The Vaccines’ Freddie Cowan departs band for “foreseeable future”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” opened in fourth place at the mainland China box office with a muted $5 million haul. Top honors belonged to Japanese animation film “Suzume” for the second weekend. “Suzume” incurred a 55% week-on-week drop, falling from $49.6 million in its opening weekend, to $22.1 million in is second, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. After ten days in Chinese theaters, “Suzume” now has a cumulative total of $80.6 million. Nevertheless, its lead at the top of the box office chart was unassailable. The weekend’s best-placed new release title was “Hachiko,” a Chinese retelling of the Japanese tale of a dog which faithfully waited at a station for its master years after his death. (The story was previously given a U.S. version with Richard Gere in the lead human role.) It earned $8.9 million (RMB61.2 million) in its opening weekend.

Members of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party plan to meet this week with Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger and Apple CEO Tim Cook, as well as screenwriters and other studio executives.

A new pan-Asian street food bar, takeaway and restaurant, is set to open this weekend on Deansgate, but it’s been over 40 years in the making. Suki Suki will be serving up sticky wings, steaming ramens and katsu curries, but bringing with it generations of culinary pedigree.

James Bond in the 1980s.The Game Of Thrones actor explained in an interview with the Guardian how he considered gunning for the part after Roger Moore stepped down from the role following 1985’s A View To A Kill, until his agent convinced him otherwise.Asked about a rumour that he turned down the role of 007, Dance said: “No, of course I didn’t turn down James Bond! What happened was, my agent called and said: ‘I urge you not to do it. Just think how you’ll feel if you don’t get it.

A former police officer has recouped a £75,000 investment he put into a company owned by conman Matthew Farr.

told the UK’s Express. “I mean, she could be 006, 008 or 009 … It wouldn’t be the same because it’s Bond. It’s Fleming’s Bond.

Daisy May Cooper is said to be in talks to join the James Bond franchise, as spy chief ‘M’, a role previously portrayed by Dame Judi Dench and Ralph Fiennes. The This Country creator and star, 36, is thought to be top of the list of potential Ms, with producers looking to take the franchise, and its characters, in a different direction with the upcoming film.The casting would coincide with a new leading man as well, with Daniel Craig departing the franchise following the release of No Time To Die in 2021.

James Bond film.According to The Sun, the This Country star is being eyed to bring a “comedic and quirky” edge to the role, which was previously portrayed by Ralph Fiennes and Judi Dench.A source told the publication: “Daisy is a close pal of [writer] Phoebe [Waller-Bridge], whose involvement in Bond was such a success that it sparked an unlikely conversation.“Suddenly the production team were getting excited about the prospect of really taking M in a different direction.“With Daniel [Craig] leaving, it seemed the time to start looking at changes across the board and the dynamic between Bond and M is at the heart of the films.”The source added: “So this opens the door to it being a bit lighter and more comedic going forwards – and will of course impact the direction the new 007 goes in too.”Earlier this week, Taron Egerton dismissed rumours that he could succeed Daniel Craig as the next 007, saying that he doesn’t think he’s “the right choice for it”.“You have to be consistently statuesque to be that guy. And that’s something that I am still striving for.

Taron Egerton has responded to rumours he could take on the role of James Bond, saying that he doesn’t think he’s “the right choice for it”.The actor initially rose to fame in the Bond-like franchise Kingsman, though with the departure of Daniel Craig as 007 Egerton’s name has been in the mix of potential actors who could take over.“I don’t think I’m the right choice for it,” the star told The Daily Telegraph. “You have to be consistently statuesque to be that guy.

reported Friday.The inquiry began late last year after TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, admitted that employees had wrongly captured information of American users of the social app, including data from two journalists and some of their associates, the Times reported.The U.S. government as been concerned for years about the growing popularity of TikTok and the influence the authoritarian Chinese government has over the company and how the app is used.Both the Trump and Biden administrations have investigated TikTok amid these concerns, and now FBI and the U.S.

'Ashley Park and 's Sherry Cola seek the answer to that question in their raunchy new comedy,, which makes its premiere at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas, on Friday. In the film, directed by  co-writer Adele Lim, Park stars as Audrey, a young woman who was adopted from China as an infant. When she sees a business trip to Asia as the opportunity to find the birth mother she never knew, she recruits help from a few unlikely allies -- her foul-mouthed hot mess of a BFF, Lolo (Cola), her college friend-turned-Chinese soap star, Kat (Stephanie Hsu), and Lolo's eccentric cousin, Deadeye (Sabrina Wu) — to turn the experience into an epic journey.The comedy — which features some explicit translation errors, a drug-addled train ride and the group disguising themselves as K-pop stars — also stars Ronny Chieng.

How could a trip to the motherland go so hilariously, disastrously wrong? The quartet at the heart of Adele Lim’s “Joy Ride” – Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu and Sabrina Wu – have no idea what they’re in for at the top of the trailer, which Lionsgate released Friday ahead of the film’s premiere at SXSW.The trailer begins with the origin story of Audrey (Park) and Lolo’s (Cola) friendship, when they meet at a park as young kids. Lolo punches a white boy in the throat after he calls Audrey a racist slur, sealing the deal on their lifelong friendship.

, it's only recently that the world has started paying attention to menopause symptoms. It's long overdue, considering the symptoms of menopause go well beyond the oft-parodied hot flash. “It has been well established that menopause can affect a woman from head to toe,” says Dr. , a fellow of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and founder and chief medical officer of HerMD.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The recent reopening of the mainland Chinese box office, including a $1 billion Chinese New Year holiday season, has put a different complexion on the global theatrical industry. Few companies could be closer to that change in fortune than Imax China, a stock market-listed subsidiary of the Imax Corp. The company operates as both a supplier of screens, audio and projection equipment for premium cinemas and as a partner in making local Chinese films fit for exhibition in the giant format. During Chinese New Year, Imax was represented by “Avatar: The Way of Water” and four Chinese movies. Daniel Manwaring, CEO of Imax China, spoke to Variety in his first interview since taking on the top job in January.

“Masked Singer” host did not attend the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday night but gave TMZ his feedback on Kimmel’s opening monologue, which included a joke about him and his12 offspring. “Disney spent $2 billion on this movie, and just to break even, all of Nick Cannon’s kids had to see ‘Avatar’ four times,” Kimmel, 55, joked about theOscar-winning“Avatar: The Way of Water.”“It’s hilarious,” Cannon told the outlet while leaving the Avra Beverly Hills restaurant.“I created ‘Wild ‘n Out,'” he added about his longtime improv, comedy TV series.

The Vaccines‘ guitarist Freddie Cowan has revealed ‘Begin Again’, the third single to be released as part of his upcoming solo album. Check it out below.The new track will feature as part of the artists’ new solo endeavour, Freddie & The Scenarios – a project that sees Cowan take on the role of frontman alongside some other famous faces.Entitled ‘Begin Again’ the latest single is centred around the motif of ‘rebirth’, and explores themes of self-doubt and fear, as well as the importance of transforming your outlook.Joining Cowan on the track are his recently-appointed bandmates – all of which form supergroup, The Scenarios.

EXCLUSIVE: Drift director Anthony Chen is gearing up to direct his first US-set project, Heartbeat: A New York Story, about the rarely-told experiences of the Asian gay community during the AIDS epidemic in 1980s New York.

A third man has appeared in court charged with the murder of a man in Greenock.

fathering 12 kids with six different women in recent years.But this time, he’s in on the joke. Cannon shocked the internet on Tuesday when he began promoting a fake game show titled “Who’s Having My Baby?” to be released on the E! network this spring.The actor shared a promo video that truly looked like an E! television commercial teasing a new show with Kevin Hart that would be “the mother of all game shows.”“We’re not kidding around,” the narrator said in the fake ad — though they were.

With many parts of Scotland experiencing snowy and icy conditions, motorists are being warned to remain cautious and plan ahead.