Photos: Babylon’s Come Alive party

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefTang Wei, the Chinese star of Korean film “Decision to Leave,” says she told director Park Chan-wook that he’d made her life complete after seeing the finished version of the film at its Cannes Film Festival gala premiere.The film played in competition this week in Cannes. She revealed her confession on Tuesday at a press event, accompanied by Park, cast member Park Hae-il and scriptwriter Chung Soo-kyung.Switching between Chinese and English, Tang Wei said: “This in not the first time I’ve worked with a Korean director.

Elon Musk’s mother, Maye Musk, attended the Sports Illustrated Launch party at the Hard Rock Hotel in Florida. The 74-year-old South African and Canadian model looked elegant with an outift that highlighted pastel colors.Grimes clears the record on her relationship with Elon MuskBillionaire Elon Musk claims he couch surfs among friends after girlfriend Grimes said he lives ‘below the poverty line’Musk wore a long silk dress that she paired with a coat with different shades of pastel colors.

Mike Fazioli If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. When’s the best time to buy a new TV? If you guessed huge deals events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you’re right. But there’s a third less-ballyhooed prime TV-buying season, and it’s right now.New TVs are usually released in spring, and that makes the prior models they are replacing prime targets for big-time discounts.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe question arising at every Cannes Film Festival lineup announcement about why the festival has not selected films from a particular country tends to irk chief selector Thierry Frémaux. But this year, with films from China notable by their absence, Frémaux may be asking himself if he messed up, or whether bigger forces are at play?Last year, Cannes was at pains to conceal its selection of Hong Kong pro-democracy film “Revolution of Our Times” until as late as possible, in order not to alert mainland Chinese authorities or disrupt the other Chinese indies showing in the festival.China experts differ as to how much Cannes’ defiance last year was a factor in this year’s de facto boycott.

ESPN is reporting that the NBA playoffs are back for China’s TV viewers after a long banishment over controvesial political statements by an executive.

seven — soon to be eight — revealed to E! News’ Daily Pop he got a consultation to go under the knife for a vasectomy recently.“I don’t know if I would’ve designed it this way, but it’s one of those things when you’re blessed with the gifts of children — and as we all know, I’ve been through so much, I find solace, I find peace in my children and I find purpose,” the “Wild “N Out” host explained. “So, I’m not out here looking.”He continued, “I already went and got my vasectomy consultation. I ain’t looking to populate the Earth completely, but I’m definitely looking forward to taking care and loving all the children that I currently have.”Cannon is currently expecting his eighth baby with girlfriend Brie Tiesi.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent“Call Me By Your Name” producers Emilie Georges and Naima Abed are launching Paradise City, a London- and Paris-based film, TV drama and branded content production and management company. The banner’s slate includes projects by Edward Berger (“Deutschland 83”), Lili Horvát (“White God”), Anthony Chen (“Ilo Ilo”) and South African author Lauren Beukes (“Slipping”).Georges is the founder and CEO of sales banner Memento Intl., which is at Cannes this year with Tarik Saleh’s competition film “Boy from Heaven,” Dominik Moll’s “La nuit du 12” in Cannes Premieres, Charlotte Le Bon’s “Falcon Lake” in Directors’ Fortnight and Kristoffer Borgli’s “Sick of Myself” in Un Certain Regard.

Echo,” a new MCU series starring Alaqua Cox, has begun production, Disney has announced.The series is a spinoff of last year’s Disney+ Marvel show “Hawkeye,” which featured the debut of Cox as Maya Lopez. Created by David Mack and Joe Quesada in 1999 as a supporting character for the superhero Daredevil, Maya Lopez, aka Echo, is a deaf Cheyenne woman with Olympic level athletic skills and the ability to perfectly copy people’s movement. In “Hawkeye,” the character was depicted as the leader of the Tracksuit Mafia, a gang of criminals working under Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio).

The dinosaurs are ready to stomp into China with a June 10 date confirmed for Universal’s Jurassic World Dominion. This will be in step with the North American release — a rarity of late — after international rollout begins a few days prior. Universal confirmed the China release date on its official Weibo account with a video from stars Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt. Check out some new posters below.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefHong Kong-based sales firm Golden Network has picked up international rights to Jackie Chan’s upcoming film “Ride On.”The feature has recently wrapped production and is scheduled to be released on Dec. 31 in time for what is normally a peak cinemagoing period in China and elsewhere.Asian films are currently struggling to achieve pre-sales in international markets, but “Ride On” could be an exception.

DEALSIndependent music investment firm Exceleration Music has announced a “strategic financial alliance” with indie label Mom+Pop Music, which will allow the record company to expand and sign new artists. “We chose this path because it provides financial tools enabling us to maintain our self-sufficiency”, says label co-owner Thaddeus Rudd.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe mainland China box office remained moribund over the latest weekend, lacking direction or new releases and achieving nationwide revenue of just $11.4 million.The country is continuing to suffer from clusters of COVID infections that have caused mass lockdowns in some cities and the temporary closure of many cinemas. Even as there is now talk of easing restrictions in Shanghai, which had been locked down for five weeks, there is the prospect of new restrictions in capital city Beijing. The government has also imposed a blanket ban on all but essential overseas travel.U.S.

Everything Everywhere All At Once.The martial arts legend was originally envisioned by directors and writers Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan as playing the movie’s lead role. However, when he said he was unavailable, they rewrote the part for Yeoh.“Jackie actually texted me,” she told the Guardian about his response to the film.

Rolling Stone, in the early days of his presidency, Trump repeatedly asked his national security aides if China had a weapon that could create large, man-made hurricanes, and was using it to deliberately target the United States. According to one Trump official, “It was almost too stupid for words” — and Meyers largely agreed.“This was at the beginning of his presidency, and somehow his presidency still had a middle and an end,” Meyers marveled.But what hit Meyers the most wasn’t the idea of the hurricane gun itself; it was that Trump apparently took that as a forgone conclusion and had a series of steps he wanted to take in response.

TOKYO -- The melancholic sound of Ukrainian violinist Vera Lytovchenko’s music has echoed in subway stations, consoling people, some homeless, huddled in fear of Russian bombings.A new music video called “The Brave Ones” has her in an online collaboration with more than 200 musical artists from various nations, including the U.S., South Africa, Japan and Canada.The video, which includes news footage of neighborhoods reduced to rubble and the mournful but enduring faces of the people of Ukraine, is raising money for humanitarian aid for musicians in Ukraine, so far gathering more than $20,000.Lytovchenko said she believes it’s important for people, especially musicians, to connect.“Maybe I don’t have a choice. I just must do it.