Frater Asia: Last News

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “One Piece,” the long running and iconic Japanese animation series, is to take a six-month hiatus, effective immediately. Toei Animation, the company behind the show, said that the series will take a break after Sunday’s Episode 1122 and return in April 2025 with fresh episodes from the “Egghead Arc.” No explanation for the abrupt break was offered in a written press statement, but at an online event, it was explained that the creators need to “recharge” themselves. Having run for 25 years since its Japanese TV debut in 1999, the “One Piece” animated series is produced by Toei Animation and airs weekly.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief GrX Studio has set its sights on an international expansion that matches its leading position within Taiwan’s film and TV production industry. At a fast-paced event on Monday held on the margins of the Busan International Film Festival, the company detailed plans to invest some $45 million over five years into 15 Mandarin-language series and five horror films through a new fund. The launch event also included a roster of current shows from the group, which was formerly known as Greener Grass Productions. It was previously responsible for “Copycat Killer,” a series which has performed strongly for streaming giant Netflix. Taiwan actor Ning Chang and Vietnam actor Lien Binh Phat from “The Outlaw Doctor,” a crime series which is now in post-production and which GrX co-produced with Public Television Service Foundation (PTS) and Chunghwa Telecom (CHT), and Korean celebrity Jinyoung and Taiwan actress Moon Lee from “The Photo from 1977.” The title is a romance film facilitated by the Hakka Affairs Council, with script development supported by the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA) and is part-funded by the Hakka Public Communication Foundation. Other titles confirmed at the event included: a horror film “Trapped in Yellow”; a boys’ love (BL) feature film “Wild With You,” produced by Golden Bell Awards-winning producer Phoebe Ma; and the thriller series “The Ones I Killed and the Ones Who Killed Me,” that is currently in development and is adapted from the popular Japanese novel by Akira Higashiyama. An historical series set in Taiwan and Japan, titled “KOHAKU: The Traitor of the Night,” is to be directed by Lien Yi-chi and Kentaro Hagiwara.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Box office in China over the country’s crucial National Day holiday season fell by 23% according to Maoyan, a leading movie ticketing platform. Gross nationwide revenues ran at approximately RMB300 million ($42.5 million) per day from Tuesday last week to Monday, adding up to RMB2.10 billion ($297 million), Maoyan Research Institute said. Some 52 million tickets were sold in the seven-day period.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Serving a rising demand for Indonesian horror, U.S.-Thai film sales company EST N8 has picked up rights to “Perewangan,” a feature that launches in its home market theaters later this month. In “Perewangan,” characters Maya and Wulan face supernatural terror as their once-thriving family business crumbles, leading them to confront a horrifying figure behind their misfortunes. The film is written and directed by filmmaker Awi Suryadi, known for his work on “KKN Di Desa Penari,” the highest-grossing Indonesian film of all time, and the “Danur” franchise.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Thailand’s skill with ghostly drama series gets another showing in “The Legend of Nang Nak,” which releases widely across Asia next week. Directed by Taweewat Wantha and scripted by Sorarat Jirabovornwisut, the pair behind “Death Whisperer 1 and 2,” the 30-part series portrays a ghostly love story that defies the barriers between life and death. The series hails from production firm Minds@Work and Thai terrestrial broadcast group BEC World. International sales are handled by I.E.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chen Kaige’s war epic “The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death” was the dominant force at the mainland China box office over the weekend. But the end of the National Day holiday week maintained the trend of relative weakness. “The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death” scored RMB324 million ($45.6 million according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway, which also said that the film 26% of screening sessions in the Friday to Sunday period. The weekend represented the latter half of a holiday week that officially started on Tuesday (Oct.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korean-made crime-comedy-thriller “I, The Executioner,” a sequel to 2015 hit ‘Veteran,” continued its spree at the top of the South Korea weekend box office. It earned $1.68 million in its fourth full weekend session, ahead of top-ranked new release “Joker: Folie a Deux.” “I, The Executioner” saw its market share slip to 29%, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). The latest weekend increment gives the film a $49.97 million running total since releasing on Sept.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Gang Dong-won, cuts a thrilling figure as a slave-turned-rebel warrior in “Uprising,” the sumptuous period action movie that was the opening gala title of this week’s Busan International Film Festival. The role further cements his reputation as one of Korea’s most versatile and charismatic actors. But the Korean star is also intent on becoming a film producer and on reprising a stalled Hollywood career. “’Broker,’ the film which went to Cannes in 2022, was my first producer role.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Jia Zhangke, China’s quintessential indie director, says that the COVID-era lockdowns gave him a chance to rethink and review the miles of footage that he has shot over more than 20 years of filmmaking. The result was “Caught by the Tides,” which premiered at Cannes and plays again this week at the Busan International Film Festival. In “Tides,” Jia mixes up older footage with specially-created new material and has his wife and muse, Zhao Tao wander through twenty years of Chinese history. They are both documenting and dramatizing recent Chinese societal and economic development – from the time when China was granted admission to the World Trade Organization, through the time when it won the right to hold the (2008) summer Olympic Games through to a near present. Jia’s approach is like that of a pulp fiction writer.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Two Vietnamese-flavored films in prominent festival slots this year have put the spotlight on the country’s emerging indie cinema scene. A discussion in Busan on Saturday highlighted the sector’s behind-the-scenes struggles, which center on ever-changing financing options, limited distribution and censorship. “Now is the best time to be a Southeast Asia filmmaker. We can now produce without Europe. That was not possible ten years ago,” said Bianca Balbuena, the Philippines-based lead producer on “Viet and Nam” the Truong Minh Quy-directed gay drama that debuted in Cannes this year. “More people are getting opportunities to make films.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The International Film Festival Rotterdam has appointed Marten Rabarts to the position of head of IFFR Pro, its market strand, effective immediately. Recently, Rabarts served as festival director at the New Zealand International Film Festival. His extensive global career also has significant legacy in the Netherlands, both as head of EYE International (now SeeNL) – where he was responsible for the promotion of Dutch film and film culture worldwide for four years and as artistic director of the Binger Filmlab in Amsterdam for 12 years.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Celebrated Australian documentary filmmakers Matthew Salleh and Rose Tucker of Urtext Films are preparing to serve up their “Slice of Life: The American Dream. In Former Pizza Huts” dish at the upcoming SXSW Sydney Festival. Structured as a road movie, the picture serves up fascinating insights into how former Pizza Hut buildings around the U.S.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Comedy-horror “Dead Talents Society” picked up 11 nominations for the Golden Horse Film Awards, making it the most acclaimed title among the 169 films in contention for the prestigious Chinese-language prizes. “Yen and Ai-Lee” and “Bel Ami” both received eight nominations, putting them in a tie for second place. Recent Venice competition film “Stranger Eyes,” from Singapore’s Yeo Siew Hua received six. Five films compete for the best narrative features award: John Hsu’s “Dead Talents Society,” Ray Yeung’s “All Shall Be Well,” Lou Ye’s “An Unfinished Film,” Geng Jun’s “Bel Ami” and “Stranger Eyes.” The same five also contest the best director award. Nominees for best leading actor are: King Jieh-wen (“A Journey in Spring”), Chang Chen (“The Embers”), Yau Hawk-sau (“The Way We Talk”), Wanlop Rungkumjad (“Mongrel”) and Zhang Zhiyong (“Bel Ami”).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Programmers at the Busan International Film Festival have given their opening gala to an historical action thriller ‘Uprising” with an all-star Korean cast that hails not from a traditional Korean studio, but from Netflix the global streaming platform that has both disrupted and elevated the South Korean content industry. Selectors have brushed aside criticism that the choice of a film that will skip a theatrical release and be available online within a couple of weeks, is a troubling precedent. Instead, they have pointed out that the festival has long programmed TV series and also operates a content awards ceremony that is open to films, TV series and made-for-online content.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Asian sales and production firm Distribution Workshop is using the Busan International Film Festival’s market to re-launch ambitious “Sons of the Neon Night,” a film it first became attached to in 2015. Only this time the Juno Mak-directed project is now in post-production, has a stellar cast and has expanded to become the highest-budget movie ever hatched in Hong Kong. “Sons of the Neon Night” is pitched as a high-octane yet highly-stylized, police-crime-action-thriller set in a deconstructed and reimagined Hong Kong.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Production is now under way in New Zealand on “Marama,” a gothic horror film from Māori writer-director Taratoa Stappard (“Taumanu, Emkhatsini”). Production is taking place around Auckland on New Zealand’s North Island and in the South Island’s Otago region. Set in North Yorkshire, England, in 1859, “Marama” is the story of a young Māori woman’s fight to reclaim her identity and indigenous culture in Victorian-era Britain.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Following its limited theatrical release, “Jung Kook: I Am Still,” a feature documentary chronicling the solo journey of Jung Kook, band member of K-pop icons BTS, the film’s producers are to launch an extended version. It will reach cinemas from Oct. 11.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Australia’s 9Network has acquired every season of every English-language version of hit reality show “Married at First Sight.” At the same time, it has launched a Married at First Sight FAST channel on its 9Now streaming platform. The deal with Seven.One Studios includes productions from the U.S., U.K., New Zealand and South Africa. The broadcaster has also committed to acquiring all further English-speaking seasons produced.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Currently hosting production of the “Avatar” film series, New Zealand’s capital Wellington is making a renewed pitch as one of the best-equipped games, VFX and animation producing hubs in the world. It has unveiled a new showreel “Make It Here” ahead of a succession of location, production and festival-type events. Previously named ‘UNESCO City of Film,’ Wellington is home to well-known companies including Weta Workshop, Weta FX and Park Road Post-Production and boasts a leading film school in Victoria University of Wellington’s Miramar Creative Centre.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Warwick Thornton, one of Australia’s leading filmmakers, is confirmed to direct “First Warrior,” an epic about Aboriginal resistance fighter Pemulwuy. The creative, on-screen and producing teams are equally stellar. Australia was colonized in the late 1700s.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The 8th edition of the Pingyao International Film Festival in China awarded its top prize on Saturday to “Karst,” a drama film by China’s Yang Suiyi. The film depicts a cattle breeder who travels between villages and towns to treat sick cattle in the Southwest of the country.