Entertainment News Boom

Film director Yoshida Kiju (formerly Yoshida Yoshishige) died on Thursday of pneumonia at age 89, Japanese media sources have revealed. Together with Oshima Nagisa and Shinoda Masahiro, Yoshida was part of the Shochiku-backed Nouvelle Vague of the late 1950s and early 1960s that had a major impact on Japanese cinema both then and in succeeding

Ghostface is back, and blood is going to flow. Lots of blood. “Scream 6” cast member Melissa Barrera recently told Collider that the upcoming sequel has the potential to be 100 times gorier than any previous entry in the long-running horror franchise. According to the actor, directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett were always asking

Cinema operators in Hong Kong are lobbying the city government to keep up with the new pandemic rules in mainland China and scrap COVID restrictions on local theaters before the release of “Avatar: The Way of Water” and ahead of the Christmas holiday peak. Hong Kong authorities relaxed some of their COVID restrictions in mid-November,

Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment is on track to sell a majority stake to Mediawan, the pan-European media conglomerate. The deal is expected to close this weekend, Variety has confirmed. Plan B Entertainment, which is run by Brad Pitt and Dede Gardner, hired Moelis & Co. to shop for a buyer or potential investors last month. The company

Saudi Arabia is currently undergoing profound social change, following the progressive lifting of restrictions since the late 2010s. The film “Dancing on Fire,” currently in development, directed by Hana Al-Omair and produced by Soha Samir, who are both co-writers, highlights the joy and freedom of women in tribal communities in pre-oil Saudi Arabia. Al-Omair says:

Memento International has boarded “Fremont,” the latest film by BAFTA-nominated Iranian-born director Babak Jalali, which is set to world premiere at Sundance. Slated for the Next section, the black-and-white film tells the story of Donya, a young woman working at a Chinese fortune cookie factory in the San Francisco bay. Formerly a translator for the

British publicist and marketing consultant Freddie Ross Hancock, whose clients included Sophia Loren, Julie Andrews and Benny Hill, and helped bring the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to New York, has died in the city at the age of 92. Born Freda Ross in 1930 in North London, she learned the public relations

Kuwaiti director Zeyad (also known as “Z”) Alhusaini worked for years to bring to the screen “How I Got There,” an action movie with a comedic undertone about two best buddies from childhood, Salem and Asad, who stumble upon a gun shipment and try to seize this opportunity to get rich quick. This groundbreaking pic,

Scandinavia’s leading streamer Viaplay has ordered its Danish feature, “Camino,” a heartwarming comedy-drama directed by Birgitte Stærmose (“Industry”) with a cast led by Lars Brygmann (“Riders of Justice,” “Borgen”) and Danica Curcic (“The Chestnut Man”). “Camino” portrays the complex relationship between a father and daughter who are walking a famous pilgrim route in Spain. The

“Men of Plastic,” a current comedy film starring the larger-than-life Korean American actor Don Lee (aka Ma Dong-seok) has racked up sales in 32 territories for distributor Showbox. Lee is the star of the crime action film series that kicked off with “The Outlaws” and which was followed by “The Roundup,” this year’s biggest film

Aspect Ratio and Hope Runs High have struck a deal to give North American theatrical and non-theatrical releases to dystopian German film “We Might as Well Be Dead,” from first-time filmmaker Natalia Sinelnikova. The 2023 theatrical distribution of the film in the U.S. and Canada will be a partnership between the two companies and be

New Zealand’s Auckland Film Studios has completed the opening of two new sound stages. They are both approximately 2,000 square metres (22,000 square feet). The expansion means that AFS, long a work-horse of the New Zealand production industry, now has five stages totalling more than 7,500 square metres (80,700 square feet). The year-long construction project

Sam Mendes’ buzzy new drama, “Empire of Light,” is a story about a single woman with mental health issues. The script – Mendes’ first solo writing credit – was informed by his mother’s struggles while he was growing up in the U.K. “As the parent of young children myself, you’re always reflecting on how you

Singaporean metaverse start-up Stardust has signed memorandums of understanding with three companies at the sidelines of the Asia TV Forum and Market. Stardust will become the official metaverse platform for Esports World Federation (ESWF) Singapore, streaming tournaments held within the country, and hosting a virtual clubhouse for the organization’s players and fans. Kevin Balhetchet, president,

“Top Gun: Maverick” features one of the best edge-of-your-seat action sequences of the year as Tom Cruise’s Maverick takes the supersonic Darkstar aircraft on an unauthorized test flight, pushing it to reach a speed of Mach 10. Production designer Jeremy Hindle worked closely with concept designer Daniel Simon to come up with a mockup of

Brendan Fraser’s 1997 comedy favorite “George of the Jungle” spawned a 2003 direct-to-DVD sequel in which Fraser was replaced by actor Christopher Showerman. Several characters comment on the actor switch in “George of the Jungle 2,” with one joking that Disney was too cheap to hire Fraser for a second time. It turns out that