‘Detective Vs Sleuths’ Holds Lead at China Box Office With $14 Million Weekend

Gina Rodriguez's husband is ready to bring his martial arts skills to the delivery room. The actress tells ET that she and her MMA fighter husband,  Joe LoCicero, are educating themselves on the realities of childbirth as they prepare to welcome their first baby. «I'm taking some hardcore prenatal classes, working on that pelvic floor,» Rodriguez, who is currently pregnant, tells ET's Lauren Zima, noting that they have also been watching videos of live births in preparation.

Serena Williams is as much of a role model off the court as she is on it. The 40-year-old athlete recently sat down for a conversation with Selena Gomez where she spoke openly about her mental health and how she learned years ago that it's healthy for her to have boundaries.«Mental fitness for me is just really learning to shut down,» Williams said in the interview for Gomez's mental health platform, Wondermind,.

Rebecca Gayheart and Eric Dane are enjoying a European getaway with their daughters Billie, 12, and Georgia, 10. More than four years after filing for divorce from the 49-year-old actor, the 51-year-old actress shared photos of the family enjoying a summer vacation.«This is us, family vacay 2022,» Gayheart captioned a photo of Billie sporting a white mini-dress and holding a shopping bag while walking next to Dane, who goofed off for the camera.

There are new details regarding Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kim Zolciak-Biermann‘s daughter’s arrest.

Indian media and entertainment giant Eros Media World is moving into the rapidly growing Saudi Arabia market, entering a strategic partnership with Riyadh-based content production company Arabia Pictures Group.

William Earl “War on the Diamond,” a feature documentary about the only baseball player to die directly of injuries sustained in a game, is set to premiere Nov. 15 on VOD platfoms including iTunes, YouTube, Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Vudu.The doc tells the story of Raymond Chapman, a Cleveland Indians shortstop who was hit in the head by a pitch in a game against the New York Yankees.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorVeteran sportscaster Rich Eisen is taking the live-streamed edition of his signature ‘Rich Eisen Show” to Roku after a stint at NBCUniversal’s Peacock, in a sign of how popular sports properties remain in demand for streaming programmers.The show will debut on The Roku Channel in September. “The Rich Eisen Show” will stream live five days a week from noon to 3 p.m. eastern and continue to originate from El Segundo, CA.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorEven with the rise of premium subscription video and audio services, content with ads still holds nearly 60% share of the total time U.S. audiences spend consuming entertainment, according to a new study.In fact, according to the latest quarterly Entertainment 365 study from research firm Luminate, having an ad-free experience isn’t the main driver for premium subscriptions. The top two factors for premium subscriptions are getting a good value for the price and having a variety of content, according to the Luminate study.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorThe NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” may be moving to Amazon, but it’s going to be measured as if it were still playing on traditional TV.Nielsen and Amazon have struck a three-year deal to measure Prime Video’s new season of “Thursday Night Football” and stack it up against TV programs with national audiences tabulated by the media-measurement giant. The pact comes as many of the nation’s big media companies have vociferously expressed disapproval of Nielsen’s efforts in the streaming era and tried to prod advertisers to consider other forms of audience measurement.Nielsen said the agreement marks the first time a streaming service will have one of its live programs measured as part of the company’s measurement of national TV audiences.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Satan’s Slaves: Communion,” from genre-film meister Jojo Anwar is poised to be the first film from Indonesia to release in the large screen Imax format.Anwar himself took to Instagram to make the announcement and tout the film’s release on Saturday.“Confirmed. Bigger.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefNew release titles “Alienoid” and “Minions: The Rise of Gru” dominated business at the South Korean box office over the weekend. “Alienoid,” a sci-fi fantasy about the search for a legendary sword across different eras, opened on Wednesday and consistently, but narrowly, bested its animated rival. “Alienoid” earned $5.19 million between Friday and Sunday for a 32% market share, having played on more than 1,800 screens.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefJennie, part of the K-Pop girl group Blackpink will appear in the upcoming HBO TV series “The Idol.” She joins a cast that is headed by The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp.Co-created by The Weeknd (real name Abel Tesfaye), Sam Levinson (“Euphoria”) and Reza Fahim, “The Idol” is set against the backdrop of the music industry. The plot follows a self-help guru and cult leader who develops a complicated relationship with an up-and-coming pop idol.Jennie, expected to be credited under her full name Jennie Kim, appeared briefly in a recently released trailer for the show. The show’s release date has not been announced.HBO subsequently confirmed Jennie’s participation via Twitter.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefA marathon screening of all three “Infernal Affairs” films has been announced for the much delayed 46th edition of the Hong Kong International Film Festival.The three films, all restored and upgraded to 4K digital prints, lead off a six- film section of Chinese-language restored classics at the festival.The HKIFF was this year postponed from its usual March-April slot to August, due to the fifth wave of the COVID pandemic which closed Hong Kong cinemas for the first months of 2022. It will now take place from Aug.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefTerapin Studios, a U.S.-Korean media investor backed by NPX Capital, has paid $160 million to acquire Toomics Global, one of South Korea’s fastest rising platforms for webtoons.Webtoons, vertically-scrolling comic strips designed to be viewed on smartphones, emerged in South Korea about 15 years ago and have become a major cultural phenomenon across Japan, Korea and much of Southeast Asia.Webtoons have also been the form of IP underlying many Korean film and TV hits, including Netflix’s “All of Us Are Dead” and “Itaewon Class,” Disney+’s “Moving” and “Dr Brain” for Apple TV+.Netflix is also on course to produce a series, “Black Knight,” based on Toomics’ original webtoon IP “Delivery Knight.” The sci-fi miniseries, starring A-list actor Kim Woo Bin (“Alienoid”), is expected to premiere this year. The Terapin-Toomics deal follows a February 2022 acquisition that saw Terapin buy Copin Communications, a Korean webtoon producer.The two deals together are expected to give Terapin the capacity to take its stable of cartoon creators further into international markets and the ability to negotiate deals for its IP in multiple related or ancillary markets, from animated film and TV, to books, games, merchandize and NFTs.“A [third party] Korean production company is working with Netflix on ‘Black Knight’,” Samuel Hwang, founder and CEO of NPX Capital, told Variety.

The cast of the new sci-fi horror film Nope stepped out to celebrate together at the film’s L.A. premiere!

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefWanda Film, China’s largest cinema operator, has forecast a return to heavy losses for the first half of 2022. In a regulatory filing, the company warned of net losses (including non-recurring items) reaching between RMB 580 million – RMB 660 million ($85 million – $97.8 million) for the six months to June. That compares with a net profit of RMB613 million $90.8 million in the equivalent period last year.The company pointed to the impact of COVID-control measures in China, which it said caused the temporary closure of 415 of its multiplexes and led film distributors to reduce the supply of new movies to cinemas.

Manchester United could reportedly look to use Donny van de Beek as a makeweight in a deal as they look to improve their midfield.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefHong Kong-produced crime action film “Detective Vs Sleuths” took top honors at the mainland China box office in its second weekend of release. New release title, ‘Mozart From Space” came in a disappointing second. “Detective Vs Sleuths” earned $18.4 million (RMB123 million) between Friday and Sunday, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Top Gun Maverick” reclaimed the lead at the South Korea box office as “Thor: Love and Thunder” slowed rapidly and Korean cinemas endured a weekend that slowed the recent recovery trend.“Top Gun Maverick” earned $5.77 million between Friday and Sunday, in its fourth week of release in Korea, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). That was a drop of only 11% from its previous weekend.In contrast, “Thor Love and Thunder” registered a 66% weekend-on-weekend tumble, falling from $9.88 million previously to $3.34 million.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefPema Tseden, whose last three films have all appeared at the Venice Film Festival, has finished lensing his latest effort “Snow Leopard.” The film is a drama about how humans and animals end up getting along, despite their occasional conflicts.While Tibet is a source of controversy between China and the international community, ethnically Tibetan Pema Tseden (aka Wanma Caidan) chooses to work within the official Chinese film system of script approvals, censorship and release permits. A former civil servant and teacher, he is sometimes described as a pioneer of the Tibetan New Wave and has credits that include “Silent Holy Stones,” “Jinpa,” and “Balloon.” “Snow Leopard” was given a shooting permit in March this year and was filmed in The Three-River Source National Nature Reserve in Maduo County, part of Tibet, which China calls the Xizang Autonomous Region.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe Asian Cinema Fund, a bursary scheme for film and documentary projects operated alongside the Busan International Film Festival, has announced six Korean recipients and seven hailing from elsewhere in Asia. The fund was put on hiatus during the two years of COVID, which also reduced the festival in size and turned the Asian Contents & Film Market into a virtual event. Three winners – “In the Land of Brothers,” by Raha Amirfazali, “Life I Stole,” by Putri Purnama Sugua and “Smart City,” by Rohin Raveendran – each receive KRW10 million ($7,50) for script development and are invited to participate in the ACFM’s Asian Project Market.