Korean Content Streamer KOCOWA Adding Films And A ‘+’ To Its Previous TV Fare

EXCLUSIVE: In a competitive situation, Hae Wons’ bestselling Korean novel Sad Tropic will be adapted for TV in the U.S. by Seoul Street and Astro-Nomical Entertainment as an hour-long series.

K.J. Yossman S.N.A.P. Films have unveiled their new development slate, including a film and true crime limited series about the first female mob boss Bessie Starkman. The Canadian production company, founded by Sergio Navarretta and Alessandra Piccione, has also secured Dr. Bernie Siegel’s life rights with a view to working on a documentary and feature film about what they describe as “America’s most controversial doctor in the field of mind-body healing and patient empowerment” as well as optioning the rights to the book “Rocco Perri: The Story of Canada’s Most Notorious Bootlegger” by Antonio Nicaso, which they are also planning to adapt as a feature.

Anna Marie de la Fuente In what marks a first for Chile’s Storyboard Media, Baremo Films of Mexico has boarded its psychological thriller “Quizas es cierto lo que dicen de nosotras” (“Maybe It’s True What They’re Saying About Us”), which has been shooting in Santiago since Feb. 1 and will wrap later this month.  Written and directed by Sofía Gomez (“Trastornos del sueño”) and Camilo Becerra (“Perro muerto”), the co-production also involves Chile’s La Jauria Cine as well as Argentina’s Murillo Cine and HDArgentina. “We’re delighted to have our first co-production with Mexico, which is such an important market, given its relevance in terms of promotion and visibility in our region,” said Storyboard Media’s Gabriela Sandoval and Carlos Núñez.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Lie With Me,” a romance drama headlined by French stars Guillaume de Tonquebec and Victor Belmondo, has lured a raft of theatrical distributors at the Berlinale’s EFM. Represented in international markets by Be For Films and directed by Olivier Peyon, the movie is based on Philippe Besson’s book “Arrête avec tes mensonges.” The autobiographical novel was originally published in France by Editions Julliard in 2017 and won pair of awards including the Maison de la Presse prize in 2017. After selling several key territories earlier this year, Be For Films has now closed deals for the U.S. (Cinephobia Realising), Germany/Austria (24 Bilder), Brazil (Imovision), Poland (Tongariro), Greece (Cinobo) and Turkey (Bir Films).

Liza Foreman German production outfit MMC Studios (“Amelie”) is backing romanic drama “Dear Eszter,” from writer/director Alex Balassa. Bastian Griese and Lucas Hamacher will produce the film for MMC Studios in Cologne, alongside Balassa. The film’s co-producers include Peter Seres (“World War Z”) at Hungary’s Punk Films, as well as Ondrej Beranek (“The Chronicles of Narnia”) from the Czech Republic’s Blindspot Capital.  Two of Chile’s foremost TV producers, Maria Elena Wood (“Locas Mujeres”) and Patricio Pereira from Maria Wood Producciones (MEW), serve as executive producers. 

TWICE have shared snippets of a new single ‘Set Me Free’, due out next month.Earlier today (February 20), the girl group took to Twitter and TikTok to reveal their next single ‘Set Me Free’ from their forthcoming mini-album ‘Ready To Be’.

NME was not shown any more information on how these operators might be equipped or the gadgets they might entail.Brava will join Brazillian colleagues Capitao and Caviera, while there are already two Korean operators in Dokkabei and Vigil. However, there hasn’t been a Swedish operator in the game since the original franchise’s Annika Lofquist – a deep cut if Ubisoft were to bring her back – and there has never been a Portuguese operator, so it’s a chance for players from those countries to play operators from those two places.At the Rainbow Six Siege world championship the Six Invitational, a heap of information on both new operation Commanding Force and Ubisoft’s upcoming plans for the next year has been revealed.

Kim Kardashian debuted her new alien-themed SKIMS swimwear ads amid a spate of recent UFO sightings in the United States — and now the reality star's fans are questioning the curious timing. The 42-year-old television personality unveiled her new swimwear campaign, which was shot by "Spring Breakers" director Harmonie Korine, in a post that she shared to Instagram on Thursday. "SKIMS SWIM BY HARMONY KORINE launching Feb 21," Kardashian wrote in the caption, adding an alien emoji.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Jeon Do-yeon who earned the Cannes best actress award for her part in Lee Chang-dong’s tragedy-ridden “Secret Sunshine” back in 2007 and has long had the reputation as Korea’s most-admired female actor, gets a chance to show her range in “Kill Boksoon.” The Netflix-backed action film plays in the Berlinale Special section of the Berlin Film Festival and is a witty action showcase that was created especially for Jeon by one of Korea’s best young directors, Byun Sung-hyun. Byun Sung-hyun: My previous work before this was a political film. And after filming that, I had no particular intention other than to create something with the amazing actress Jeon Do-yeon. I didn’t give her any kind of text or scripts. I just asked her if she’d do the next film together.

EXCLUSIVE: BBC tell-all documentary The Real Mo Farah, in which the legendary olympian revealed the truth about how he came to live in the UK, has sold to networks in Canada, Australia and across Europe and the Middle East.

Good Morning Britain has come under fire after discussing South Park's fresh dig at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have become the latest inspiration for an episode of the US cartoon, which features a copy of a book entitled Waaagh, following the release of Harry's book, Spare.

Tom Schwartz is reflecting on the fallout that was caused by his kiss with friend and co-star Raquel Leviss shortly after his divorce from Katie Maloney was publicly announced.

EXCLUSIVE: Ashland Hill Media Finance is to co-finance a slate of four films at various stages of production, including Christophe Gans’ horror reboot Return To Silent Hill, based on the hit Konami video game.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Films Boutique has closed a flurry of deals on “Subtraction,” Mani Haghighi’s Iranian noir thriller which world premiered at Toronto in the competition Platform section. The Berlin-based company has closed deals in France (Diaphana in association with Kinovista), Russia and CIS (A One), Canada (Films We Like), Ex-Yugoslavia (MCF Megacom), Middle East (Fron Row), Poland (Mayfly), Taiwan (Proview Ent.), Australia and New Zealand (Vendetta), Switzerland (Trigon) and Benelux (September Films). The movie is headlined by Taraneh Alidoosti, the Iranian star of “The Salesman” and “Leila’s Brothers” and Navid Mohammadzadeh (“Leila’s Brothers”). Both Haghighi and Alidoosti have recently been targeted by Iranian authorities. Alidoosti was temporarily arrested, while Haghighi had his passport confiscated as he was about to board a flight to attend the BFI London Film Festival. 

DAZN Group has completed its acquisition of Eleven Group and social media creative agency Team Whistle.

Thania Garcia Univision has announced another wave of performers for the 35th edition of Premio Lo Nuestro, the longest-running awards show in Spanish-language television. Ozuna, Pepe Aguilar, Carin León, Fuerza Regida, Gente De Zona, Mau y Ricky and Grupo Frontera, have joined the jam-packed list of diverse entertainers set to take the stage on Feb. 23. Known for its elaborate tributes and megamix showcases, the show will feature performances from several of the night’s biggest nominees and past heavy-weight winners. This year, Sebastián Yatra leads the list as the most nominated act of the evening with 10 nods, followed by Bad Bunny, Camilo, Becky G and Grupo Firme.

EXCLUSIVE: Monica Villarreal has joined Anonymous Content’s talent division as a manager and producer. She will be based out of both the company’s New York and Los Angeles offices. 

Naman Ramachandran Banijay’s Endemol Shine India and Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan’s Black Knight Films will adapt hit Danish/Swedish scripted series “Bron/Broen” (“The Bridge”) for Indian audiences.  ” ‘The Bridge’ is actually something that I was actively looking to produce. So I went looking for it,” Khan told Variety. The original show opens with a dead body on a border that is shared by two countries and the discovery leads to a joint investigation by the police forces of the two regions, forcing detectives from both sides to work together to solve the crime. The global success of “The Bridge” – which has aired in 188 countries – has led to its adaptation in multiple languages, set across the international borders of U.S./Mexico, U.K./France, Germany/Austria, Singapore/Malaysia and Russia/Estonia.

EXCLUSIVE: As the European Film Market is set to kick off this week, Lionsgate has made a splash with the acquisition of domestic distribution rights to Guy Ritchie’s upcoming World War II movie The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Celebrities once again ran up the score for Super Bowl advertisers. The most-watched Super Bowl LVII ad on YouTube on Sunday was Melissa McCarthy’s Booking.com spot, in which the actor and comedian is whisked away on a whirlwind musical tour of gorgeous vacation getaways. John Travolta’s T-Mobile ad, crooning a riff on “Summer Nights” (alongside Zach Braff and Donald Faison), was No. 2. Other celebrity-driven ads in YouTube’s Top 10 came from Skechers (Snoop Dogg), Pepsi (Steve Martin), Paramount+ (Sylvester Stallone), Rakuten (with Alicia Silverstone reprising Cher from “Clueless”), Google Pixel (Amy Schumer, NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo and Doja Cat) and Avocados From Mexico (featuring a naked Anna Faris as Eve in a reimagined Garden of Eden).