Frater Asia Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Choi Min-sik, the veteran Korean actor who previously starred in “Oldboy” and Korea’s all-time box office record breaker “Roaring Currents,” heads the cast of upcoming mystery-thriller film “Exhuma.” The title, which will debut in Korean theaters in February, also released its first-look images and an atmospheric trailer. Choi appears as an exorcist who unleashes unexpected supernatural forces. According to a synopsis supplied by Showbox, “A wealthy family living in Los Angeles calls on a pair of young shaman, played by Kim Go-eun and Lee Do-hyun, to save their newborn child after they are visited by a series of paranormal events. [The shaman duo] senses that the dark shadow of an ancestor has latched on the family, a so-called ‘Grave’s Calling’.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese director Huo Meng, Taiwanese actor Lee Hong-chi and Macau-based Maxim Bessmertny are among a dozen emerging East Asian talent who will present feature film projects and works in progress at the Festival of Young Cinema (Asia-Europe). The inaugural edition of the festival, running Jan.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korean film and TV director Kim Hong-sun has signed with U.S. talent agency Creative Arts Agency (CAA) for representation. A prolific director and producer, Kim specializes in genre television, including action, thrillers and horror.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hong Kong saw “A Guilty Conscience” become the highest-grossing film of all time at its local box office. But the wider cinema market in Hong Kong remained stuck far below pre-pandemic levels. Data from Hong Kong Box Office Limited, a joint venture between Motion Picture Industry Association (MPIA) and the Hong Kong Theatres Association, showed annual cinema revenue of HK$1.43 billion ($184 million) in 2023. That was a 25% improvement on 2022, when the industry was battered by on-off closures due to government COVID-control measures, and managed only HK$1.14 billion ($146 million).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese-produced movies took all of the top ten chart places at the China box office as theatrical revenues in 2023 rebounded strongly. Gross revenues reached an annual total of RMB54.9 billion or $7.73 billion. That was an 83% improvement on the previous year, according to data from China Film Administration, but still 14.5% adrift of 2019, the last pre-COVID year, when grosses hit RMB64.3 billion.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief A strong December for local films helped make up for an otherwise miserable 2023 at the South Korean box office – previously the fifth largest cinema territory worldwide. And while theatrical markets in other major territories have recovered to reach at or near pre-pandemic levels, Korea finished 44% below 2019. Data from the Korean Film Council’s Kobis tracking service showed annual gross revenues of KRW1.261 trillion ($964 million at Jan 2024 rates of exchange) in 2023. That represented a gain of 9% on 2022, but it was far below the KRW1.91 trillion ($1.46 billion) recorded in 2019, the last pre-COVID year. The bleak trend was mirrored in terms of attendance or ticket sales, which remains the country’s preferred performance measure.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Asia’s video industry is set to grow by an annual 2.6% over the next five years to reach $165 billion by 2028, says a new study from research and consultancy firm Media Partners Asia. That follows 5.5% growth in 2023. The firm’s “Asia Pacific Video & Broadband Industry 2024” report spans a widely-defined cluster of free TV, pay-TV, SVOD, premium AVOD and user-generated content and social video in 14 Asia-Pacific countries and territories.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Mbongeni Ngema, a distinguished South African musician and creator of the musical “Sarafina!,” died on Wednesday in a car accident. He was 68. “Ngema was killed in a head-on car accident while returning from a funeral he was attending in Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape this evening,” his family said in a statement to the Associated Press.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Liam Neeson-starring “Honest Thief” has secured a multi-platform streaming release in mainland China. It launches on SVOD platforms on Christmas Day (Dec.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “If you really missed not seeing us on screen together, then ‘The Goldfinger’ is your opportunity to do so,” says Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau of his new crime movie where he is again paired with Tony Leung Chiu-wai (“In the Mood for Love”). The film releases at the end of the month in different parts of Asia and North America (from Dec. 30).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Just when players and investors had begun to believe that China was finished with major new regulations to the games industry, regulators have announced proposals for more curbs. The draft regulations, proposed by the National Press and Publication Administration appear to focus on in-game spending. The proposals revealed on Friday hit the shares of Chinese gaming giants Tencent and NetEase and dented those of other companies with operations n the Chinese market.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Mark Francis, a veteran TV and streaming executive in Asia, has joined Indonesia’s Vidio streaming platform as its chief content officer and strategy officer. The appointment comes as the platform repasses 4 million subscribers and reclaims a lead in the Indonesian streaming market. Based in Jakarta and reporting directly to CEO Sutanto Harton, Francis is expected to oversee the freemium streamer’s content strategy and programming.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Really, a company that creates augmented reality content for theatrical release movies has hired veteran media executive Peter Gaida as its chief commercial officer in Asia Pacific. The appointment is part of a wider expansion into Asia by the AR company. Founded by media entrepreneur James Andrew Felts in 2017, Really creates “highly functional, large-scale AR content” that it delivers weekly.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief It seems Hollywood’s “sequel-itis” has reached China’s box office too. Despite the country’s dramatic overnight removal of COVID restrictions in December 2022 and film imports quickly restarting with the triumphant debut of “Avatar: The Way of Water,” Hollywood’s new normal in the Middle Kingdom bears little resemblance to its pre-pandemic status. During the three-year disruption of 2020-22, caused by the pandemic and soured U.S.-China diplomatic relations, few Hollywood films — and no Marvel titles — made their way onto Chinese screens. But if Hollywood studios read the $240 million-grossing “Avatar 2” feeding frenzy as a sign that pent-up Chinese demand for their sequels and superheroes slate might continue throughout 2023, they were sorely disappointed. In the world’s second-largest box office territory, with a cume to date of $7.3 billion, the market share for all imported films in China has crashed, standing at less than 15% at the beginning of December. Hollywood films’ share is just 12%, consultancy Artisan Gateway calculates. This month, “Napoleon” and “Wonka” have continued the trend of dismal flops, with $5 million and $3 million opening weekends, respectively. The slump is particularly disappointing given that the Chinese authorities that carefully control the film industry have this year made several moves designed to put Hollywood releasing back on the rails.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief After making a partial post-pandemic recovery, global cinema box office is expected to retreat again in 2024, as the twin writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023 are forecast to have a negative impact on theatrical revenues. Box office research firm Gower Street Analytics, in a preliminary draft of its annual forecast, says that worldwide cinema box office should weigh in at $33.4 billion for 2023.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Production is underway on “Kangaroo Island,” the feature film debut from Australian director Tim Piper and screenwriter Sally Gifford. The family relationship drama-comedy centers around a struggling Hollywood actress forced to reunite with her sister as part of her father’s last wishes. It stars Rebecca Breeds (“Clarice,” “CAUGH*T”), Erik Thomson (“Aftertaste,” “Black Snow”), Adelaide Clemens (“Justified: City Primeval,” “Under The Banner of Heaven”) and Joel Jackson (“Mystery Road,” “Safe Harbour”).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Static Waves, a Netherlands-based channels and content distribution company, has teamed with Korea’s Arirang TV to launch K-Wave, which they claim will be the world’s first free ad-supported television (FAST) channel dedicated to Korean popular music (K-pop). K-Wave will launch in January in the U.S. Europe and Asia via Zeasn, a platform which distributes to TCL, HiSense TV+ and Vestel brands of connected TVs pre-installed with Zeasn’s Whale OS. Its content will include: original series, live concerts, documentaries on K-pop stars, music and fashion trends, dance instruction videos and behind-the-scenes clips. To propel its Korean expansion, Static Waves has established a local business entity, Static Waves Korea, based in Seoul.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese-made crime drama, “Endless Journey” opened on top of the mainland China box office on a weekend with three new releases in the top five. The Wanda Pictures and Alibaba title earned $20.5 million (RMB146 million) between Friday and Sunday, its official opening weekend, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. Together with previews from the week earlier, it ended the weekend with a cumulative total of $34.5 million (RMB245 million).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Guy Pearce (“LA Confidential,” “Memento”) has recently wrapped production on “Inside,” an Australian crime thriller and coming of age drama film. The picture is the debut feature of Charles Williams, whose short film “All These Creatures” won the Palme d’Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. The story sees after a young man transferred from juvenile to adult prison, where he is taken under the wing of both Australia’s most despised criminal, and a soon-to-be-a-paroled inmate.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Fact-based action drama “12.12: The Day” won a fourth weekend at the South Korea box office and became the second highest grossing film of the year. The political thriller incurred a steep week-on-week drop in takings, managing only $5.89 million in its fourth weekend, compared with $11.4 million in its third. But it still hogged a 72% market share, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). After releasing on Nov.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” movie has cleared multiple stages of approvals and will release in mainland Chinese theaters on Dec. 31. The announcement, foreshadowed by Variety earlier this month, was made at 1.13pm (or 13.13) on Friday in China, a reference to Swift’s birth date and lucky number.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Oppenheimer,” followed closely by “Barbie” and “The Killers of the Flower Moon,” collected the most nominations for the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) International Awards. The AACTA International awards recognize global, not only Australian-made, film and TV productions from the current year and are voted on by Australian professionals. The separate AACTA Awards focus on Australian-made content. The winners of the AACTA International Awards will be announced on Feb.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The first and second seasons of the hit thriller series “The Tourist,” starring Jamie Dornan and Danielle Macdonald, will shift to Netflix starting next February. The first season originally saw Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max as a co-producer and local streaming partner.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Iconic, multi-Oscar-winning film “La La Land” is headed back to mainland Chinese cinemas in sessions that dance off on Dec. 22. The worldwide release is overseen by Lionsgate release, while the China re-release is to be piloted by local distributor JL Film.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Australian streamer Stan has acquired rights to both seasons, totaling 20 episodes, of the Malaysian adaptation of Scandinavian crime series “The Bridge.” The agreement, brokered by Lyle Bettson-Barker, SVP Australia and New Zealand from Banijay Rights, represents the first time that Stan has acquired a Malaysian drama series. The Asian version of “The Bridge” was initially commissioned by Viu and HBO Asia in 2018, after Double Vision, part of the Vision New Media group, introduced Viu to the format. It broadcast to across 23 territories in the combined footprints of Viu and HBO Asia and was also shown on Viu in South Africa.The title has garnered more than 20 regional awards and nominations across its two seasons, making it the most awarded drama in Malaysian history. Season one faithfully follows the original show, and sees a dead body found on the border between Malaysia and Singapore, necessitating an investigator from each country to work together to solve the crime.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Two Hollywood films “Wonka” and “Migration” opened in Chinese cinemas over the latest weekend. But neither did enough business to appear among the box office top five. Instead, the weekend crown went to “The Invisible Guest,” a Chinese remake of the 2016 Spanish mystery thriller about a woman who must work with a police officer to clear her name after her lover is found dead in a locked room. It earned a modest $12.6 million (RMB89.6 million), according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Fact-based political thriller “12.12: The Day” dominated the Korean box office for the third successive weekend and advanced its takings haul beyond $50 million. It was far ahead of “Napoleon,” which opened a disappointing third. The Kim Sung-soo-directed picture earned $11.4 million between Friday and Sunday, accounting for 75.8% of nationwide weekend cinema revenues, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). It has held up particularly strongly and dropped by only 12% in its third weekend.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Fifth Season, the production and distribution company previously known as Endeavor Content, has secured a $225 million strategic investment from Toho International, the Japanese film and TV studio behind current box office hit “Godzilla Minus One.” The investment gives Toho a 25% equity stake in the company and leaves Korean entertainment conglomerate CJ ENM as Fifth Season’s majority owner. Former parent company, Endeavor Group Holdings continues as a strategic shareholder. CJ ENM and Fifth Season will work with Toho to both produce global content and participate in content produced in Japan.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Johnny & Associates, the Japanese talent agency that has been embroiled in a huge sexual abuse scandal, is rebranding itself as Starto Entertainment. The name is derived from the words ‘star’ and ‘to’ implying “to head toward the future,” the group said on Friday. “It is an expression of our commitment to all our artists current and yet to come, with whom we inaugurate a new era in accordance with their individual talents and personal goals,” the group explained. Johnny & Associates was for many years the most powerful talent shop in Japan, creating idol groups such as Snow Man, and leveraging its male performers into film and TV roles. It was brought low by a scandal relating to its founder Johnny Kitagawa who abused young male performers over a period of decades before his death in 2019.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Thailand’s broadcast and streaming group Mono Next and Korea’s Studio Genie have struck a deal to collaborate on content creation and distribution. Production of a Thai remake of a Korean series is on the cards, but has not been finalized. The memorandum was announced on stage at the Asia Television Forum in Singapore on Wednesday, with streaming unit Mono Streaming signing on behalf of the Thai group.