IATSE Lays Out Contract Proposals, Including “Substantial” Health & Pension Plan Increases, As General Negotiations Begin

Meghan Markle paid Prince Harry a lofty compliment as the Royals begin a tour of Nigeria.

A five-part doc series exploring the life of late South African President and freedom fighter Nelson Mandela is being readied with his personal archivists providing material. Dogwoof has boarded Mandela: Life (working title) and will launch it the Cannes Market this month.

EXCLUSIVE: Chinese streaming giant iQIYI is involved in a legal row after featuring Korean masterpiece Oldboy in its library for at least six years without a proper license.

A South African man working on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship traveling up the coast of the Pacific Northwest has been arrested after allegedly stabbing three passengers.

ASTRO singer Cha Eun-woo has opened up about the passing of his bandmate Moonbin.ASTRO’s Cha Eun-woo recently made an appearance on the South Korean talk show You Quiz on the Block, where he opened up about the death of bandmate Moonbin, who passed in April 2023.“Last year was a very difficult year for me,” the singer-actor told hosts Yu Jae-seok and Cho Sae-ho, per SBS Star, revealing that he wrote ‘Entity’ because he “desperately wanted to express what was truly on my mind”.“I wrote the lyrics after days and nights of shooting, recording, trying to channel Moonbin’s perspective,” he added. “People tend to forget too easily.

Doyoung of K-pop boyband NCT has announced his upcoming 2024 ‘Dear Youth’ tour, featuring concerts in Japan, Thailand, Indonesia and more.Today (May 9), NCT’s Doyoung revealed that he is set to embark on his first-ever solo tour later this month. Titled the 2024 ‘Dear Youth’ tour, the K-pop idol will kick things off with a three-date concert in Seoul, South Korea from May 25 to 27.Doyoung will then head to Japan in June 2024, featuring a two-date stop in Yokohama and a one-night show in Osaka.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem embarked this week on one of the more tumultuous book tours in recent memory, as she was peppered with questions about an anecdote about killing her dog Cricket, and another story about meeting North Korean leader Kim Jung Un. Major doubts were raised that the latter story was true.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent New Dubai-based distribution and production studio The Plot Pictures is headed for the Cannes Marche du Film after snapping up Middle East, North Africa and Turkey (MENAT) rights to a slew of indie titles across different genres. They include “Locust,” a first feature film from Taiwanese American multidisciplinary artist Keff that is playing in Critics Week, and Nick Hamm’s epic “William Tell.” The Plot Pictures CEO Pratixa Shah and head of sales Ozge Conduroglu – who was previously with Starz Play Arabia – are assembling a slate spanning “different genres, regions, and languages,” as Shah put it in statement.

Good Vibes Festival (GVF) has announced its return this July after being cancelled last year due to controversies surrounding The 1975 – see the line-up and more below.In July last year, Good Vibes Festival made international headlines after it was forced to cancel its second and third days due to The 1975’s headlining slot on night one. During their headline show on the opening night of the three-day event, frontman Matty Healy criticised the Malaysian government and its anti-LGBTQ laws onstage and then kissed bassist Ross MacDonald, prompting their set to be cut short.

Blade Runner 2049 is being produced for Amazon Prime Video, with Michelle Yeoh in one of the lead roles.The show, which will be titled Blade Runner 2099, was first announced back in 2022 and it will serve as a follow-up both to the 1982 original film and its 2017 sequel.Variety report that Yeoh, who won an Oscar for her role in Everything Everywhere All At Once, will be one of the stars of the show. She will reportedly play a character named Olwen, a replicant nearing the end of her life.No further plot details or release date information has been provided.Yeoh became the first Asian person to win the Best Actress Oscar, and the first Malaysian to win any Oscar.

A Manchester doctor took his own life by ingesting a poison he ordered online from Malaysia - that Border Force officers were reportedly powerless to prevent being sent on to him. Oldham-born Dr Jonathan Shaw, who lived in Didsbury and was 55, was found dead at an address in Oldham on December 2, 2023.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The video-on-demand streaming sector in Southeast Asia delivered record subscription numbers and subscription revenues in the first quarter of the year, according to a new study. Those trends represent recovery after a tough 2023. Data from consultancy firm Media Partners Asia and its AMPD research affiliate showed VOD usage at a barely changed 96.3 minutes in the five Southeast Asian countries studied (Singapore, Thailand, The Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia). Total paying subscriptions reached 48.5 million, representing net additions of 652,000 quarter-on-quarter and 1.6 million year-on-year.

EXCLUSIVE: Production has started in South Africa on Oscar-winning director Gore Verbinski’s new action adventure film Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, starring Sam Rockwell, Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz and Juno Temple. 

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees ended its first week of “general” negotiations on a new contract on Friday, and will resume next week. The union spent most of the week focused on its benefit plans, which are facing a $670 million shortfall over the next three years. The Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plans extended health coverage to members who were out of work due to last year’s strikes, leaving an unusually large funding gap.

Jonas Brothers fans in Mexico, will have to wait a few more months before they get to watch the famous trio of brothers. Nick Jonas shared a video on Instagram Friday revealing that he can not sing because he is very sick.According to Nick, he woke up feeling very sick and lost his voice a couple of days later. The 31-year-old singer was able to muster the strength to play in Cancun, but it’s gotten progressively worse.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Prolific Philippines-based Epicmedia Productions has come on board “The Passport,” a Malaysian coming of age story about a Tamil family and their punk rock daughter. Production is by Malaysia’s Sixtymac Pictures. Currently at financing stage, the project will mark the directing debut of Ananth Subramaniam, whose short films have played at BiFan and Fantasia, and whose works explore his Tamil-ancestral identity and family within the context of a multi-layered genre.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor IATSE negotiators are bracing for the next phase of contract negotiations with Hollywood’s major studios and streamers after the conclusion this week of talks with all 13 West Coast local union on the craft-specific aspects of a new master contract. On Monday, IATSE and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will shift the focus of negotiations to wages, residuals, working conditions and the use of artificial intelligence in production.

Ellen DeGeneres is back! Uh, kind of. On Wednesday night, the 66-year-old superstar did a standup comedy set at the Largo in El Lay. During her routine on stage — and also afterwards in a fan Q&A session — she opened up a bit to attendees about her controversial recent past!

Kep1er will reportedly disband in July after discussions about a potential contract extension fall through.Today (April 25), South Korean news outlet Star News reported that Kep1er will disband in July as originally scheduled, with the members returning back to their respective agencies thereafter. The K-pop act were in discussions for a contract extension earlier this month, according to Dispatch.The temporary girl group – comprising Yujin, Xiaoting, Mashiro, Chaehyun, Dayeon, Hikaru, Huening Bahiyyih, Youngeun and Yeseo – were formed through the 2021 reality show Girls Planet 999 and had a contract for two years and six months.Per Star News, the girl group will release new music and hold a concert to bid their fans farewell before their official disbandment.

HYBE has claimed that it has found evidence that ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin is trying to “seize control” of the K-pop agency, while the latter has described such a move as “impossible”.HYBE and Min Hee-jin have been in an increasingly public feud and power struggle over ADOR, the K-pop agency that’s best known as home to K-pop girl group NewJeans. The dispute was made public on Monday (April 22), after South Korean media reported that HYBE had launched an investigation against Min over alleged plans to take ownership of the label.HYBE CEO Park Ji-won has since claimed that it has discovered evidence that Min and other ADOR execs had plans to “seize control of the company” in an email to employees, per Yonhap News Agency, adding that HYBE would “take appropriate actions after confirming more [of the truth] through this audit”.Park added that HYBE’s current top priority is on “keeping its artists and other members safe”.