 production budget in place, and more than filled the gap with the prizes announced on Wednesday.
Aoyagi Yumiko, Japanese-U.S. Screenwriter, Signs With Creative Artists Agency (EXCLUSIVE)
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief U.S.- and Japan-based screen writer and producer Aoyagi Yumiko has signed with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) for talent representation. Born in Yokohama, Japan, but having grown up in Los Angeles and graduated from Sophia University in Tokyo, Aoyagi now works across both the Japanese and U.S. film and TV industries. She debuted as a screenwriter in 1995, writing the fourth episode of the Fuji TV series “Seiga wa Tatsu” before winning Galaxy Award prizes for telefilm “Saigo no Kazoku Ryoky: Family Affair.” In 2003, she wrote the show “Kokoro,” becoming the youngest person ever to write for the coveted morning slot on Japan’s national public broadcaster, NHK. The slot about a young woman’s development in a traditional neighborhood in Tokyo, has a continuous history of over 60 years and is known as “the face of Japan.”
‘Dragonfly Eyes’ Director Zhang Hanyi Dangles Deadly Project ‘The Walking Bird’ at HAF
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese director Zhang Hanyi takes an unexpected turn with his latest feature film effort, “The Walking Bird,” which makes its appearance as an in-development project at the Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), which takes place alongside the FilMart rights market. His previous film, 2017’s “Dragonfly Eyes,” was one of the most unusual and stylish films of the year from anywhere in the world. It told a disturbing (fictional) narrative through extraordinary found-footage obtained from hundreds of real-world CCTV cameras, and won the FIPRESCI and Ecumenical Jury prizes at the Locarno Festival that year.
Warner Bros. Discovery Worried That ‘HBO’ Name Turns Off New Subscribers
Bloomberg reported on Thursday and TheWrap independently confirmed.The name change is meant to signal that the service will not just be HBO Max with Discovery content, nor will HBO Max be ported over to Discovery+. “Max” is the leading contender, though Warner Bros.
Nexstar Exec on Why It and CBS Are Willing to Pick a Fight With Paramount Over Deal With Internet Streamer Fubo
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Nexstar is still dark on internet streamer FuboTV on Tuesday, the TV station group giant’s president and chief operating officer explained why. “We are in a dispute with CBS right now over the Fubo situation,” Tom Carter said during a Morgan Stanley-hosted investor conference. “But keep in mind that virtual MVPDs contribute less than 10% of our distribution revenue and our distribution revenue is about half of our total revenue and Fubo is the smallest vMVPD we deal with. So we’re talking about a relatively minor amount of money, quite honestly, to both us and CBS. So it’s kind of easy to pick Fubo as a fight to have.” Nexstar executive vice president and chief financial officer Lee Ann Gliha noted: “We view this as a CBS-only issues and it’s just driven by the specific issues that surround the CBS situation.”
HBO Shows to Play Exclusively in Middle East on OSN Under Expanded Deal With Warner Bros. Discovery (EXCLUSIVE)
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Middle East satellite and streaming platform OSN Group has extended its relationship with Warner Bros. Discovery forging a new multi-year licensing deal under which it will become the exclusive home for HBO content in the region. In addition to HBO shows, such as “Succession,” the renewed agreement has been expanded to cover additional content and channel offerings from Warner Bros. giving OSN premium access to recent blockbuster movie hits such as “The Batman,” “Dune,” “The Matrix Resurrections,” and “The Suicide Squad.” The deal was announced in Dubai with “Succession” star Brian Cox on hand.
Japan’s U-Next Renews HBO Content Deal With Warner Bros Discovery
Japanese streamer U-Next has renewed its content deal with Warner Bros Discovery, under which it will continue to be the SVOD streaming home of HBO programming in Japan.
Australia’s Foxtel Renews Content Pact With Warner Bros Discovery
Foxtel Group and Warner Bros Discovery have renewed their multi-year content agreement, under which the Australian pay-TV operator and streamer will remain the home of HBO, Max Originals, Warner Bros and Discovery programming in Australia.
Australia’s Foxtel and Warner Bros. Discovery Renew Content Supply Pact, Seek Flexibility for Evolving Streaming Era
Katherine Tulich Australian pay-TV Foxtel Group has held on to its top HBO programming hits, “House of the Dragon,” “The Last of Us,” “Succession” and “The White Lotus” with the Wednesday announcement of a renewed content supply deal. Foxtel will remain the Australian home of HBO, Max Originals, Warner Bros. and Discovery content. The pact between Foxtel and Warner Bros. Discovery is touted as “a multi-year, multi-faceted content and platform agreement” that reflects the evolution of Foxtel from legacy pay-TV operator into a streaming player. It also allows further wiggle room as circumstances continue to change.
Asian Streamer Viu Approaches Profitability, Divulges Subscriber and Revenue Data
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.
Warner Bros Bosses Michael De Luca & Pamela Abdy Accept PGA Milestone: Execs Who’ll “Go To The Mat For The Story And The Artists They Believe In” Says Ron Howard
Seven months after landing the highly coveted top jobs at Warner Bros. Motion Picture studios, Co-Chairpersons Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy were bestowed with the PGA Milestone award tonight and paid respect for their mega industry mentors, remembered emotionally their cinematic NYC and New Jersey youths, and gave a huge shoutout to their new boss, Warner Discovery CEO David Zaslav.
Warner Bros. Discovery Sues Paramount Over ‘South Park’ Deal
Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. is suing Paramount Global, saying its competitor aired new episodes of the popular animated comedy series “South Park” after Warner paid for exclusive rights.
Multiple new ‘Lord of the Rings’ movies coming from Warner Bros.
The Wrap.“But for all the scope and detail lovingly packed into the two trilogies, the vast, complex and dazzling universe dreamed up by J.R.R. Tolkien remains largely unexplored on film. The opportunity to invite fans deeper into the cinematic world of Middle-earth is an honor, and we are excited to partner with Middle-Earth Enterprises and Embracer on this adventure.”The cost of the deal made between Warner Bros., New Line Cinema and Embracer Group — the current rights holders to Tolkien’s novels — has yet to be released.
David Zaslav Says Direct-to-HBO Max Movies Provided ‘No Value’ to Warner Bros.
earnings call comments suggest that he is even more adamant in this direction. On Thursday, Zaslav spoke about Warner Bros.’ recent strategy to move films greenlit under previous CEO Jason Kilar’s leadership for exclusive release on HBO Max to an exclusive release in theaters before going to the streaming service.
More ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Movies In Works As Warner Bros & New Line Strike Rights Deal
New Line Cinema and Warner Bros Pictures have hammered out a new multi-year agreement with Embracer Group AB’s Middle-Earth Enterprises to team on new The Lord of the Rings movies. Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav dropped the news Thursday during the company’s call to discuss its Q4 2022 earnings results.