‘The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon’ Leads Taipei Film Awards Nominations – Global Bulletin

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Two South Korean superstars Gianna Jun and Gang Dong-won head the cast of “Tempest,” an espionage action drama series being readied by streaming service Disney+ for release next year. The contemporary Korea-set story sees Jun portray a highly-accomplished diplomat and former ambassador to the U.S.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Taipei Film Festival has set “A Journey in Spring” as the Taiwan flagbearer in its international competition section. Directed by Peng Tzu-hui and Wang Ping-wen, the film was shot on Super 16 mm film stock and stars King Jieh-wen and Yang Kuei-mei.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “The Last Frenzy,” a comedy film about a dying man’s last hurrah, retained the top spot in mainland Chinese cinemas for the third weekend of its four weeks on release. Other signs of theatrical malaise were plentiful. “The Last Frenzy” earned $5.8 million (RMB41.5 million) between Friday and Sunday, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Having received a rapturous reception a week earlier in Cannes George Miller’s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” grabbed a more muted win at the South Korean box office. “Furiosa” opened with $3.35 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). That represented a 39.5% share of the weekend’s total cinema-going market.

EXCLUSIVE: Buffalo 8 has acquired worldwide rights out of Cannes to The President and the Dragon, a Jimmy Carter documentary from Sudanese writer, director and producer Waleed Eltayeb and Irish director-cinematographer Ian D. Murphy.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Fresh from its Cannes premiere George Miller’s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” dashed into the lead at the South Korea cinema box office. In doing so, it deposed “The Roundup: Punishment,” the local crime actioner that has dominated Korean cinemagoing for the past month. “Furiosa” earned $575,000 from 75,400 ticket sales on Wednesday, giving it a Korean total of $597,000, including a sprinkling of preview showings, according to data from the Kobis tracking service that is operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).

EXCLUSIVE: Paolo Sorrentino‘s anticipated new movie Parthenope has sold around the world for Pathé here in Cannes where the film is playing in Competition.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The 27-member European Film Agency Directors Association and the Asian Film Alliance Network, which was established this time last year and currently has seven members, have agreed to work together on topics of common interest and to jointly develop a better world film ecosystem. At a meeting this week held on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival, EFAD and AFAN promised to enhance understanding and collaboration between Asian and European national film agencies. Topics included: dialog on policy and regulations; the development of the film industry in both regions; and addressing new media and challenges ahead. Separately, the founding AFAN members convened for a closed-door roundtable discussion on May 16.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “The Last Frenzy,” a comedy film about a dying man’s last hurrah, returned to the top spot in mainland Chinese cinemas in its third weekend of release. “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” which a week earlier had been the biggest title, slipped to fourth place. In another China disappointment for Hollywood, “The Fall Guy” opened outside the Chinese top ten.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Local blockbuster, “The Roundup: Punishment” extended its dominance of the South Korea theatrical box office for a fourth weekend. That lifted its cumulative total to a powerful $75 million. “Punishment,” the fourth part of a brutal action comedy film franchise produced by and starring Don Lee (aka Ma Dong-seok), earned $3.05 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC).

Jack Dunn Umbrelic Entertainment has unveiled the cast of its upcoming horror film, “The Possession at Gladstone Manor,” which includes Caylee Cowan (“Hypnotic”), Jesse Metcalfe (“John Tucker Must Die”), Charlotte Kirk (“The Reckoning”), Darren Weiss (“Inside Man”), Barbara Crampton (“You’re Next”), William Mapother (“Blackhat”) and Lin Shaye (“Insidious” franchise). Production is currently underway in Kansas City, and AMP’s Anthony Buckner is handling international sales at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. According to an official logline, “The Possession at Gladstone Manor” picks up “when Jamie Black discovers her mother has gone missing [and] resolves to investigate by applying for the same job her mother held at Gladstone Manor.

William Earl administrator SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from “Old Friends,” the fourth episode of Season 3 of Netflix’s “Bridgerton.” “For God’s sake, Penelope Featherington. Are you going to marry me or not?” The first half of Season 3 of “Bridgerton” ends with these breathtaking words, as Colin (Luke Newton) proposes to Penelope (Nicola Coughlan). What a cliffhanger! Will Penelope say yes? Will she reveal that she’s Lady Whistledown? Could Colin be any more romantic? Yet this moment is just one development in a half-season full of drama, deceit and Debling.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Leading Hong Kong actor Tony Leung has been set as the president of the jury that will decide the main competition prizes at the Tokyo International Film Festival later this year. “Japan is close to my heart in more ways than one. And to be involved in celebrating film in this way, is a big deal for me.

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”).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Seoul-based film sales company, Finecut has notched pre-sales for its upcoming action-comedy “The Desperate Chase, which it is launching this week at the Cannes Film Festival‘s Cannes Market,. The film is an action comedy featuring a hot-blooded detective and a swindler who is also a master of disguise who team up to combat an evil mafia. Early rights buyers include Rights Cube for Japan, Apex Success Global for Taiwan and Mockingbird Pictures for Vietnam. Screening as a rough cut in the Cannes Market, the film is the second feature by Kim Jae-hoon, known for his debut with the body-switch action thriller “Devils,” which released in South Korea last year.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The feature “Tales of Taipei” is a tribute to the low-pressure, culturally rich city, which has been shaped by its regional neighbors, taken in diverse peoples and distilled the multiple competing influences into a messy, happy-go-lucky morass. Produced by Bowie Tsang and Amy Ma, the film calls on 10 directors hailing from Malaysia, France, Bhutan and Hong Kong, and Taiwanese locals Yin Cheng-han and Remii Huang to contribute.“Everything is possible in Taiwan, everything exits side by side,” says Tsang, who was born in Hong Kong. “We have old Chinese myths.

Eurovision Song Contest 2024.This year’s competition, which was ultimately won by Switzerland’s Nemo, was surrounded by controversy for allowing Israel to compete amid the ongoing conflict with Hamas in Gaza.A statement shared by the EBU to both The Mirror and The Irish Times read: “We regret that some delegations at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö didn’t respect the spirit of the rules and the competition both onsite and during their broadcasts. We spoke to a number of delegations during the event regarding various issues that were brought to our attention.It continued: “The EBU’s governing bodies will, together with the heads of delegations, review the events surrounding the ESC in Malmö to move forward in a positive way and to ensure the values of the event are respected by everyone.A post shared by European Broadcasting Union (@ebu_hq)“Individual cases will be discussed by the event’s governing body, the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group made up of representatives from participating broadcasters, at its next meeting.”The statement’s release comes after the slew of controversies that took over this year’s edition of the song contest.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” debuted on top of the mainland China box office with an opening weekend score of $11.4 million (RMB81.1 million). That was only the fourth weekend this year that a Hollywood film has topped the China charts and the third time in 2024 that a Hollywood title has opened on top. “Apes” was also the top film this weekend in North America and international markets. Data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway showed that the film accounted for some 30% of the theatrical total on a weekend where theaters earned a combined $38.2 million.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” opened in second place at the South Korean weekend box office, a distance behind local holdover title “The Roundup: Punishment.” “Punishment,” the fourth part of Don Lee’s “Roundup” action franchise, dominated proceedings for the third weekend in succession. It earned $5.53 million and advanced its cumulative total to $67.7 million, according to Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).

Husband and wife David and Victoria Beckham both took to their Instagram stories to share beautiful photos of the Northern Lights on Friday 10 May.The couple posted photos of the stunning natural light display, with one image featuring David with his arms outstretched, looking up at the purple and pink streaked sky, and another featuring the stunning night sky with the caption: “This is incredible!” The Northern Lights – also known as aurora borealis – are more commonly spotted in areas such as Alaska, Canada, Iceland and Scandinavia, but on Friday they were clearly visible throughout the UK, with many people taking to social media to post their photos of pink, green and pink lights in the sky. In case you missed the natural phenomenon, it is expected the lights will also be visible tonight (Saturday 11 May), with the Met Office saying there is a good chance of sightings in Scotland and the north of England, Ireland and Wales, especially if the skies are clear.