Anime Takes Four Top Places in Netflix Weekly Global Chart Dominated by Japan, Korea Series

Gwyneth Paltrow got personal about how challenging it was to become a stepmom to husband Brad Falchuk’s two children. 

The singer is the latest A-lister to drop Scooter Braun as their manager.

chiding critics today — ‘Teen Mom’ star Farrah Abraham among them — for their “emotional response to my very logical statement.Miley’s tattoo-covered older sibling caused a stir Wednesday after posting a very public dressing-down of the adult content creators, warning his 461,000-plus followers on X that ladies resorting to earning money via the popular site are ruining their chances of “settling down with a good guy with morals.”“I stand on everything I said,” the Metro Station singer and guitarist wrote today, in a post that also ridiculed those who replied to his earlier rant, saying that most of them weren’t “smart enough to make a valid argument.” The seemingly unprompted and lengthy original rant — called-out repeatedly as sexist — targeted not only female creators on the site, but male users, too. “Any guy who is so desperate to see sexual content they are willing to pay for it is a desperate loser,” Cyrus stated.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Amazon-owned Prime Video has launched “The Killing Vote,” a hardboiled crime drama series from Korea. The 12-part show uses the premise that a text message is sent to ordinary citizens who get to vote for or against the application of the death penalty in individual criminal cases. If more than 50% vote in favor, the criminal is killed by a mysterious character called Dog Mask.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Evil Does Not Exist,” the new drama film by “Drive My Car” director Hamaguchi Ryusuke, has been picked up for North American release by Sideshow and Janus Films. The title will have its world premiere in competition at the Venice festival before playing as a special presentation in Toronto and the main slate of the New York Film Festival. Sideshow and Janus Films, which acquired all North American rights, expect to release the film in theaters after a run of top festivals.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Netflix is further expanding its slate of unscripted TV content from Japan, its most lucrative market in East Asia. The new shows cover the reality, variety and dating genres. “We’re excited to move into a new phase of our content strategy, ramping up our investments in unscripted and bringing new concepts to the screen.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The video industry in Indonesia is set for rapid growth over the next five years as online services overtake conventional TV’s market share, according to new study. Total video industry revenues (free TV, pay-TV and online video) are expected to grow at 8% compound average growth rate, according to a briefing by Singapore-based research firm Media Partners Asia. The researcher forecasts the market expanding from $2.5 billion in the current year to £3.7 billion in 2028.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hybe Corp., the Korean pop music giant behind BTS, has further expanded the scale of its empire by buying out its partner in Belift Lab, the firm backing another K-pop powerhouse Enhypen. The company said that it has signed an agreement to acquire CJ ENM’s 51.5% stake in Belift. Deal terms were not disclosed.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Significant decreases in profits at the pictures division and financial services led Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate Sony to reveal corporate-wide revenues that increased by a third, but net profits that slipped by 17%, for the first quarter of its financial year. In the April to June period group revenues weighed in at JPY2.23 trillion (up 33% year on year) or $21.6 billion at current rates of exchange.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hybe, the Korean music and entertainment firm, achieved record revenues in the first half of the year as album sales climbed and live performances took off. This was achieved despite the hiatus being forced on BTS, the company’s most famous K-pop act, by its band members’ military enlistment. On Tuesday, Suga, who had his first solo music tour earlier this year, became the third member of BTS to begin his compulsory military service.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief A team of United Nations inspectors has said it is “deeply alarmed” by the allegations of sexual abuse that may have taken place at leading Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates. Abuses may have involved “several hundred” talents, according to the org. The United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights began its first official visit to Japan last month and concluded 12 days of meetings and interviews last week.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Ryu Seung-wan’s female-led crime caper “Smugglers” topped the South Korean box office for a second weekend, ahead of new release title “Ransomed.” “Smugglers” enjoyed a strong hold in its second weekend of release and commanded 42% market share. It delivered $7.09 million, a drop of only 20% on its opening weekend, giving a 12-day cumulative of $26.2 million, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Heavens: The Boy and His Robot,” a Singapore-produced movie, will have its world and commercial premiere in Japanese cinemas this November. The film is Singapore’s first live-action feature film of the mecha genre, a genre of Japanese manga and anime that features or focuses on mechanical innovations such as robots and cyborgs.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Busan film festival’s Asian Project Market is set to welcome several of the region’s top auteurs either as producers or prospective directors at its next edition in October. APM organizers Thursday unveiled 30 projects to be presented during a four-day round of one-on-one meetings and pitching sessions. India’s Rima Das (“Tora’s Husband”) will pitch “Malti My Love.” Japan’s Fukada Koji (“Love Life,” “Harmonium”) will pitch “Nagi Notes.” Indonesia’s Makbul Mubarak (“Autobiography”) will pitch “Watch It Burn.” Among the successful producers adding their weight to APM contenders are: Patrick Mao Huang (“Moneyboys,” “Tiger Stripes”) selling Peter Ho’s project “Appetite for Desire”; Jeremy Chua (“Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell,” “Autobiography”), pitching Rafael Manuel’s “Filipinana”; Ichiyama Shozo (“Ash Is Puirest White”) pitching Song Fang’s Japan-China collaboration “Full Moon”; Fran Borgia (“A Land Imagined,” “Tiger Stripes”) pitching Aakash Chhabra’s “I’ll Smile in September”; and Tan Chui Mui (“Barbarian Invasion”) pitching Jian Xiaoshuan’s “To Kill A Mongolian Horse.” The project market and the Asian Contents & Film Market are both scheduled to operate Oct.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Upcoming female-led mystery-thriller series “Mask Girl” sees an unassuming office worker secretly rise the heights as a popular, masked online model and, in a downward spiral, become Prisoner #1047. Seemingly repentant, she secretly plots her escape. The Korean-produced show employs three different actors Ko Hyun-jang, Nana and a yet-to-be-revealed newcomer to represent the Kim Mo-mi character in her different evolutions.Netflix will Thursday drop a trailer and three separate posters intended to create intrigue as to Kim’s real nature, ahead of the series’ Aug.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Short-form video platform TikTok enjoyed a huge increase in viewership in the first six months of the year in Southeast Asia, contributing to a sudden halt to the overall growth of premium (SVOD) video, according to a new report. Data from AMPD and analysis from consultancy firm Media Partners Asia show that TikTok is increasingly a major driver of viewership growth on mobile and web platforms in the region, responsible for over 70% of growth in streaming minutes over the past two years.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Asia Contents Awards, held as part of the Busan International Film Festival since 2019, is to join forces with the Global OTT Awards to form a wider-reaching event. The merged events are to be known under the ungainly abbreviation ACA & G.OTT Awards and will be co-hosted by South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT and Busan Metropolitan City authorities. The ceremony will be held in Busan on Sunday Oct.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Australia’s annual celebration of TV this weekend named Sam Neill as the country’s most popular actor for his role in courtroom drama series “The Twelve.” The Foxtel and Binge show was the numerical winner on the evening in a tie with Binge’s “Colin From Accounts.” Both shows picked up a trio of awards.Sonia Kruger was named Australia’s most popular TV personality for her roles on “The Voice,” “Dancing With the Stars” and “The Masked Singer.”Gold Logie for most popular personality on Australian TV: Sonia Kruger, “The Voice,” “Dancing with the Star” and “Big Brother,” Seven Network Bert Newton Award for most popular presenter: Tony Armstrong, “A Dog’s World” with Tony Armstrong, ABC Silver Logie: Most popular Australian actor: Sam Neill, “The Twelve,” Foxtel & Binge Silver Logie: Most popular Australian actress: Kitty Flanagan, “Fisk Season 2,” ABC Graham Kennedy Award for most popular new talent: Amy Shark, “Australian Idol,” Seven Network Most popular drama series, miniseries or telemovie: “Home and Away,” Seven Network Most popular entertainment program: “Gogglebox Australia,” Foxtel & Network 10 Most popular current affairs program: “Australian Story,” ABC Most popular comedy program: “Have You Been Paying Attention?,” Network 10 Most popular reality program: “MasterChef Australia: Fans & Favourites,” Network 10 Most popular lifestyle program: “Travel Guides,” 9Network Most Outstanding AwardsSilver Logie: Most outstanding actor: Patrick Brammall, “Colin from Accounts,” Binge Silver Logie: Most outstanding actress: Harriet Dyer, “Colin from Accounts,” BingeSilver Logie: Most outstanding supporting actor: Thomas Weatherall, “Heartbreak High,” Netflix Silver Logie: Most outstanding

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief There is female empowerment in Korean cinemas, but it is coming more from local characters, than global hit “Barbie.” Female-led crime action film “Smugglers” dominated the weekend at the South Korean box office and pushed aside “Mission: impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” which had headed the chart for the previous two sessions. “Smugglers” earned $9.31 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic), giving it a nearly 54% market share. Over its full five opening days, the film has built up a cumulative total of $13.1 million.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Ichikawa Ennosuke, a leading Japanese Kabuki actor, was indicted in Tokyo on Friday on charges of assisting his parents’ suicides. The indictment, reported by public broadcaster NHK and other major Japanese media, alleges that Ichikawa gave an excessive amount of sleeping drugs to his father, Kabuki actor Ichikawa Danshiro IV, and his mother Nobuko.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Wonyoung from IVE will MC the Friday night first concert at this year’s K-pop convention KCON LA in Los Angeles on Aug. 18. Veteran performer Rain will host the Saturday performances, while Bang Chan from Stray Kids will introduce a third and final night of performances.