Manta, Korean Webtoons Firm, Hatches In-House Production Facility, Launching Ten Comic Series (EXCLUSIVE)

Khloe Kardashian has shared the first pictures of herself with both of her children on Instagram. In snaps taken at her youngest’s first birthday party, she sits outside with daughter True, five, and Tatum, one. Captioning the snaps with a simple blue heart, the 39 year old can be seen in a white summer dress which she paired with some white sandals, and some shades.

The past year has proved to be a turbulent one for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. With the release of Prince Harry's memoir Spare in January, they were also asked to leave their Frogmore Cottage home in Windsor and have brought a number of legal cases against various media organisations and the Home Office.

Match Me! Shepherding them are 30 producers hailing from the length and breadth of Europe, plus Taiwan and the Dominican Republic, in town for the three-day event, kicking off Friday. Set up at mainly young-ish production houses, they underscore major trends now coursing through European cinema: the rise of genre and animation – such as Christophe Reveille’s “To Live and Die with Che Guevara” an animated doc feature about three guerrillas who pledged allegiance to Che Guevara – as well as films of large artistic ambition made on contained budgets, such as Taiwan’s “Goodbye North, Goodbye.” Above all, there’s a gathering shift from straight-arrow arthouse drama to genre-bending thrillers that nevertheless maintain art pics’ traditional social issue focus.

Marta Balaga Alliance 4 Development – a co-development initiative for film projects from Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland hosted by Locarno Pro – is ready to embrace a “variety of genres, themes and visions,” says project manager Francesca Palleschi. Among 11 titles selected for its 8th edition, emerging filmmakers will be featured alongside their more established colleagues.

Follow OK! on Threads here: https://www.threads.net/@ok_mag Newly-engaged Molly-Mae Hague has lifted the lid on her plans to wed Love Island boyfriend Tommy Fury.The loved-up duo, both 24 - who met on the much-loved ITV2 dating show back in 2019 and have just celebrated their fourth anniversary - became engaged in July after Tommy planned a surprise proposal on a beautiful cliff-edge in Ibiza. And now, in the widely-anticipated YouTube video, the blonde bombshell shut down rumours that she and her boxer beau are planning to tie the knot abroad, and will instead opt for a traditional UK wedding, as Tommy is religious.

Follow OK! on Threads here: https://www.threads.net/@ok_mag After becoming a mum for the first time when her daughter Royce Lillian was born in last year, much-loved comedy actress Rebel Wilson has opened up on the emotional reason she opted to use a surrogate.The Pitch Perfect star, 43 - who with her partner Ramona Agruma welcomed their little girl in November 2022 - has described being inspired by a "year of health", which she announced she was undergoing in 2020. Rebel focussed during those 12 months on striving towards a healthier lifestyle, all with the aim of one day wanting to become a mother.

Marta Balaga Raven Banner Entertainment continues to rack up sales for Richard V. Somes’ action spectacle “Topakk.” “Topakk”(“Trigger”) has been sold to Aud (South Korea), Superfine Films (India), Kinologistika (CIS and the Baltics) and Lighthouse (German-speaking Europe). It’s not the end of good news, as the film – debuting its trailer and produced by Fusee, with Strawdogs Studio Production and Nathan Studios co-producing – is also set to bow at Locarno next week.

Meghan Markle is celebrating another year around the sun as she celebrates turning 42 on August 4.The Duchess of Sussex previously gave fans an insight into a birthday ritual, which she practices annually. Meghan wrote about the tradition on her popular blog, The Tig, which she closed in 2017, where she would share snippets of her private life with her followers.

Just days since Love Island came to it’s dramatic conclusion, another feud appears to have emerged among the stars as both Whitney Adebayo and Mitchel Taylor both hit out at one of their fellow Islanders. Just three days on since the winner was officially crowned, Love Island runner up Whitney didn’t hold back as she took part in an Instagram Live Q&A session which saw her brutally call out her co-star Kady McDermott.

In the final years of her life, Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother was often referred to as 'the best loved royal' thanks to her decades of public service. But behind palace walls, her staff knew her for the clever way she avoided any familial subject she didn't want to speak or know about. It is said the former Queen mastered this ability to such a degree that those closest to her nicknamed her "the imperial ostrich", owing to her fondness for 'sticking her head in the sand' to avoid difficult conversations.

Lizzo have said that her statement denying allegations made against her was “disheartening” to read.Earlier today (August 3), Lizzo responded to the lawsuit filed by Crystal Williams, Arianna Davis and Noelle Rodriguez, in which they accuse her of creating a hostile work environment and engaging in sexual harassment among other allegations. Her dance team captain Shirlene Quigley and production company Big Grrrl Big Touring Inc.

Doja Cat has returned with a brand new single and video – watch ‘Paint The Town Red’ below.The new track is the singer and rapper’s second release of 2023, following comeback single ‘Attention’ which landed in June.‘Attention’ was her first solo offering since she released her chart-topping third studio album ‘Planet Her’ in 2021.The video for ‘Paint The Town Red’ is inspired by a trio of Doja-created paintings, and directed by Nina McNeely.Watch it below.Elsewhere since the release of ‘Planet Her’, Doja has dropped the Top 10 Billboard track ‘Vegas’ from the Elvis soundtrack and appeared on the remix for SZA’s Number One-peaking single, ‘Kill Bill’.She has also announced her first-ever North American arena tour kicking off later this year, with Ice Spice and Doechii as support – find the full schedule below and buy tickets here.The singer and rapper will kick off ‘The Scarlet Tour’ on October 31 at the Chase Center in San Francisco, with stops planned for Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Houston, Miami, Brooklyn, Toronto and many more, closing out the 24-date trek at Chicago’s United Center in Chicago on December 13.‘The Scarlett Tour’ 2023OCTOBER31 – San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center *NOVEMBER2 – Los Angeles, CA, Crypto.com Arena *3 – Las Vegas, NV, T-Mobile Arena *5 – San Diego, CA, Viejas Arena *6 – Anaheim, CA, Honda Center *8 – Phoenix, AZ, Footprint Center *10 – Denver, CO, Ball Arena *13 – Austin, TX, Moody Center *15 – Houston, TX, Toyota Center *16 – Dallas, TX, American Airlines Center *19 – Atlanta, GA, State Farm Arena *21 – Miami, FL, Kaseya Center #24 – Tampa, FL, Amalie Arena *26 – Charlotte, NC, Spectrum Center #27 – Washington, DC, Capital One Arena #29 – Brooklyn, NY, Barclays Center #30 – Newark, NJ, Prudential

††† (Crosses), the side-project of Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and multi-instrumentalist and producer Shaun Lopez, have announced a new album titled ‘Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete.’.The album follows recent EP ‘PERMANENT.RADIANT‘, a one-off double A-side of ‘Initiation’/’Protection’ and a George Michael cover.The new album, due out on October 13 via Warner, features The Cure’s Robert Smith and Run The Jewels’ El-P.Discussing its creation, Moreno said in a statement: “When we started working on ‘Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete.’, there was so much more light coming in my life, for numerous reasons.“There’s a lot more optimism. Even the darker themes are more romanticised and not coming from a place of despair.”Watch the video for new single ‘Invisible Hand’ and see the artwork and tracklist for ‘Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete.’ below.1. ‘Pleasure’ 2. ‘Invisible Hand’ 3. ‘Found’ 4. ‘Light As A Feather’ ‘Pulseplagg’ ‘Runner’ ‘Big Youth’ (feat. El-P) ‘End Youth’ (Reprise) ‘Last Rites’ ‘Ghost Ride’ ‘Grace’ ‘Eraser’ ‘Natural Selection’ ‘Girls Float † Boys Cry’ (feat. Robert Smith) ‘Goodnight, God Bless, I Love U, Delete.’Speaking to NME last year about the future of the project, Moreno said: “To use Deftones as an analogy: when we did our first record, we were just trying to figure out what the hell we were doing, ‘Around The Fur’ was us getting some confidence and success with that, then when we made ‘White Pony’ that was us saying, ‘We can do anything now’.“People liked what we did and we had the freedom to expand.

When it comes to live entertainment, few places in the UK deliver like Manchester. From arts and culture, to music and good vibes, the city region has it all.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Screen Producers Australia, an Australian guild, moved quickly on Friday to explain that wholly local film and TV productions, even if they involve Screen Actors Guild members, can continue to roll despite the SAG-AFTRA strike notice and order, which has been in place since midnight Pacific time. The English-speaking country has an oversize production and post-production sector, with much of it set up to service inbound foreign productions, sometimes known as “runaway productions.” Strike orders “will apply to some scripted TV and feature films produced in Australia. SPA anticipates that a limited number of scripted ‘offshore’ (i.e. non-Australian) productions will be affected by the strike, with cast and crew stood down while the strike continues,” the SPA notice says.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The upcoming Asian-American feature film “Chopin,” starring Eddie Liu (“Kung Fu,” Never Have I Ever, “Silicon Valley”) and Violett Beane (“God Friended Me,” “The Flash”), officially wrapped a 25-day shoot on June 4. Announced last year, the film is now in post-production and scheduled for an early 2024 premiere. The film is the feature directorial debut of Vincent Lin, a successful commercials director and co-founder of Valiant Pictures. The film, written by Lin, also stars Golden Horse Film Award winner Leon Dai (“Your Name Engraved Herein,” “Cannot Live Without You”) and Taiwanese legend Wu Min (“The Queen!”).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Smash hit Japanese animation feature “The First Slam Dunk” is set to be the first film theatrically released by newly-launched Australian distribution and New Zealand licensing firm Sugoi Co. The company is headed by Tim Anderson, founder and former CEO of Madman Entertainment, the Australian indie with a strong leaning for Japanese content, and Sylvester “Sly” Ip. The pair made an announcement on Twitter and conducted a soft launch at the recent Anime Expo in Los Angeles. “The First Slam Dunk. Coming soon to cinemas across Australia. Follow us for full release and ticket info,” said Sugoi Co on Twitter.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Global streaming platform Netflix has removed the Chinese-produced drama series “Flight to You” from its service in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government banned the series on similar grounds to its objection to the upcoming Warner Bros. film “Barbie.” “As a result of the Vietnamese regulator banning elements of the series, we have removed ‘Flight to You’ from Netflix in Vietnam. It remains available on our service in other markets,” a Netflix spokesperson told Variety in an emailed statement. Both “Barbie” and “Flight to You” are understood to have included scenes that show a map of the South China Sea that depicts the “nine dash line” that represents China’s territorial claim to almost all of the area. Vietnam says that use of the map violates its sovereignty and that it will not tolerate the “nine dash line” in film and TV.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Netflix has acquired Nippon TV’s upcoming already completed rom-com drama “Turn to me Mukai-kun.” The series explores the story of a man who has lost touch with the intricacies of a relationship, a universal theme for anyone unlucky in love, or in search of that special someone. The series will stream on Netflix Japan starting Wednesday, immediately after Nippon TV’s Wednesday primetime air slot, with global streaming of the series to follow on all Netflix outlets. Hulu Japan, which is owned by Nippon TV, will also stream the series immediately after the Japan terrestrial and cable broadcast.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Toho International, an offshoot of the storied Japanese film and TV giant Toho, is to launch twin e-commerce sites serving the growing legion of North American fans of Japanese pop culture. One platform is specific to the Godzilla brand. The other, iiZO, will cater to a wider range of anime fans who will be served with original Japanese merchandize. The moves are being headed by Kristin Parcell GM at Toho International, and her U.S.-based team who joined the firm from Crunchyroll at the end of last year. They foresee the twin initiatives as a business with $100 million of revenue within a few years. Their in-house operation comprises anime and “Godzilla” brand experts, and also includes specialist in merchandizing, buying and fashion. The sites go live at unspecified dates this summer.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korean tech firm CJ 4DPLEX has struck a deal with Thailand’s Major Cineplex to add two ScreenX locations in Cambodia and Thailand. One will be located at the AEON Mall Mean Chey, have almost 500 seats and have a 75-foot-wide central screen, making it the largest ScreenX auditorium in Southeast Asia. The other will be at Bangkok’s ICONSiam Mall location, debuting on July 27. ScreenX is a multi-projection system with an immersive 270-degree field of view. That creates a virtual reality-like setting with cinema quality resolution. Major’s first ScreenX launched in 2022 at its Siam Paragon location in central Bangkok.