Melbourne Film Festival Unveils Competition Section With $100,000 First Prize

Jordan Moreau You haven’t seen the last of Gru and the Minions quite yet.Universal Pictures and Illumination announced Friday that “Despicable Me 4” is coming to theaters on July 3, 2024. Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Pierre Coffin, Miranda Cosgrove and Steve Coogan will all be returning for the next chapter in the animated, family-friendly series about the reformed super-villain and his army of yellow Minions.Chris Renaud, who directed the first two “Despicable Me” movies, is back for the fourth installment.

Staying supportive. Amid the news that Jennifer Grey is set to pen a tell-all memoir, her ex-husband, Clark Gregg, was seemingly nervous about what would be included.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefWarner Bros.’ franchise title “The Batman” and Sony’s game adaptation “Uncharted” have both been given confirmed theatrical release dates in mainland China.“The Batman” will reach conventional and Imax theaters in China on Friday March 18, 2022. “Uncharted” will release four days earlier on Monday March 14.The confirmations mean that there is a rebounding flow of Hollywood movies into China after a drought in 2021, when revenue sharing import numbers fall short of the bilaterally agreed 34 film annual quota. There has also been a complete absence of Marvel movies (from both the Disney and Sony stables).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe Osaka Asian Film Festival has unveiled its biggest ever program – a total of 76 films – to unspool next month (March 10-20, 2022).Its competition section includes the acclaimed Korean debut film “Aloners,” which offers an exacting critique of the alienating effects upon life of modern capitalist economies; Hong Kong biopic “Anita”; the world premiere of “Angry Son,” which combines LGBT and mixed race themes in a heartwarming comedy; Kong Dashan’s new take on “Journey to the West,” as a ragtag group of people on a UFO hunt; “Mama’s Affair,” the second film by Kearen Pang, whose 2017 debut “29+1” won Osaka’s audience award, “No Land’s Man” from Mostofa Sarwar Farooki and festival circuit hit “Barbarian Invasion.” The spotlight section includes ten titles. Among them are “The Ground Beneath her Feet” from Bangladesh’s Mohammad Rabby Mridha; “A Room of Her own” from China’s Xie Yiran; and Carlo Francisco Manatad’s “Whether the Weather is Fine.”The largest component section is the twenty-title Indie Forum, a platform for Japanese indie films that allow the winner to claim the Japan Cuts Award.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“The Novelist’s Film,” which Wednesday earned Korean director Hong Sang-soo the Grand Jury Prize in Berlin, has scored multiple rights deals. With Seoul-based Finecut handling the rights sales, the film was licensed to Ama Films for Greece and Cyprus, Mimosa Films for Japan, L’Atalante Cinema for Spain, Arizona Films Distribution for France and to The Cinema Guild for the U.S.Finecut also did European Film Market business with “Contorted,” an unorthodox horror about a family tragedy.

The catalog of SpongeBob SquarePants content is about to get a whole lot bigger.Three new spin-off movies are making their way to Paramount+ and another film will receive a theatrical release, Deadlinereported.The spin-off films will center around different residents of the titular sea sponge's hometown Bikini Bottom. The first of three will premiere in 2023.

Oscar winner Colin Firth embraced Oscar nominee Toni Collette in front of a Christmas tree in the first image of HBO Max's eight-episode crime drama The Staircase, which premieres this spring.The 61-year-old Englishman portrays crime novelist Michael Peterson, who was convicted of murdering his second wife Kathleen and staging it to look like a fall down the stairs at their North Carolina home in 2001.In the second released image, the married couple sit at a dining table with their blended brood of five children (Olivia DeJonge, Dane DeHaan, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Odessa Young, and Sophie Turner). Premieres this spring! Oscar winner Colin Firth embraced Oscar nominee Toni Collette in front of a Christmas tree in the first image of HBO Max's eight-episode crime drama The Staircase $1.5M life insurance policy:The 61-year-old Englishman portrays crime novelist Michael Peterson (L), who was convicted of murdering his second wife Kathleen (R) and staging it to look like a fall down the stairs at their North Carolina home in 2001Kathleen had daughter Caitlin Atwater from her first marriage to Fred Atwater, while Michael had two sons Clayton and Todd as well as two adopted daughters Margaret and Martha.Antonio Campos and Maggie Cohn's limited series also features Rosemarie DeWitt, Juliette Binoche, and Parker Posey in the ensemble.'I didn't communicate with Michael Peterson,' Colin told Deadline on Tuesday during The Staircase's CTAM presentation.

There’s so much Spongebob Squarepants coming to us!

The first look at HBO Max’s The Staircase eight-episode series just debuted online!

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“The Battle at Lake Changjin II” passed $500 million in total sales and remained unchallenged atop the mainland Chinese box office over the latest weekend.Data from consultancy Artisan Gateway showed no positional change among the top five films on a weekend that came a week after the Chinese New Year holiday wound down. Bona’s “Lake Changjin II” earned $43.5 million over the Friday to Sunday weekend, ahead of comedy “Too Cool to Kill” with $37.3 million over the same three days. In third place over the weekend was drama “Nice View” with $21.6 million and animation “Boonie Bears: Back to Earth” with $14.0 million.

Marvel Studios dropped an official trailer for the Doctor Strange sequel - Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness - on Super Bowl Sunday.There's plenty of high-octane action and supernatural theatrics as Dr. Stephen Strange, who's played byBenedict Cumberbatch, joins other familiar castmembersBenedict Wong (Wong), Rachel McAdams (Christine Palmer) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Karl Mordo), who all reprise their roles.This go-around the newcomers include Xochitl Gomez (America Chavez), Michael Stuhlbarg (Dr. Nicodemus West), and Elizabeth Olsen (who reprises her role asWanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch from other MCU productions).There's also no shortage of rumors and speculation about potential cameos from the likes of Tom Cruise and John Krasinski, But it appears one of those rumors is in fact true: Patrick Stewart's original Professor X can be heard delivering a line in the new trailer, according to Unilad.

The first teaser for Prime Video’s The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings of Power poses the question: “Haven’t you ever wondered what else is out there?”

Wyatte Grantham-Philips editorMarvel has released a second trailer for “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” which is set to come to theaters on May 6. Many new scenes and secrets were aired, including a peek at Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch potentially breaking bad, and a brief audio cameo from what sure sounded like Patrick Stewart reviving his role as Professor X from the “X-Men” series.As the first standalone sequel for Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), “Multiverse of Madness” follows the Sorcerer Supreme as he tries to contain the aftermath of the multiverse-fracturing spell he cast in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” — which caused villains from across the multiverse to spill over into the central Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefOnly a few months ago, hundreds of Asian film executives were expecting to attend this week’s Berlin festival and the European Film Market. For many, it would have been their first participation in a top-tier overseas festival for nearly two years.But the Omicron variant has upended those dreams. And, except for those folks with a film playing in the festival, most have stayed at home.

Ellise Shafer Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and “West Side Story” star Mike Faist are set to star in Luca Guadagnino’s new romantic drama “Challengers” at MGM.“Spider-Man: No Way Home” producer Amy Pascal is producing the film via her Pascal Pictures alongside Zendaya and Guadagnino. Playwright Justin Kuritzkes is penning the script.The film centers on the competitive world of tennis, in which player-turned-coach Tashi (Zendaya) has transformed her husband Art (Faist) into a grand-slam champion.

With The Batman’s release swiftly approaching, Warner Bros. has unveiled new footage from its other upcoming DC superhero films, including Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Black Adam and The Flash.

Ethan Shanfeld New footage of DC’s “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” “Black Adam” and “The Flash” has been revealed in a new clip posted to social media.While the video teases only a brief look at Jason Momoa standing above a valley and sitting on Aquaman’s throne, it serves as the first official footage from the long-awaited sequel. Also starring Amber Heard as Mera and Willem Dafoe as Nuidis Vulko, “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” premieres in theaters on Dec. 16.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is a proud papa. On Thursday, the "Terminator" star appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and opened up about his growing family. His daughter Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt and her husband Chris Pratt are expecting their second baby together.The couple is already parents to their 1-year-old daughter Lyla.

“Lord of the Rings” fans are getting a brand new look at the hotly anticipated TV series.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefTrinity Cine Asia has acquired rights to mainland Chinese blockbuster “The Battle at Lake Changjin II” for release in the U.K. and Ireland. The deal was struck with sales agency Distribution Workshop.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe impact of COVID-19 was ingrained throughout the annual financial results of CJ ENM, the most diversified entertainment company in South Korea. Music gained ground, while film was lossmaking. Similarly, the group’s streaming business rapidly grew its top line, but its heavy investment costs kept the unit in the red.For the year to end of December 2021, CJ ENM recorded a 5% increase in sales, to KRW3.55 trillion ($2.97 billion), and a 9% increase in operating profit, at KRW297 billion ($248 million), it sais in a regulatory filing on Thursday.