Frater Asia: Last News

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Pixar animation film “Elemental” expanded at the South Korean box office in its third weekend of release and easily bested new release title “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” “Elemental” earned $5.27 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the box office tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). That represented a 38% increase on its previous weekend performance and was the best of its three weekends so far. It also increased its market share to 39%, also its strongest market position, despite only adding a handful of additional screens. After 19 days on release, “Elemental” has amassed $16.9 million from 2.25 million spectators.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Oh Seok-geun, head of the Asian Contents and Film Market in Busan, has resigned. Oh’s exit follows the resignation earlier this week of Busan International Film Festival chairman Lee Yong-kwan and the earlier departure of festival director Huh Moonyoung. “I submitted my resignation to the BIFF. I decided this was the best choice I could make. I hope my decision will help solve the BIFF situation,” Oh told Variety. A spokesman for the festival confirmed that Oh had tendered his resignation and said that the organization will frame its response next week.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Production is under way on a second season of lesbian drama “Fragrance of the First Flower,” an Asian drama series from Taiwan’s GagaOOLala. The first season, comprising six episodes that debuted in 2021, follows the life of Yi-Ming (portrayed by Lin ZaiZai), a married woman with a son, who finds herself reunited with Ting-Ting (played by Cheng Lyan), a girl from her past. Their encounter sparks a connection that opens the door to the possibility of escaping Yi-Ming’s monotonous married life. In season two, expanded to 12 episodes, Yi-Ming embarks on a new chapter as a newly divorced single mother and a career woman. This fresh start brings challenges as she navigates the hardships of single parenthood and societal pressures. Even though Taiwan has legalized same-sex marriage in 2019, this does not mean that LGBTQ+ relationships have been fully accepted in mainstream society. Yi-Ming grapples with whether she can truly follow her heart and pursue a life with Ting-Ting. The original cast will return and new characters will be introduced.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Zhang Yimou, China’s most enduring filmmaker, is joining the worldwide shift by feature film directors into the streaming arena. Zhang, who directed “Full River Red,” the most successful film of 2023 in China, is to be involved with his first TV series. He will executive produce “The First Shot,” his representatives confirmed to Variety. The show is to be directed by Xing Lu and is backed by Tencent Video. It is currently in development, with a tentative air date in 2025. That’s because Zhang has a film directing project with an anticipated Chinese New Year release date, due to begin shooting this summer.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Lee Yong-kwan, one of the original founders of the Busan International Film Festival, says he is stepping down as the event’s chairman – this time with immediate effect. He says the move is intended to defuse a morass of factional infighting and political interference surrounding Asian’s most prominent film festival. A festival spokesman told Variety that the board of directors “has decided to persuade the chairperson to return. So, the resignation has not been accepted yet.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Warner Bros. Discovery will rebrand its kids’ TV channel Boomerang to Cartoonito in Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong, with effect from July 28. The company said that the “switch is a result of positive feedback to the Cartoonito-branded block on Boomerang and Cartoon Network launched in 2022, and is focused on being more inclusive to pre-school aged viewers.” Sources close to the company explained that the move is “part of a big regional and global commitment by WBD to preschool content.” It follows Cartoonito rebrands and launches in other international territories including EMEA and LatAm.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds is among a group of investors who have agreed a deal to pay €200 million ($218 million) for a 24% stake in the Alpine Formula 1 motor racing team. The deal sees French manufacturer Renault and its sport car division Alpine sell a stake in Alpine Racing to an investor group headed by Otro Capital, RedBird Capital Partners, and Reynolds’ Maximum Effort Investments. The deal, which values Alpine Racing at about €900 million, covers only the race team, not the wider Alpine road car manufacturer. Alpine Racing SAS, the entity manufacturing F1 engines in France, is also not included in the transaction and will remain entirely owned by Renault.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Some 18 film industry guilds and trade associations are calling for urgent structural reform of the Busan International Film Festival. They point out that this year’s edition of the festival is looming less than 100 days away. The festival’s management has made a succession of management missteps in recent weeks, including one that resulted in an official apology. At the beginning of May, a decision to split the festival’s senior management in two by creating a new position for Cho Jongkook, was followed by consternation among guilds and the resignation of festival director Huh Moonyoung.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese mystery drama “Lost in the Stars” was the top-grossing film on the planet over the latest weekend – despite playing only a single territory. The film earned $70.7 million (RMB502 million) between Friday and Sunday in mainland China, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. That put it far and away ahead of other Chinese new releases and Hollywood’s holdovers “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” and “The Flash.” With the Dragon Boat Festival holiday occurring on Thursday, the film was given an unusual one-day advance on the normal releasing pattern in China. Including Thursday takings, the film made a total of $98.3 million (RMB968 million).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Pixar animation “Elemental” rose to the top of the South Korean box office over the latest weekend. It overtook “The Roundup: No Way Out” and kept new release “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” at bay, in third place. Released a week earlier, “Elemental” rose from second place to first and grew its revenue by 19% in its second frame. According to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council, “Elemental” earned $3.86 million between Friday and Sunday for a 12-day cumulative of $9.47 million. “The Roundup: No Way Out,” which had dominated the sector for the previous three weekends, slipped to second position. It earned $3.34 million over the weekend, a 34% week-on-week decline. Since releasing on May 31, it has amassed $73.2 million, from 9.67 million ticket sales, by far the biggest haul of any film released this calendar year.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Shanghai was the venue for the launch of Chinese streaming firm iQiyi’s latest venture into Virtual Reality. Its ‘Luoyang VR Project’ is a studio-based experience in which users are invited to experience up to 12 different entertainment zones in the ancient city of Luoyang in Henan province. Requiring headsets and using a physical space of some 300 square metres, the set-up stimulates the physical experience of high winds, waterfalls and explosions. IQiyi described the project as “the first attempt in the VR industry to integrate different elements from immersive theatre, VR, and original IP,” and said that it leverages “inside-out tracking” technology and other industry-leading, sensory-simulation techniques to build in cars, boats, carriages, and other props. “The upshot is a highly realistic environment that fully immerses the audience in the story,” the company said.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The 28th edition of the Shanghai TV Festival wrapped up on Friday with its Magnolia Awards presented to a range of TV drama series, documentaries and animation programs. The drama awards were dominated by two shows “A Lifelong Journey” and “Bright Future.” “A Lifelong Journey,” adapted from a novel of the same name by Liang Xiaosheng, tells the story of three generations of one family in China’s Northeast as time moves from the late Cultural Revolution period through to the country’s reform and opening up. With a starry cast and broadcasters including CCTV-1 and Jiangsu Satellite TV, the show is reported to have attracted 310 million viewers at the beginning of 2022. In mainland China, it ran for 58 episodes, while in Hong Kong it played in 35 parts.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The technical aspects of China’s embrace of smart broadcasting were given a thorough workout this week as part of the ongoing Shanghai Television Festival. Topics covered by keynote speakers included: future broadcasting planning; AI content generation’ big data construction; and the development of ultra-high definition broadcasting. Sun Suchuan, deputy Director-General of the Science and Technology Department of the National Radio & Television Authority explained that the national government has iterated a strategic development plan for the TV sector running until 2035 as well as medium- and long-term technological strategies.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The members of the international juries that will decide the Magnolia prizes at the ongoing Shanghai Television Festival were Thursday made to do double duty as speakers in public masterclasses that were open to a generation of aspiring documentary and animation makers. David Stephan, jury president in the animation category, along with fellow judges Spencer Ooi and Jia Fou, spoke at length about getting their starts in the business and finding inspiration. “When I studied animation, I didn’t have a textbook available. I saw extremely limited things, so I did further research to make myself understand what I was doing in such a career,” said Jia.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Choi Sung-bong, a male singer who was the runner up in the 2011 edition of “Korea’s Got Talent” talent show, died on Tuesday. He was 33. Choi was found dead by police at his home in the Yeoksam district in southern Seoul at 9:41 a.m. Tuesday, according to police and fire authorities on Wednesday. According to the Yonhap news agency, authorities in Seoul report that Choi appeared to have died by suicide. Their conclusion was drawn from a combination of the circumstances at his home and a note that he posted to YouTube implying death by suicide. “I sincerely apologize to all who suffered from my foolish mistake,” the note said.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief KC Global Media, a leading multi-territory operator of linear TV channels in Asia, has sold Animax Korea to Aniplus, an Asian multinational television channel and anime distributor based in Singapore and South Korea. The deal “aims to elevate Animax Korea’s offerings while focusing on horizontally integrating its content across Aniplus’ platform and reach,” the companies said. The deal was agreed in April, but was subject to regulatory approvals. These have now been obtained. Deal terms were not disclosed. But sources close to the transaction suggest that it was valued at some KRW46 billion ($35.5 million).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “The Twelve,” an award-winning Australian crime drama series, has been greenlighted for a second season. It is backed by the Foxtel group and its streaming brand Binge. The show follows a controversial murder trial seen through the lens of the jurors, twelve ordinary Australians who are facing their own realities and struggles. The first season received ten nominations, and won three AACTA Awards in 2022 including best miniseries. In recent days, it became the most nominated drama series at the 63rd TV Week Logie Awards. Season two of “The Twelve” will be eight 1-hour episodes written by Sarah Walker, Anchuli Felicia King, Anya Beyersdorf and Anna Barnes. Local authorities in Western Australia described it as the state’s “biggest-ever screen production,” but divulged no specifics on budget. Filming will take place in the Wheatbelt and Metropolitan regions and create over 100 local jobs, the state government said.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Busan International Film Festival has apologized for its mishandling of the resignation of its executive director Huh Moon-young and related sexual harassment allegations. “We sincerely apologize over the sexual harassment case that occurred in the workplace,” BIFF said in a Korean-language statement on Thursday. (A festival spokesperson said that an English-language statement, along with an update, will be issued in the coming days.) Huh has publicly denied the allegations, though he has not replied to email and telephone requests for comment by Variety.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hong Kong action film “The White Storm: Heaven or Hell” will have its North American premiere at the New York Asian Film Festival, where it is a late addition to the line-up. The festival runs July 14–30, 2023 at Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Directed by Herman Yau, the film sees Louis Koo, Aaron Kwok and Sean Lau (aka Lau Ching-wan) appear together for the first time. It is set in the ‘Golden Triangle’ region famous for drugs production and trafficking. Kwok plays an undercover cop who infiltrates a drug cartel led by a notorious Thai drug lord (Lau). In classic heroic bloodshed fashion, the two develop a bond of brotherhood. The cop’s only hope of escaping the treacherous jungle region and his ambiguous morality is to somehow contact the superintendent of the Hong Kong Narcotics Bureau, who has solemnly sworn to demolish the cartel once and for all.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief NBCUniversal is to expand its One Platform advertising, technology, data and measurement system further into global markets through an alliance with international broadcast and tech partners. The move was announced on Tuesday at the Cannes Lions advertising convention in Cannes, France.International partners include Atresmedia from Spain, Bell Media from Canada, Channel 4 from the U.K., Mediaset from Italy, Seven West Media from Australia, Sky Media from the U.K., Italy and Germany, and Talpa from the Netherlands, TF1 Pub of France, Japan’s Tokyo Broadcasting Systems and Omnicom Media Group. “By bringing together leading local broadcasters and publishers across the world, NBCUniversal seeks to enhance the premium video ecosystem and build the foundation for greater industry advancement and collaboration at an international level, across data and identity, activation and automation, ad innovation, and measurement,” NBCUniversal explained in a statement.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief C CGV, a company that is one of the world’s top ten cinema exhibitors and is also a major cinema technology developer, is to raise close to $800 million in order to shore up its finances after a devastating COVID era. The company operates the largest cinema chain in its native South Korea and has significant numbers of screens in Vietnam, Indonesia, Turkey and mainland China, with smaller operations in Myanmar and the U.S. It also owns CJ 4DPlex, which developed the technology for films to be augmented with practical effects, including motion-seats, wind, strobe-lights, simulated-snow, and scents. In addition, its ScreenX system provides screenings that use the side walls of an auditorium to create a 270-degree sensory experience.