WPP-Owned Motion Content Group Rebrands As GroupM Motion Entertainment In North America, Shifting Toward Premium Content

Starship Entertainment have confirmed that WJSN members Luda and Dawon are still part of the girl group.Yesterday, in a statement to South Korean news outlet TV Report, Starship Entertainment clarified the status of the two K-pop idols, noting that the duo “have not left WJSN”.The statement came shortly after WJSN member Soobin appeared on the YouTube channel Han Moon Chul TV, where she stated that the girl group “are still 10 members” and “have always been 10”, per Soompi.Luda and Dawon status as members of WJSN had been in question over the past week, after the pair left the K-pop agency. The duo were the only Korean members of the group to not renew their contract with Starship Entertainment.At the time, the K-pop agency said that they had “carried out sincere and in-depth discussions” with Luda and Dawon before their contracts ended.

Top executives from Asian media companies including CJ ENM, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, BEC World and Bona Film Group discussed Asia’s changing media landscape on the first day of Hong Kong’s Filmart. 

Naman Ramachandran Asian content heavyweights revealed their thoughts on several subjects at a panel called “The Asian Wave in 2023 and Beyond” on March 13, the opening day of FilMart in Hong Kong. The lively session, moderated by Variety‘s Asia editor Patrick Frater, featured Sebastian Kim, director of international content sales and acquisition at Korea’s CJ ENM, Sanmesh Thakur, executive VP and territory head, Asia Pacific, at India’s Zee Entertainment Enterprises and Ziraviss Vindhanapisuth, VP, international business at Thailand’s BEC World Public Company. The evergreen topic of co-production was discussed in some depth. Kim said: “We’ve been looking for this formula for decades and for now, we find that the best formula of co-production is more like an adaptation of the original — A place to B place production — that’s how we’ve been doing it.”

Queens of K-pop. The girl group TWICE has continued to dominate the music industry, both in Asia and around the world.

TWICE has dropped their new album and we also have new photos of the group!

Thania Garcia The Cure is hitting the road for a North American trek that includes three dates each at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl and New York’s Madison Square Garden. This will be the first time the band plays any North American shows since their 2019 festival appearances and their first tour in the region since 2016. Following a slate of 2022 European concerts, the Cure’s “Shows of a Lost World” tour will kick on May 10 in New Orleans and hit 30 stops across the U.S. and some parts of Canada with a closing show on July 1 in Miami. The Cure will be supported by Scottish post-punk band the Twilight Sad at all shows. See the full lineup below.

Netflix will splash the cash in the APAC region this year, boosting content investment by 15% as revenues grow by 12%, according to a report from Media Partners Asia (MPA).

YG Entertainment has revealed that its upcoming girl group BABYMONSTER might not debut with all seven previously revealed members.K-pop agency YG Entertainment spent the last month unveiling the seven members of its upcoming girl group BABYMONSTER. However, the company has now shared that the lineup for the new act is not yet set in stone.At midnight KST today (March 6), the entertainment agency released a new teaser titled ‘Last Evaluation’, in which founder and producer Yang Hyun-suk informs the seven trainees that BABYMONSTER “will never be a seven-member group”.“We want to unveil the very last evaluation to fans, which was held right before deciding the members of BABYMONSTER, and then finalise the best members as BABYMONSTER,” explained Yang.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief A court in Seoul on Friday blocked a proposed move to issue new shares in K-pop talent agency SM Entertainment to Korean tech giant Kakao Corp. and its Kakao Entertainment subsidiary. An injunction was sought by Lee Soo-man, one of the pioneers of the Korean contemporary music industry, but who is recently at the center of a storm of controversy. Lee, who has fallen out with his company’s current management team, announced at the beginning of February his plans to sell a 14.8% stake in SM to HYBE Corp., the firm behind hit group BTS and a rival to SM. It then emerged that SM’s management was proposing to issue new shares to the Kakao pair, giving them a 9.05% holding, and sign an exclusive distribution contract. The share stake would make Kakao the second biggest shareholder in the firm after HYBE and dilute its influence.

EXCLUSIVE: Ley Line Entertainment and FirstGen Content have set an all-star ensemble for its co-production of On Swift Horses as Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elordi, Will Poulter, Diego Calva and Sasha Calle are on board to star. Daniel Minahan is on to direct with Peter Spears producing alongside Mollye Asher, Tim Headington and Theresa Steele Page on behalf of Ley Line with Michael D’Alto producing on behalf of FirstGen Conent. Bryce Kass is adapting the script.

Wu-Tang Clan and Nas have announced a sprawling world tour for this year, covering Australia, New Zealand, Europe, the UK and North America from May to October. The new run marks a continuation of the co-headlined ‘N.Y. State Of Mind’ tour – named for Nas’ 1994 ‘Illmatic’ cut – which initially hit the North American touring circuit over 25 dates last year.

He’s our hope forever! With news of his plans to enlist, many people fans of BTS are asking: Is J-Hope leaving BTS? 

Your next big globetrotting adventure awaits.

EXCLUSIVE: Cleopatra Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Argentinian director and producer Nicolas Onetti’s slasher picture What The Waters Left Behind: Scars.

FIFTY FIFTY is back!

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Jan Naszewski’s Warsaw-based sales outlet New Europe Film Sales has sold North American distribution rights for its Berlinale-selected drama “Delegation” to Greenwich Entertainment. “Delegation” is a story of three Israeli high school friends who take part in a class trip visiting Holocaust sites in Poland – their last time together before going to the army. During the trip, shy boy Frisch, aspiring artist Nitzan and class heartthrob Ido deal with issues of love, friendship and politics against the backdrop of concentration camps and memorial sites. The journey will change them forever. The deal for the film, which had its premiere in the Generation 14Plus competition, was negotiated by Naszewski and Greenwich co-president Edward Arentz.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Arbelos, a Los Angeles-based boutique film distribution company, has acquired North American rights to the new 4K restoration of Béla Tarr collaborator György Fehér’s landmark but long unseen Hungarian masterpiece “Twilight” (“Szürkület”). The restored version of the film world premiered in the Berlinale’s Classics strand on Monday. Hungary’s National Film Institute handled the sale. Fehér, who made only two theatrical features, shot the black-and-white film at the end of the 1980s. Based on the crime novella “The Pledge” by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, it is the story of a retired detective who uses a girl as bait to try to catch a serial killer.

Hong Sang-soo’s latest film, “In Water,” has been bought by Cinema Guild for North American distribution on the heels of its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. The film played in the Encounters section and is expected to have its North American premiere at a festival later this year. Cinema Guild will be releasing “In Water” theatrically. Described by Cinema Guild as Hong’s “most overtly experimental work to date,” “In Water” follows Seongmo (Shin Seokho), a young man who recently gave up acting and has decided to make a film with his own money. He and his two friends venture to the rocky shores of a large island to shoot the movie together. His former classmate, Sangguk (Ha Seongguk), will operate the camera and Namhee (Kim Seungyun) will act in it. The only problem is that Seongmo hasn’t decided what to make. As he wanders in the rocks and wind, Seongmo searches inspiration but what he finds is a young woman picking up trash. And that’s all he needs.

Court is back in session for Judge Greg Mathis as the TV personality has found a new home with Allen Media Group.The Byron Allen-owned media giant has given a “firm go” for the production and launches of its 72nd and newest HD television series “Mathis Court with Judge Mathis.” The new court series is a daily one-hour strip for fall 2023, available to broadcast television stations, as well as global network, cable and digital distribution platforms.For 24 consecutive seasons, Warner Bros./Telepictures produced and distributed “Judge Mathis,” the second longest-running court show in continued production with the same host, behind only “Judge Judy.” The series is slated to end with Season 24. “Judge Mathis” won a Daytime Emmy in 2018 for Outstanding Legal/Courtroom Program, as well as the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding News, Talk or Information Series in 2004.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Uncork’d Entertainment has acquired the North American rights for suspense sci-fi thriller “I’ll Be Watching” from Iuvit Media Sales at the European Film Market in Berlin. The film has also been picked up by Falcon Films in the Middle East and North Africa, while Dolphin Medien has taken German-speaking territory rights. The film is directed by Erik Bernard (“Free Dead or Alive”), and stars “The 100” stars Eliza Taylor and Bob Morley, along with Bryan Batt (“12 Years a Slave”), David Keith (“An Officer and a Gentleman”), Hannah Fierman (“VHS”), and Seth Michaels (“Red Notice”).