Asia Pacific Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

EXCLUSIVE: David Tennant, Danny Dyer and Aidan Turner are featuring in an ensemble cast for Disney+’s adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals.

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.”

FAST (Free Ad-Supported TV) channels are set for big growth in the UK, according to new data.

Refresh for latest…: Coming out of its second weekend, Disney/Marvel’s Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania has grossed $363.6M globally. Of that, $167.3M is from domestic and $196.3M from the international box office.

The World Trailer Awards on Tuesday unveiled regional winners for its 2023 edition, with more than 70 projects selected from seven regions representing excellence in entertainment marketing across cinema, television (broadcast and cable), streaming and games.

NBCUniversal (NBCU) has signed BBC Studios Global Distribution COO Maggy Chan to lead its global advertising and partnerships in the U.S., EMEA and Asia Pacific, replacing KC Sullivan, who recently became CNBC President.

Taking a look ahead to 2023, Gower Street Analytics is projecting global box office to hit $29B, repping a 12% gain on 2022 should this year remain on track for approximately $25.8B. The London-based firm estimates 2022 receipts stood at $23.6B as of December 10. 

Manori Ravindran International Editor The David Tennant-starring “Litvinenko” has sold into AMC+ and Sundance Now in the U.S., along with a host of other buyers in 80 international markets. The drama has pre-sold ahead of its debut on ITV’s forthcoming U.K. streaming service ITVX, which launches this fall, and NENT Group’s Viaplay streaming service in the Nordics, Netherlands, Poland and Baltics. Written by George Kay (“Lupin”) and produced by Patrick Spence, ITV Studios and Tiger Aspect Productions, the drama tells the story of Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian Federal Security Services and KGB officer, whose death from polonium poisoning in November 2006 triggered one of the most complex and dangerous investigations in the history of the Metropolitan Police.

 EXCLUSIVE: Since the service was made available across the Asia Pacific region in 2016, Amazon Prime Video has focused on producing content in the markets where Amazon has a strong retail membership service – India, Japan and Australia. Based in Los Angeles, Erika North, Amazon Studios’ Head of Originals, Asia Pacific, has been tasked with expanding that local content footprint into other APAC territories. North joined Amazon in February 2020 after similar stints heading production in the region for HBO Asia and Netflix.

Selome Hailu NBC has greenlit “America’s Got Talent: All-Stars,” a new expansion of the “AGT” franchise. Simon Cowell, who created the franchise, will judge the new series alongside current “AGT” judges Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel, and current host Terry Crews also returns. “America’s Got Talent: All-Stars” will feature not only winners from previous seasons, but finalists, fan favorites and viral sensations — including some from the different versions of “Got Talent” that air around the world. The contestants will take the stage once again, but this time to compete for the ultimate all-star title. The series will begin production in October and premiere in 2023 and is co-produced by Fremantle and Syco Entertainment. Cowell serves as executive producer alongside Sam Donnelly and Jason Raff.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Alisa Bowen has been named president of Disney+, in a promotion for the exec who has overseen global business operations for Disney’s streaming platforms, including Disney+ since its launch in 2019. Bowen most recently served as EVP of global business operations for Disney Streaming, overseeing global content and business operations for the company’s direct-to-consumer video streaming businesses, Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ and Star+. That included cross-functional leadership of the global Disney+ rollout in 154 markets worldwide. Her appointment is effective immediately. Bowen will continue to report to Michael Paull, president, direct to consumer, Disney Media Entertainment & Distribution.

EXCLUSIVE: Veteran film executive David Kosse is leaving his post as VP of International Film at Netflix amid a restructure of the company’s European content business. Kosse joined the streamer in 2019, overseeing all international film production and acquisitions with a focus on making and acquiring significant non-English language films with global appeal. He is expected to continue to produce for Netflix and others.

Former Sky Exec Kylie Munnich Named Goalpost Pictures CEO

A surprise for BTS fans on Disney+ Day. At 12 AM Thursday, Disney+ began streaming the concert film BTS Permission To Dance On Stage – LA worldwide as part of Disney+ Day.

Disney+ has commissioned a doc on the sensational ‘Wagatha Christie’ legal case, another on fashion magazine Vogue and a Keanu Reeves-voiced Formula 1 series as part of its UK slate.

K.J. Yossman The highly-anticipated “Wagatha Christie” documentary with Coleen Rooney is set to air on Disney+ the streamer confirmed today. Unveiling its scripted slate at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Disney+ also announced a slate of high-end original unscripted titles. In addition to “Wagatha Christie” (working title) the platform is set to premiere docs from Keanu Reeves about Formula 1 (which Variety first revealed in July), Asif Kapadia about London’s alternative capital Camden Town, Bear Grylls’ about Spencer Matthews’s missing brother, and Conde Nast with an inside look at Vogue featuring Anna Wintour and Edward Enninful. Sean Doyle, director of unscripted content, EMEA, for Disney+, commissioned the five projects, which will premiere on Disney+ in EMEA and Asia Pacific and Star+ in Latin America.

Disney+ has greenlit a new eight-part series titled Rivals, based on the popular novel by British author Jilly Cooper.

Naman Ramachandran Sajith Sivanandan is joining Disney as executive VP and head of Disney+ Hotstar India, reporting into Rebecca Campbell, chair of Disney’s International content and operations group and K. Madhavan, president, Disney Star. Sivanandan will join in October from Google, where he is currently MD and business head, Google Pay and Next Billion User Initiatives, Asia Pacific.

HBO Max and Discovery+ into a single platform that is commercially and technologically viable. But the conglomerate looks like it will be playing catch-up in streaming markets outside the U.S.

Warner Bros. Discovery expects to launch its combined HBO Max/Discovery+ streaming service in the U.S. next summer.

970,000 customers cancelled their subscriptions in the second quarter, leading to an after-hours stock rebound of 7%. The market-leading streaming service now stands at 220.67 million worldwide subscribers and is projecting a global addition of 1 million new customers in the upcoming third quarter. That positive guidance is a big reason why Wall Street is showing some renewed confidence in the stock.

Big Mouth, starring Girls’ Generation’s YoonA and Lee Jong-suk.The newly released visual starts off on a lighthearted note, with scenes from Park Chang-ho (While You Were Sleeping’s Lee Jong-suk) and Go Mi-ho’s (Girls’ Generation’s YoonA) earlier days as newly weds. Things quickly turn awry after Chang-ho is publicly and wrongly accused for a murder, with Mi-ho declaring to the press, “I sincerely hope you reveal who on earth would do such a thing.”Chang-ho tries to juggle both clearing his own name and ensuring the safety of his wife in snippets shown through the teaser as he gets himself into physical altercations, telling his aggressors: “Don’t touch my wife.

Disney has signed a former Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution and DMED exec to manage international content strategy across EMEA, LatAm, Asia Pacific and India.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefWildBrain CPLG, a leading entertainment, sport and brand-licensing agency, has been appointed by Peanuts Worldwide as the exclusive licensing agent for the Peanuts brand in parts of Asia-Pacific.   The companies already have a licensing relationship in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and, more recently, India.

South by Southwest Conference and Festivals is expanding beyond Austin, Texas to bring its famed celebration of the technology, film and music industries to Sydney, Australia from October 15-22, 2023.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterThe South by Southwest Conference is expanding beyond its longtime Austin, Texas home to Sydney, Australia.SXSW Sydney will host a seven-day celebration of technology, film and music from Oct. 15 to Oct.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentJohannes Larcher and Luis Duran, respectively HBO Max’s general managers of international and Latin America, are set to exit the streamer as part of the ongoing shakeup at Warner Bros. Discovery, Variety has confirmed.The two top HBO Max execs are the latest layoffs to surface as a new leadership team is being put in place at the merged behemoth by JB Perrette previously Discovery’s president and CEO of streaming and international and now appointed CEO and president of Warner Bros.

Naman Ramachandran Disney’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Of Madness” opened atop the U.K. and Ireland box office with a mighty £19.5 million ($24.3 million), according to numbers released by Comscore.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe sports rights and media businesses in the Asia-Pacific region are experiencing a post-COVID rebound that could continue at 6% annually until 2026. But the past domination of broadcast TV is being eroded.