Frater Asia: Last News

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Nippon TV, a leading Japanese entertainment company, has licensed 13 of its most popular anime titles to Netflix to stream non-exclusively around the world.  The first titles to start streaming on Sept. 2, 2022 include the first 38 episodes of ever-popular “Hunter x Hunter,” which will be available in 104 countries, including Spain, Italy, Finland, Turkey, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and the UAE; “Ouran High School Host Club,” in 190 countries; and “Claymore,” in 136 countries. Others – listed in the order in which Netflix will upload them – include “Death Note” (37 eps. x 30 mins); “Death Note: Relight 1” (130 mins), “Death Note: Relight 2” (120 mins) in 14 countries” “From Me to You” (25 eps. x 30 min); “From Me to You 2nd Season” (13 eps. x 30 min); “Berserk” (25 eps. x 30 mins); “Parasyte-the Maxim” (24 eps. x 30 mins); “Nana” (47 eps. x 30 mins); “Hajime no Ippo: The Fighting!” (76 eps. x 30 mins); and Monster” (74 eps. x 30 mins). 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese animation film “New Gods: Yang Jian” was the top film at the mainland China box office for the second successive weekend. Unchallenged by major new releases, the film earned $13.0 (RMB88.3 million) between Friday and Sunday, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. That was a drop of 34% compared with its $19.8 million opening session. Some $1.5 million of the weekend total was scored from the film’s outing on Imax screens. After ten days on release “Yang Jian” has a cumulative total of $43.7 million (RMB297 million). Of that, its Imax total is now $4 million.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Intra-Korean espionage actioner “Hunt” claimed a third weekend as the top film at the South Korea box office, while “Bullet Train” managed only a fourth-place opening. “Hunt,” directed by and starring “Squid Game” star Lee Jung-jae, earned a lowly $2.91 million in its third weekend of release. The figure was a 48% weekend-on-weekend decline and saw the film’s market share decline to 33%, down from 47% the previous weekend. “Hunt” now has a cumulative of $28.7 million, making it the fifth-highest grossing film of the year to date and the third biggest Korean title.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Lee Jung-jae, the star of hit Netflix series “Squid Game,” is to reprise his role as a manic killer in “Ray,” a TV series spun off from 2020 Korean action-horror film “Deliver Us From Evil.” Korean media sources report that Lee will star in and co-produce the series through his own Artist Studio company and Hive Media, producer of “Deliver Us From Evil.” Variety has reached out for further details. In the original movie, Hwang Jung-min played In-Nam, a former black ops agent who travels to Thailand to investigate an abduction. There he is pursued by Lee’s character Ray, a Korean-Japanese ruffian whose brother had been killed by In-Nam. Both heavily tattooed and charming, Ray embarks on a bloody rampage of revenge.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Film studios in Asia-Pacific are expanding the scale of their operations and want location incentives to keep pace. “Incentives are fundamental, they are an expectation [of production managers] and having one is no longer a USP,” said Rashid Karim, CEO of Iskandar Malaysia Studios. He was speaking at the Content Asia summit conference in Bangkok on Thursday. The IMS facility opened ten years ago around the same time as Malaysia introduced a location production incentive scheme. These days, the scheme offers a generous 35% uncapped rebate. But since the scheme launched, rival locations in the Asian region including Thailand, India and Mongolia have launched or are in the process of launching rebate schemes.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korean pop icons BTS confirmed that they will play a free concert in Busan in support of the city’s bid to host the 2030 World Expo. The ‘Yet To Come’ concert will be held at 6pm on Oct. 15, at the Busan Ilgwang special stage in Gijang-gun. The date is also one day after the end of the Busan International Film Festival. Organizer, Big Hit Music said the in-person concert is expected to be attended by 100,000 people. An in-person live broadcast LIVE PLAY will host approximately 10,000 people at Busan Port International Passenger Terminal Outdoor Parking Lot. The concert will also be livestreamed on Weverse, Zepeto, and Naver Now.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Train to Busan” director Yeon Sang-ho is to direct a Korean, live action series adaptation of hit Japanese manga “Parasyte: The Grey.” Netflix is the exclusive distributor worldwide. The story is about unidentified parasitic life-forms that live off human hosts and strive to grow their power. As they start to disrupt society, a group of humans wage war against the rising evil. Korean stars Jeon So-nee, Koo Kyo-hwan, Lee Jung-hyun have been confirmed to head the cast. The series is being produced on behalf of Netflix by Climax Studio and Wow Point. The series is adapted from a hit manga series created by Iwaaki Hitoshi about invasive life-forms that seize and control human bodies. Published by the Kodansha company in its Morning Open Zkan and its Monthly Afternoon magazine from 1988 to 1995, it sold over 25 million copies in over 20 territories and countries.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Hunt,” the period political thriller directed by “Squid Game” star Lee Jung-jae, held top spot at the South Korea box office for the second weekend. “Nope” was the highest opener, landing in third spot.“Hunt,” made $5.68 million over the weekend, down 35% compared with its opening score a week earlier.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Before Now & Then,” a period drama film about Indonesian women battling the traumas of war and patriarchal society, has been picked up for North American distribution by Film Movement. The film is directed by Kamila Andini.The film had its premiere earlier this year at the Berlin festival, where it was rewarded with a Silver Bear for Laura Basuki’s supporting performance. It also recently captured the jury prize at the Brussels International Film Festival.Film Movement plans a theatrical release in the first quarter of 2023, followed by a wide release on home entertainment and digital platforms.Rights sales are handled by Wild Bunch International and CAA Media Finance.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Minions: The Rise of Gru” has been given a mainland China theatrical release date of Aug. 19, 2022.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Emergency Declaration,” a timely Korean-made action thriller, flew to an opening weekend of $6.5 million. But it was old-fashioned naval actioner “Hansan: Rising Dragon” that stayed afloat at the top of the South Korean box office for a second week.“Hansan,” a sequel to a 2014 record breaker, earned $9.18 million from over 1,600 screens, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“The House of the Lost on the Cape,” a Japanese animated movie which was an official selection at the recent Annecy festival will have a theatrical release in North America from Sept. 7. The film is to be distributed by Los Angeles-based Eleven Arts in association with Anime Expo and Iconic Events Releasing.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Satan’s Slaves: Communion,” from genre-film meister Jojo Anwar is poised to be the first film from Indonesia to release in the large screen Imax format.Anwar himself took to Instagram to make the announcement and tout the film’s release on Saturday.“Confirmed. Bigger.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefKorean pop act Girls Generation will release new studio album “Forever 1” on Aug. 8, their agency SM Entertainment announced on Monday. It will be their first album in six years and accelerate a comeback movement that began last year.The girl group was originally founded in 2007 as an act with nine members.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Top Gun Maverick” reclaimed the lead at the South Korea box office as “Thor: Love and Thunder” slowed rapidly and Korean cinemas endured a weekend that slowed the recent recovery trend.“Top Gun Maverick” earned $5.77 million between Friday and Sunday, in its fourth week of release in Korea, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). That was a drop of only 11% from its previous weekend.In contrast, “Thor Love and Thunder” registered a 66% weekend-on-weekend tumble, falling from $9.88 million previously to $3.34 million.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Top Gun Maverick” flew even higher on its second weekend at the Korean box office, holding on to the top spot and fractionally increasing its gross take. The sky-high performance was more than enough to overshadow the otherwise promising opening of Park Chan-wook’s “Decision to Leave.”“Top Gun Maverick” earned $9.72 million between Friday and Sunday, with a 59% market share, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area” has become Netflix’s latest Korean-made international hit. The Korean remake of “La Casa de Papel” (aka “Money Heist”) is in first place on the streaming giant’s Global Non-English top ten chart over the last week.The series premiered on Friday (June 24), meaning that it only had three days to claim its spot in chart that covers the period June 20-26.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Top Gun Maverick” flew to the top of the box office charts in South Korea over the weekend, with a supersonic $9.6 million opening loop. It replaced “The Witch: Part 2 The Other One,” which had been top dog for only a week.Tom Cruise, a regular visitor to Korea, jetted into Seoul with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and co-stars Miles Teller, Glen Powell and Greg Tarzan Davis to goose the movie’s takeoff in the country. Cruise professed himself grateful for the fan’s warm reception and talked up the importance of in-person visits to the cinema.Sub-distributed in Korea by Lotte Entertainment, the film opened on Wednesday and played on more than 1,900 screens.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Jurassic World Dominion” held on to top spot at the mainland China box office despite a 57% drop and the expected challenge from local newcomer “One Week Friends.”The dinosaur franchise movie picked up $23.3 million (RMB156 million) in China between Friday and Sunday, giving it a healthy cumulative score of $92.4 million after ten days in theaters, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. The film’s performance was a steep decline from its opening weekend, but the competition from new release Chinese youth drama film “One Week Friends” was weaker than had been anticipated.Released only on Saturday, “One Week Friends” earned $5.8 million (RMB38.9 million) from its first two days in Chinese theaters.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Broker,” the art house drama film that appeared in competition in Cannes last month had a bright start in Korean cinemas, picking up over $6 million in its opening foray. Its score, however, was not enough to unseat mainstream crime actioner “The Roundup” from the weekend’s top spot.“Broker” earned $4.13 million over the Friday to Sunday weekend, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). That put it second behind “The Roundup” with a weekend score of $6.69 million.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Broker,” the unconventional family drama which appeared in competition at last month’s Cannes Film Festival, topped the box office in South Korea on Wednesday, its opening day.“Broker” grossed $1.10 million, enough to depose crime actioner “The Roundup” from the top spot that it had enjoyed for the past three weeks and which had made it the highest performing film this year.According to data from the Kobis tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council, “Broker” played on 1,590 screens and sold 145,000 tickets for Wednesday screenings. Its cumulative total of $1.15 million includes some $44,000 of previews earned on 14 screens.The feat by a local art-house film gives further support to the notion that cinema attendance is rebounding in Korea.