Top Media Buyer GroupM Names Sharb Farjami North America CEO

Choosing a name for your newborn baby is often one of the most challenging decisions that parents will have to face, as there are so many options out there.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Concrete Utopia,” the highly regarded drama-thriller that was South Korea’s Oscars contender and one of the biggest box office hits of 2023, has scored a streaming release in North America. Rakuten Viki, which specializes in Asian content, has licensed exclusive rights to the film in the U.S. and Canada and will begin streaming it to North American audiences from Friday.

Top Gun: Maverick was one of the biggest movies in the last few years, and Austin Butler had an opportunity to star in it.

EXCLUSIVE: VMI Releasing, the North American distribution arm of VMI Worldwide, has hired Dan Fisher as Executive Vice President. 

EXCLUSIVE: HanWay Films will represent international sales at next month’s EFM on Berlinale Competition title La Cocina. Fifth Season co-financed the film and is co-representing North America with WME.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Sharb Farjami will take the reins of the North American operations of GroupM, the media-investment giant that is part of WPP. Farjami had been CEO of North American for Wavemaker, one of the big media-buying units of GroupM..

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Time traveling-fantasy-adventure movie “Alienoid 2” was a comfortable winner at the South Korea box office over the weekend. But with few fresh films on release the cinema-going market slowed. “Alienoid 2” earned $2.06 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). That was down by 42% compared with its opening session a week earlier and leaves it with a total of $7.96 million after 12 days on release. The first instalment of “Alienoid” was one of the biggest flops of 2022.

and so are we — but Mitski sure isn’t.Fans of the wistful indie icon will be pleased to hear that she’s added 15 August and September shows featuring special guests Laufey, Lamp, Alvvays, Arlo Parks, Ethel Cain and Wyatt Flores on select dates to her 2024 ‘The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We Tour.’On the first leg of the tour, Tamino, Sunny War, Julia Jacklin and Sarah Kinsley will serve as Mitski’s support acts.With the addition of the second North American leg of the tour, the 33-year-old singer-songwriter now has 51 U.S. concerts lined up this year; that includes seven consecutive New York City and Brooklyn gigs at the Beacon and Kings Theatre this February.“In our efforts to make the show experience extra special, we found beautiful, seated theaters to play over multiple nights, rather than one giant venue per city, in the hopes of offering a more intimate experience to the audience,” Mitski shared on Instagram.And if you’d like to hear her 2023 album “The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We” as well as favorites like “Nobody,” “Washing Machine Heart” and more in intimate settings live, you can grab tickets for all 50+ Mitski shows as soon as today.Although inventory isn’t available for the newly announced August and September concerts on Ticketmaster until Friday, Jan.

Jon Hamm has revealed whether he felt any competition with Tom Cruise while the two actors were filming “Top Gun: Maverick.” During his appearance on Friday’s episode of “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?” (now streaming on Max), Hamm, 52, said, “What I really learned was that I loved every bit of working with Tom.”“He is the consummate professional. He pushes himself to a level that almost seems superhuman and then invites you,” he continued. “It’s not a competition with him.

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie has proven to be no laughing matter at the box office with its billion-dollar take.

Ben Croll Film Movement will give “A Nice Jewish Boy” a home – several, in fact, as the New York-based distributor has picked up North American rights to Noé Debré’s bittersweet comedy with plans for both festival and theatrical plays later this year. Charades’ Hélène Espeisse brokered the deal with Film Movement president Michael Rosenberg.

Bush have appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to perform their hit song, ‘Glycerine’.On the Tuesday night (January 16) episode of The Tonight Show, Bush’s Gavin Rossdale performed the track alone backed by a string section. With a distorted electric guitar in hand, the frontman sang the 1996 ballad with heartfelt emotion.

Actor Josh Duhamel has welcomed a baby son with Audra Mari. In a joint Instagram post the new parents announced the birth of their son alongside a black-and-white photo of the adorable newborn's feet. Sharing the infant's rather unsual name, they penned the caption: "Shepherd Lawrence Duhamel 1/11/24 [white heart emoji]" Singer and actor Lenny Kravitz led the messages of congratulations, as he commented: "Congratulations" followed by two heart emojis.

Warning: The following post contains spoilers about tonight’s fifth season finale of FX’s Fargo, “Bisquik”

the first active-duty Air Force officer to be named Miss America when she soared into first place in the annual competition on Sunday. “I’m very excited to get to represent women who can break stereotypes,” Marsh said in an interview featured on the official Miss America Instagram page.The blond bombshell is a second lieutenant in the Air Force who is pursuing a master’s degree in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. After her crowning moment, Marsh said she wants women across the country to know: “You can achieve anything.”“The sky is not the limit, and the only person that’s stopping you is you,” she added.

Naman Ramachandran Telugu-language Indian superhero film “Hanu Man” has emerged as a hit and is adding screens in North America. The film is set in the fictional village of Anjanadri and follows Hanumanthu, who miraculously awakens Hindu god Lord Hanuman’s power after being involved in an accident near the sea.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Sci-fi fantasy comedy “Alienoid 2” opened on top of the South Korean box office with $3.57 million on a weekend that otherwise saw five animation titles and a political documentary in the top ten. The big-budget, time-traveling “Alienoid 2” earned $3.57 million between Friday and Sunday with a market share of 39% and $4.77 million over its opening five days, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council. Imax reports that some $370,000 of the film’s total was earned from 24 Imax screens. The film was made as a two-parter.

Discovering the ideal city in Britain to live in means weighing factors like well-paid jobs, reasonable housing costs, amenities and a vibrant cultural scene.

Puck News. The new installment would see the “Mission Impossible” star, 61, return to his role of naval aviator Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, as well as his “Top Gun: Maverick” co-stars Miles Teller and Glen Powell.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Parasite” director Boon Joon-ho led a press conference in Seoul on Friday, following the death by suicide of actor Lee Sun-kyun at the end of December. Lee had been investigated by police in Incheon for possible recreational use of drugs and was at the center of a maelstrom of media and social media commentary for the two months prior to his death.