I Did Not Know This About Japan! So Wild!

American pro skier Kyle Smaine was killed in an avalanche over the weekend in central Japan.

One of the most difficult films to get made over the past few decades has been a live-action version of the groundbreaking Japanese manga, “Akira.” Over the years, plenty of actors and directors have been signed on and eventually departed the project. One of the most recent big pushes to get it made was with Jordan Peele as the filmmaker, but that obviously didn’t come to fruition.

Invasive plants can be hugely stressful due to the damage that they can cause to property, and they can be a nightmare to get rid of too.

The Berlinale’s European Film Market was the last major physical market to take place in 2020 as the world began shutting down because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

EXCLUSIVE: Moviebill, the US-based augmented reality platform, has rebranded as ‘Really’ and will expand Augmented Reality (AR) distribution and Web3 content offerings to moviegoers internationally and through its partnership with Regal. 

Prime Video today announced that it will produce a live-action film based on the manga franchise The Silent Service, which will be distributed theatrically by Toho on September 29. The pic will be the first time Prime Video has produced a Japanese Amazon Original Movie.

The last few years have been great times for documentaries about cults. That does not mean it is a time of introspection about the questing impulses driving people into cults.  The appeal of content—generally of the limited streaming series variety—about cults has more to do with the queasy fright provided by seeing roomfuls of people prostrate themselves before a bored-looking bearded guy on a dais.

AEON Entertainment and IMAX Corporation announced an agreement Wednesday that will open seven new IMAX auditoriums with Laser systems across Japan in 2023. Under the deal, all seven systems will be installed in existing multiplexes by summer 2023 in areas largely untapped by IMAX.

Disney’s Carol Choi has seen it all in the East Asian entertainment business, working for the studio in various roles in China from 2006, then heading up The Walt Disney Company Korea, before being appointed Managing Director of The Walt Disney Company Japan. She currently wears two hats, also serving as Executive Vice President, Original Content Strategy, across the Asia Pacific region. 

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix doubled its Spanish TV originals last year and premiered way more from the UK and Japan as U.S. content now represents less than half of its library, according to a report from media analyst Enders Analysis seen by Deadline.

The year is 1995, and you’ve submitted your film to the Sundance Film Festival, and they’ve said no. What do you do? Are you disappointed? Yes.

Shakira is taking shots at her ex Gerard Piqué via her new music once again.

Chinese director, screenwriter and producer He Ping, best known internationally for his hybrid ‘Chinese Westerns’, has died aged 65. Local press reported that he died of illness in Beijing on January 10. 

Baby on board! Naomi Osaka announced she is pregnant with her first child.

The Sundance Institute has today named the jurors who will preside over awards for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. The 16-person lineup features everyone from CODA star Marlee Matlin to We Need To Talk About Cosby‘s W. Kamau Bell, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton and actor-comedian Jim Gaffigan.

Cannes Palme d’Or-winning director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s first series for Netflix, The Makanai: Cooking For The Maiko House, is based on a best-selling manga about two young girls who move to Kyoto to start their training as ‘maiko’ or apprentice geisha.