Japan Showbiz Latest News and Updates

A 64-year-old Japanese woman was arrested this week for allegedly fatally stabbing her husband in their home. The incident occurred on Tuesday night in the c

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.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor “Shōgun” is officially in the drama race for the Primetime Emmys. FX has confirmed that the once limited or anthology series heavyweight has been officially submitted and accepted in the drama categories, where it will compete against Netflix’s “The Crown,” Apple’s “The Morning Show” and Prime Video’s “Fallout.” In addition, the network has shared exclusively with Variety the complete list of 40 Emmy submissions, which includes six submissions for directing, four for writing, and two eligible guest actors.

Now that FX has decided to make more episodes of its breakout hit Shōgun, it is changing its Emmy strategy for the James Clavell adaptation.

Led Zeppelin‘s long awaited documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin is finally set for a cinema release.The authorised film, which was first announced in 2019, has been acquired for release by Sony Classics Pictures in a number of countries including North America, Latin America, Southeast Asia (except for Japan) and the Middle East. No announcement has been made for the UK or Europe yet.An official release date for the documentary is yet to be announced.

Forbes has released its annual 30 Under 30 list for 2024 in Asia, which features the likes of Voice Of Baceprot, IVE and more.Released today (May 16), the annual Forbes 30 Under 30 list shines a light on individuals aged below 30 who have made a significant impact in their respective fields, including entertainment and sports, science and activism, entrepreneurship and more.This year’s entertainment and sports portion of the list is headlined by Indonesian metallers and stars of NME’s The Cover, Voice Of Baceprot. Trailing behind them are K-pop outfit IVE, Japanese pop-rock group Atarashii Gakko!, Filipino rapper Ez Mil, Indian rapper Arpan Kumar Chandel (aka King), Japanese singer Aina The End and Indonesia’s Mahalini Raharja.The list also includes Chinese-New Zealand actress Jess Hong, Thai singer-actor Vachirawit Chivaaree, also known as Bright, and Indian singer-songwriter Pavithra Chari.This year’s North American 30 Under 30 list featured the likes of Boygenius, Ethel Cain, Dominic Fike, Gracie Abrams, Latto, Reneé Rapp, Ice Spice, Peso Pluma, Trippie Redd, Kali Uchis and more.This year’s European 30 Under 30 list features PinkPantheress, Nia Archives, Cat Burns, FLO, Holly Humberstone and more.Last year’s Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 list included K-pop girl groups NewJeans and Le Sserafim, Cambodian rapper VannDa, Singaporean singer Shye, South Korean singer LØREN, Indian singer-rapper Ambika Nayak – known professionally as Kayan – and Hong Kong singer Michael “MC” Cheung Tin-fu.The entertainment and sports category of the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list was judged by ONE Championship co-founder and Group President Hua Fung Teh and Caldecott Music Group CEO and founder Kuok Meng Ru.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korea’s Barunson E&A has picked up world sales rights to Vietnamese horror-comedy “Don’t Cry Butterfly.” Sales will be launched this week at the Cannes Market. Written and directed by Duong Dieu Linh, the Hanoi-set film follows a housewife who uses voodoo to try and get her cheating husband fall back into love with her, but instead invites a mysterious presence into the house.

In our first encounter with Una (Elín Hall) and Diddi (Baldur Einarsson) in the long dusk of a Reykjavik spring night, they are thinking only of the future. The immediate future: will they be able to sleep overnight together without Diddi’s flatmate noticing? The near future, meaning the next couple of days, when Diddi officially breaks off his longstanding relationship with his high-school sweetheart Klara and starts a new life with Una. And the long term. A trip to Japan. A different life with a wider scope than Iceland can provide. “Should we make babies?” Diddi murmurs into Una’s ear as they lie, wrapped around each other like kittens, in his single-pillowed bed.

EXCLUSIVE: Ubisoft podcast Echoes of History is relaunching to tie in with the latest instalment of the Assassin’s Creed gaming franchise.

Michaela Zee “Terminator Zero” has set its premiere date at Netflix. The eight-episode animated series, which revolves around new characters in the “Terminator” universe, will premiere globally on Aug. 29.

Naman Ramachandran Indian filmmaker Dr. Bijukumar Damodaran‘s next film “Papa Buka” will commence principal photography in Papua New Guinea in July. The film will follow Indian historians Romila and Anand who go to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, to write a book about the Indian soldiers who fought with the British and Australian armies against the Japanese during WWII in the country.

Annette Hess will receive the first-ever Deadline German TV Disruptor Award at Seriencamp next month. Hess has created some of the most memorable German drama series of recent years with work including Weisensee and the Ku’damm series, to Disney+ show The Interpreter of Silence, based on Hess’ novel Deutsches Haus. Ku’damm fans are currently waiting on a new series, Ku’damm 77, which Hess is in the process of writing with production set for early 2026.

EXCLUSIVE: Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired Northern American rights for Joachim A. Lang’s historical drama Goebbels and The Führer (aka Führer and Seducer) for a fall 2024 theatrical and digital release.  

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 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 Asian audiences are increasingly turning to homegrown content in their streaming choices. Asian titles powering 80% of premium VOD engagement and customer acquisition, according to new research from research and consultancy firm Media Partners Asia. “The Rise of Asian Content” is based on passive tracking of 40,000 users by sister company AMPD in nine major Asian markets – Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand – over 15 months between Jan.

Naman Ramachandran Japanese director Miike Takashi, who is known for slasher film “Ichi the Killer” and stomach-churning “Audition,” has signed with CAA for representation. Miike who is also a film producer and screenwriter, is one of Japan’s most prolific and bold directors, with more than 100 feature film credits, spanning genres, including horror, comedy and action. “Ichi The Killer” and “Audition” enjoy cult followings globally.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor As Cannes Film Festival kicks off, the Paris-based international sales company MK2 Films has revealed it has acquired three films and made substantial investments in new restorations, set against the backdrop of a strong presence at Cannes Classics. MK2 Films has entered into a collaboration with the Niki Charitable Art Foundation on the global rights (excluding the U.S.) for two films directed by artist Niki de Saint Phalle: “Un Rêve plus long que la nuit” (1976) and “Daddy” (1973).

Ricky Martin and Jwan Yosef surprised everyone by announcing their divorce after six years of marriage. At that time, the singer and the plastic artist made it clear that the well-being of their children would always be their priority. Despite calling it quits, the pair’s co-parenting journey seems peaceful.Yosef took to social media to share a sweet snap of Lucía and Renn alongside their grandmother Minerva to commemorate Mother’s Day.

Warner Bros. Discovery has named Buddy Marini as its Japanese GM, reporting to WBD Asia-Pacific president James Gibbons.

Greta Gerwig addressed the growing #MeToo movement in France at the jury press conference on opening day of this year’s Cannes Film Festival. “I think people in the community of movies telling us stories and trying to change things for the better is only good,” Gerwig said when asked how she felt about #MeToo-related rumors swirling ahead of the festival. “I have seen substantive change in in the American film community, and I think it’s important that we continue to expand that conversation.

Naman Ramachandran International sales agent Incredible Film has secured global distribution rights to “Amsterdamned II,” the sequel to Dick Maas’ 1988 cult classic, “Amsterdamned.” Veteran Dutch actor Huub Stapel reprises his role as detective Eric Visser, who once pursued a serial killer through the Dutch canals three decades ago, as he is brought back from retirement by a revelation that shakes him to his core. In the sequel, also directed by Maas, Visser and fellow detective Tara Lee fight against an evil that threatens them and the city of Amsterdam. The film is a coproduction from the Netherlands’ 2CFilm and Parachute Pictures and Belgium’s Potemkino.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Sony Group Corporation saw its sales climb by 19% to JPY13.0 trillion in its financial year to March 2024, boosted by a sharp depreciation of the Japanese currency. Net profits for the group were down 3% to JPY971 billion. It was a similar scenario at Sony’s ‘pictures division,’ which comprises theatrical film, TV networks and television content production.

NME, Japanese rock band King Gnu have discussed touring abroad for the first time, frontman Daiki Tsuneta’s upcoming collaborations with Daniel Caesar, and much more.NME caught up with the quartet at the Singapore stop of their sold-out Asia tour in April, which also called at Taipei, Shanghai and Seoul and marked the J-rockers’ first-ever tour abroad. King Gnu sold out all seven shows on the tour – a victory lap after the band’s sold-out dome tour in Japan three months prior.King Gnu have been touring behind their eclectic, flamboyant 2023 album ‘The Greatest Unknown’.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Veteran Asian executive Buddy Marini has been appointed GM of Warner Bros. Discovery in Japan.The role covers all operations in Japan including home entertainment, digital & TV licensing, consumer products, anime production, franchise and pay-TV networks, but excluding theatrical and the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo: The Making of Harry Potter business. Marini joins WBD with 25+ years’ experience in leadership across media and technology companies in Japan, China and the U.S.

Shōgun is on the way after all.The first season of hit drama seriesconcluded last month (April 23). The ten-episode first series premiered back in February and was available to be streamed via Hulu and FX in the United States and on Disney+ in the UK.Shōgun depicts Japan in the year 1600, and some have labelled the series as the “new Game of Thrones”.

If you're looking to add a bit of luxury to your laundry and keep your clothes, bedding and towels 'smelling amazing' for weeks, you might want to turn your attention to Amazon. The online giant retailer has slashed a long-lasting laundry fragrance, which 'smells strong' even after using just a couple of drops, in price for a limited time.

Britain's Got Talent think they have 'rumbled' the secretion to one of the show's latest auditioning magicians. The ITV talent show's auditions continued on Sunday night (May 12).

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.