Muneyuki Kii Launches K2 Pictures With Hirokazu Kore-eda & Takashi Miike Projects, Plans Japan Film Fund

Ankama-backed animation company Studio Unagi has officially launched in Montreal after setting up under the radar over the first half of 2024.

Are you on the hunt for coffee that not only tastes great and is eco-friendly, but also adds a touch of style to your kitchen? If so, you won't want to miss this adorable limited-edition collaboration between Grind London and Hello Kitty. Grind, renowned for its pink tins of compostable coffee pods, has joined forces with the iconic cartoon character to launch a range of coffee pods, ground coffee and accessories in honour of Hello Kitty's 50th anniversary.The collection, which showcases new packaging adorned with the famous feline, perfectly complements Grind's chic pink aesthetic, making it a must-have addition to your kitchen counter.

Hunter Ingram The new season of “Interview With the Vampire” offers plenty of immortal pleasures for the patient fans of AMC’s Anne Rice adaptation. But for production designer Mara LaPere-Schloop, Season 2 also fulfilled the artistic promise that first attracted her to the project — the Théâtre des Vampires. “Living in New Orleans, it was really an exciting exercise to think about how we could tell that story and showcase the city in Season 1,” LaPere-Schloop tells Variety.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic CANNES — Hosted by “Call My Agent” star Camille Cottin, the awards show for the 2024 Cannes Film Festival competition is underway. Presenters started making political statements right away, as short film jury president and Belgian actor Lubna Azabal called for the release of all hostages in Gaza.

Graham Norton is taking a well-earned break after Eurovision with a holiday in New York - and the TV presenter has been spotted out with his rarely-seen husband Jonathan 'Jono' McLeod.The pair married in 2022 after meeting six years prior, with the wedding taking place at Bantry House in Graham's native Cork, Ireland. Speaking on The Project, Graham explained that they married in Ireland to be closer to his 91-year-old mother Rhoda Walker. "I got married this year and we had our wedding party near to where my mother lives in Ireland just so she could come," he said.

Ellise Shafer Film industry players gathered at Mr. Nakamoto at the Mondrian hotel in Cannes on Monday night to celebrate Universal Pictures International.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Sideshow and Janus films (“Drive My Car”) have acquired all North American rights to Payal Kapadia‘s “All We Imagine as Light,” the first Indian film to screen in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 30 years. The movie will world premiere on Thursday, May 23. It’s also one of only four films in the Competition directed by a woman.

In Japan the very first few snowflakes begin to fall signaling the change of seasons. Another clue is we see young Takuya (Keitatsu Koshiyama) and his baseball-playing buddies taking those final swings at bat and moving on to ice hockey. That is basically how this quiet and lilting charmer of a coming-of-age story is introduced, and it sets the table perfectly for what is to follow.

Fans of Happy Endings will soon have a way to relive the moments from the show.

EXCLUSIVE: Producer Michael Bayer has launched True Case Films, a new production company based in Los Angeles, focused solely on producing and financing stories based on true crime. The newly formed company has secured IP and is actively seeking additional packaged true crime projects to finance, produce and executive produce. Bayer will serve as the new company’s president.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Female stunt performer Wiriya Caesar will step up into the lead performer role in upcoming Thai action film “The 24.” The film project is being launched this week in the Cannes Market by new international sales firm Boz Pictures. Wiriya (aka Porntip Wiriya, aka “Fan”) has previously been a stunt double for Mary-Elizabeth Winstead in “Kate” and Golshifteh Farahani in “Extraction,” and has other credits on “Thirteen Lives” and “Hidden Strike.” In “The 24” she will star as an assassin who wakes up with a time bomb strapped to her body. She has clear instructions to kill a hit list of 24 members of the Bangkok underground, with each successful hit buying her more time alive. Caesar is joined in the cast by Japan’s Sakaguchi Tak (“Re:Born,” “One Percenter,” “Versus”), Dan Chupong (“Ong Bak 1 &2,” “Born to Fight”), Sunny Pang (“The Night Comes for Us,” “Headshot” and Gareth Evans’ upcoming “Havoc”) and Simon Kook (“Ip Man 3,” “Mayhem”). The film, which will shoot in the fourth quarter of this year, is written and directed by Lee Thongkham (“The Maid,” “The Lake,” “Kitty the Killer”).

Naman Ramachandran Japanese director Miike Takashi, who is known for slasher film “Ichi the Killer” and stomach-churning “Audition,” has signed with CAA for representation. Miike who is also a film producer and screenwriter, is one of Japan’s most prolific and bold directors, with more than 100 feature film credits, spanning genres, including horror, comedy and action. “Ichi The Killer” and “Audition” enjoy cult followings globally.

Greta Gerwig addressed the growing #MeToo movement in France at the jury press conference on opening day of this year’s Cannes Film Festival. “I think people in the community of movies telling us stories and trying to change things for the better is only good,” Gerwig said when asked how she felt about #MeToo-related rumors swirling ahead of the festival. “I have seen substantive change in in the American film community, and I think it’s important that we continue to expand that conversation.

EXCLUSIVE: Ahead of the Cannes market, Lionsgate has taken North American rights off the table on one of the bigger-budget new packages that’ll be on sale next week: that’s action-thriller Mutiny, which will star action evergreen Jason Statham (Fast & Furious) and be directed by Jean-François Richet (Plane).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Kii Muneyuki, a former head of production at Japan’s Toei, is launching K2 Pictures, a company that aims to upend Japanese filmmaking practices. Its debut slate, with films by Kore-eda Hirokazu, Iwai Shunji and Nishikawa Miwa, will be unveiled in Cannes next week. A key part of the new company’s strategy is the establishment of a film fund, K2P Film Fund I, that will invest in live action and animations productions.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korean sales firm Finecut has inked multiple deals for horror thriller “Noise” and for “A Traveler’s Needs,” the recent Berlin prize-winner directed by Hong Sangsoo.“Noise” is a “multi-sensory and realistic horror” film that intertwines societal motifs of “floor noise” with suspenseful elements. Directed by Kim Soo-jin, the film centers around a woman with a hearing aid haunted by inexplicable sounds linked to her sister’s disappearance in her own apartment and attracting a malevolent presence.

Naman Ramachandran Actor George MacKay has reunited with his “For Those in Peril” director Paul Wright for “Mission.” Backed by BBC Film, Screen Scotland and Ffilm Cymru Wales with funding from the U.K. National Lottery, “Mission” is a co-production between Early Day Films (“Bait”) and 65 Wilding Films (“Baltimore”). The project was developed with Screen Scotland and BBC Film.

Naman Ramachandran British boxing champion and “Love Island” runner-up Tommy Fury will make his acting debut with Oceana Studios‘ “The Debt Inherited.” The film also marks the directorial debut of Oceana CEO Danny Sawaf. Dubai-based distribution and production outfit Oceana, whose credits include “Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend,” starring Gabriel Byrne and Mira Sorvino, “Monstrous,” starring Christina Ricci, and “Terrifier 2,” will launch sales on “The Debt Inherited” at the Cannes Film Market.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer EA reported its fourth-quarter and full fiscal year 2024 earnings Tuesday, revealing results that matched the video game company’s own guidance and analysts’ estimates, but forecasts for harder quarters ahead. Full game sales between Jan 1 and March 31 of this year were $333 million (down from $372 million in the comparable Q4 fiscal 2023 quarter), while live services and “other” revenue totaled $1.45 billion (down from $1.5 billion a year ago, and from last quarter’s record growth of $1.7 billion). Profit for the quarter was $182 million compared to a loss of $12 million in Q4 2023.

While Emma Bunton may be a household name, the former Spice Girl is known for keeping her two children far away from the limelight, rarely posting them to social media. But this week, the singer, 48, took to Instagram to mark her youngest child Tate's 13th birthday with a sweet post, giving an insight into the birthday celebrations. In the carousel of snaps posted, birthday banners and pink balloons could be seen around Emma's home, while Tate had a personalised chocolate cake.The family enjoyed a pre-birthday dinner at Shoreditch House's Japanese restaurant Pen Yen, while Tate's friends appeared to be there celebrating on the day with an at-home party.