Toei Animation and CJ ENM Launch Slate of Live- Action and Cartoon Series

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Band of Brothers” writer Bruce McKenna is teaming with David Broyles (“Six”) and Nick Jones Jr. (“Yasuke”) to write and produce a limited TV series “Buffalo Rangers” about the 2nd Ranger Company, the only all-Black special operations combat unit in U.S. history. They were notable for their efforts in the Korean War. The series is being produced by South Korea-based Moving Pictures Company, which has a growing English-language slate. No broadcaster or streamer has been announced. Producing alongside Broyles, Jones and McKenna are Thomas Suh (through his production company Système D Entertainment), Paul Merryman (“The Outpost”), Debra Martin Chase (“Harriet,” CBS’s “The Equalizer”) and Jariko Denman (“The Outpost”), a retired master sergeant with 15 combat deployments.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Dean Devlin’s Electric Entertainment is taking ElectricNow, its AVOD channel and app, into international markets for the first time. The rollout outside the U.S. starts in early November with outreach into Australia. Los Angeles-based indie, Electric Entertainment has previously licensed its content to local distributors and channels at international markets. When it launched the OTT channel in 2019 it did not seek to build global operations, which would have entailed undoing, or waiting for the expiry, of some of those deals. The company , headed by Devlin and partners Marc Roskin and Rachel Olschan-Wilson, says that ElectricNow will soon be rolled out in other English-language territories, Canada and the U.K, but did not specify a timetable.

Joshua Bassett just dropped a new song, and it's all about this «complicated» love life. «SHE SAID HE SAID SHE SAID» is an upbeat departure from the singer and actor's recent run of ballads.Telling the story of a toxic relationship, Bassett sings, "You starting rumors, it's nothing new, yeah. We're on this sh*t again.

EXCLUSIVE: Labid Aziz’s People of Culture Studios is partnering with Man of Action Entertainment (Ben 10), Creation Station and Composition Media to produce the 3D animated family feature Sky & Luna, based on the original IP from Creation Station.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief International streaming company Netflix has unveiled six new titles representing its first wide-ranging slate of content from Thailand. Its four films and two series span the comedy, suspense and comedy drama genres and hail from six different local production firms – GMM Studios, International, GDH, Song Sound Productions, Transformation Films, 18 Tanwa and Jungka Bangkok. Significantly, too, they are sourced from established directors or producers. Writer-director Prueksa Amaruji’s dark comedy film “Lost Lotteries” is produced by Ekachai Uekrongtham (“Beautiful Boxer,” “Pleasure Factory”) and will stream from mid-November.

Austin Stoker, the Trinidadian-American actor from Assault on Precinct 13 and Roots, has died. His wife Robin Stoker confirmed the actor’s death happened on Friday, October 7, his 92nd birthday.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korean indie production house, IMTV is developing and will produce a drama series based on the New York Times best-selling novel, “The Island of Sea Women” by Lisa See.  The story is set largely on the remote Korean island of Jeju, among the community of ‘haenyo,’ women who earn a living by free diving for mollusks, seaweed and other sea life from the depths of the ocean. Representatives of a rare semi matriarchal society, the women work while the menfolk typically stay at home, though property is passed down along male lines. Celebrated activist and Nobel Prize-winner Malala recently boarded a documentary project about the haenyo of Jeju that is set up at the A24 U.S. indie studio.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korean sales firm, Finecut is using the Asian Contents & Film Market on the sidelines of the Busan International Film Festival to launch comic action film “Brave Citizen.” The film, now in post-production, is an adaptation of a webtoon which ranked first in popularity when it was serialized on the platform Comico. It was later serialized on another Korean platform Naver Webtoon and recorded 2.27 million views on its Line Webtoon platform in Taiwan. It tells the tale of female former boxing champion who has become a substitute high school teacher. Having witnessed intolerable violence, she dons a mask and throws her first punch for justice.

Olivia Attwood has reportedly become the first ever Love Island contestant to sign up for I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Manta Comics is to release a webcomic adaptation of “A Hard Day,” a Korean action thriller film from 2014 originally directed by Kim Seong-hun. In Manta’s adaptation, the protagonist Ko Gunsoo has been recreated as a female detective, and the story begins when she accidentally hits a homeless person with her car shortly after her mother’s death. Unwilling to catch a manslaughter charge, Gunsoo hides the body in her mother’s casket. A mysterious stranger soon arrives, claiming knowledge of the hit-and-run, and Gunsoo finds herself embroiled in a shady police corruption scandal.  The 2014 movie was produced by AD406 and distributed internationally by Showbox / Mediaplex.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hong Kong multi-hyphenate Peter Chan Ho-sun is far too intellectual to call himself an “arms dealer,” as Sony Pictures has in casting itself as an unattached supplier to streaming platforms. But politeness and Bob Dylan references aside, Chan’s new company, Changin’ Pictures, aims to become a major independent purveyor of premium Asian TV content for the streamers. The company is using this week’s Busan International Film Festival as its launchpad and will unveil the first five series of its 20-title pan-Asian slate.  Chan’s thesis is that global audiences are hungry for Asian content but have not been able to access it easily under legacy film and TV distribution systems. With streaming making everything accessible everywhere, and audiences no longer balking at subtitles, quality Asian drama can and will travel.

Olivia Attwood is reportedly gearing up to enter the I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! jungle in November. The former Love Island star, 31, is said to be one of the famous faces heading to Australia next month to take part in the hit ITV show, according to The Sun.

He’s never looked better. Jennifer Love Hewitt gave a rare glimpse into her marriage with husband Brian Hallisay — with a spooky Halloween twist.

Documentarian filmmaker ​​Alexandre O. Philippe is known for his deep dives into specific films and filmmakers.

Annika Pham Partly featured in James Bond’s “No Time to Die,” the rugged Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic and their 53,000 inhabitants, were the setting and main inspiration for “Trom”, the first ever Faroese TV series, majority produced by Denmark’s REinvent Studios. The crime show’s creator Torfinnur Jákupsson and joint-producer Jón Hammer have now used the international success of “Trom,” commissioned by Viaplay and co-produced by Arte/ZDF, to up their game. The duo has launched Tórshavn-based GRÓ Studios, the first film and television studio of its kind in the Faroe Islands, covering development through production and sales.

Love Triangle’s Yannick Samarasinghe is a walking embodiment of the phrase “tall, dark and handsome” and even runs his own business, so he needs no help with dating.WATCH: Love Triangle | OFFICIAL TRAILER | A Stan Original Dating SeriesIn the past he’s dated models, athletes and Instagram influencers, confessing to WHO exclusively: “I’m quite a physical person and I know what I like in a woman.“I’ve always dated women that you’d expect a guy who looks like me to date, not to sound like a d—k.”But in a surprisingly candid moment, Yannick admits that focusing on looks alone has left him longing for a deeper connection with a woman.That is why a dating show where you have no clue what the people you’re matched with look like really appealed to him.Yannick admits that focusing on looks alone has left him longing for a deeper connection with a woman.“Because of the way I look sometimes I get put in a box… but there’s a lot more to me,” he says.“To build a connection not knowing what anyone looks like, that was the clincher for me to do the show.”His focus on the show was to just be himself, that way if he got a “bad edit” or was “made out to be a villain”, at least he knew he was true to himself.“If you’re a fake person trying to pretend be something you’re not and you get the bad edit anyway you’re like ‘well f—k’,” he laughs.“Because of the way I look sometimes I get put in a box… but there’s a lot more to me."“You’re probably living in a bit of a fake reality if you go on a show thinking that you have control of that.”On a more personal note, Yannick recognises that his casting in Love Triangle as a mixed-race man of Sri Lankan and Portuguese descent is a big deal in itself.“I’ve always been the token Black guy.