Philippines: Last News

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Flow,” a director-driven animated feature which world premiered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and just swept three awards at Annecy Film Festival, has been embraced by a raft of major distributors in key territories, including the U.K., Japan, South Korea, Germany, Spain and Italy. The movie is represented internationally by Charades.

Red Velvet have announced their upcoming 2024 ‘Happiness: My Dear, ReVe1uv’ Asia tour, featuring concerts in Thailand, Indonesia and more.Today (June 19), Red Velvet revealed that they will be embarking on an Asia fancon tour this August and September. Titled ‘Happiness: My Dear, ReVe1uv’, it will kick off on August 3 and 4 at the Olympic Handball Gymnasium in Seoul, South Korea.Later that same month, the girl group will also play two shows at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.

Katharine McPhee just had a superstar moment while performing in the Philippines!

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter Anxiety to the rescue! Disney and Pixar‘s “Inside Out 2,” an animated adventure that spotlights apprehension among other emotions, scored the biggest box office debut of the year with $155 million domestically and $295 million globally. It’s a huge win for theaters (ticket sales have been lagging way behind 2023) and Pixar (which has struggled to restore its box office touch since COVID). Those results far exceeded expectations and notched several opening weekend records in the process.

What happens when long-distance lovers who've only ever met online actually get to meet in person? That's the premise of Channel 4's five-part reality series, The Nevermets, which has been following five couples separated not only by vast distances but, sometimes, differing cultures. The six-part Channel 4 series has introduced us to people like British catering assistant Sarah, 38, who travelled to the Phillipines to meet a 27 year old Filipino virtual assistant, called Jgoy.There were tears when Sarah had to travel home, with both admitting they had deep feelings for each other. Also on the show is 17 year old A-level student Jay, aged just 15 when he met now-26 year old Veena in a Game Of Thrones chatroom, but who travelled around 5,000 miles to meet her at home in India.

The Nevermets is gripping TV viewers, following the ups and downs of the love lives of five couples who've only ever met online... until now.The six-part Channel 4 series has introduced us to people like British catering assistant Sarah, 38, who's been living with a 27 year old Filipino virtual assistant called Jgoy. And floppy-fringed 17 year old A-level student Jay, who was only 15 when he met now-26 year old Veena in a Game Of Thrones chatroom but who travelled around 5,000 miles to meet her at home in India.

KATSEYE is coming!

Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out 2 had its first full day of play at the international box office on Wednesday with No. 1 starts in each of its eight material markets, including strong debuts in majors Korea and Germany as well as the Philippines. The total through day one overseas is $4.9M. Majors joining through Friday include Australia, Mexico and the UK.

Queen of Tears star Kim Soo-hyun has announced his upcoming 2024 ‘Eyes On You’ Asia fanmeet tour, featuring shows in Thailand, Indonesia, Japan and more.Kim Soo-hyun’s management GOLDMEDALIST announced that the tour will be kicking off this summer, marking his first overseas trek in about 10 years. The tour arrives fresh off the back of the conclusion of Queen of Tears, which broke television broadcast records for cable network tvN.Kim is scheduled to begin the tour with a show in Bangkok, before he heads to a handful of major cities in East and Southeast Asia, including Hong Kong, Jakarta and more.

Legacy U.S. shows such as The Office and Friends remain popular in Asia, but interest in American content is on the wane in the region, a new study shows.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief U.S-produced film and TV content has maintained leadership in terms of reach among Subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) users in nine major markets in Asia-Pacific. And it remains important for acquiring and maintaining subscriptions, a new report finds. New research from consultancy firm Media Partners Asia is based on passively-collected data from 40,000 digital users amassed by its AMPD sister company.

Marta Balaga Ricard Claus and Karsten Kiilerich’s kids and family animated feature “Panda Bear in Africa” is continuing its long journey and heading to France (Le Pacte), Switzerland (Praesens) and the Benelux territories (WW Entertainment) after a raft of sales by the film’s sales agent Cinema Management Group. In early fall, it will also release in the Middle East (Front Row Entertainment), Poland (Kino Świat), Portugal (Films4You) and Turkey (Filmarti).

There can’t be many of us who haven’t excitedly gone on a first date, only to wonder if it’s all been a terrible mistake within seconds of meeting the potential person of our dreams. And that looked very much the situation with British catering assistant Sarah, 38, who met with her apparent love match – a 27 year old Filipino virtual assistant called Jgoy – for the first time on last week’s episode of Channel 4’s latest documentary series, The Nevermets.The six-part series is following five love-struck couples living many thousands of miles apart, and who’ve only ever known each other online, as they meet for the first time and immerse themselves in each other’s cultures.The series continues on Friday, 7 June, on Channel 4.

Sheynnis Palacios, the first Nicaraguan Miss Universe, is on her way to breaking a record. After the winners take home their crown, they spend the next year on an extensive tour around the world, representing the organization and promoting charitable causes as global ambassadors. Palacios’ has been on hers, and she has already added over a dozen stamps to her passport.If Palacios keeps going at the rate she is, she may break a Miss Universe record.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “The Gospel of the Beast,” a film from The Philippines director Sheron Dayoc, was named the best narrative feature at the Bali International Film Festival (aka Balinale) which concludes Friday. The film features a 15-year-old boy who accidentally kills a classmate, runs away and sets up an unlikely relationship with a man he barely knows.

We have our first look at Emily in Paris season four on Netflix!

EXCLUSIVE: XYZ Films has closed a raft of international deals on SXSW Midnighter thriller Kryptic, starring Chloe Pirrie (The Queen’s Gambit).

EXCLUSIVE: MindRiot Entertainment, the transatlantic indie behind Danielle Deadwyler’s Parallel, and the upcoming OceanGate pic Salvaged has acquired the rights to adapt the life stories of former US marines Bryan Seely and Robert Hudock for a feature project. 

Amazon Prime Video has removed a film from its library after receiving one Ofcom complaint.Filipino film Pamasahe, which was released in 2022, was found to be in breach of the regulator’s code, with the removal coming after the recent passing of the Media Bill in the UK’s House of Lords.The new law means streamers must be regulated the same as traditional broadcasters in Britain in areas such as harmful content.According to Deadline, one person complained to Ofcom after initially writing to Amazon about a scene in Pamasahe that “concerned about the inclusion of a baby in scenes depicting sexual activity between adults”.After reportedly receiving no response – and then an unsatisfactory response from the streamer – they contacted the regulator, who in turn then contacted the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).They advised that “the sequence…contains a frame that would contravene the Protection of Children Act 1978….on the basis that it shows a child in the same frame as sexual activity”. After the BBFC contacted Amazon, the film was removed.The streamer said in response that it believed that it had “robust, complete and effective” checking measures in place, evidenced by “over a decade of content distribution under the supervision of Ofcom without any prior formal investigations from Ofcom.”They added: “These sorts of content policies are nuanced and we regularly evaluate where we can make improvements.”Pamasahe follows the story of “a penniless mother, with her infant child” who “takes on a journey by land and sea to find her husband in Manila”.

Amazon has fallen foul of Ofcom‘s code in the UK for the first time.

It's been described by various leading TV critics, as 'bleak', an 'evil version of First Dates' and 'sure to end in tears'. But that hasn't stopped everyone watching, open-mouthed, Channel 4's latest reality dating show, The Nevermets, a show where long-distance lovers turn their virtual romance into reality as they meet face-to-face for the first time and immerse themselves in their real worlds.