News

Los Angeles- and Bangkok-based film sales joint venture Est N8 is expanding into theatrical distribution in parts of Southeast Asia.

As a first step, it will release the Michael Mann-directed “Ferrari” in Thailand on Thursday and in Myanmar on June 21. The film, which premiered in Venice in September last year, was released in other territories between December and February.

Est N8 was formed Est Studios and N8. Est Studios was launched in 2022 by Jaeson Ma and Eric Tu. It represents Asian content across multiple genres and seeks an annual slate of 15 projects that it can finance, produce and represent. Thailand-based, N8 was founded by Kris Eiamsakulrat and Rachel Wu. Last year N8 formed a partnership with leading Thai studio GDH559, to co-produce a slate of Thai thriller and horror films aimed at the global audience.

The joint venture company says that it will distribute at least one big-budget title per month in Southeast Asia,...

Game Show Returns

The British version of the iconic reality TV series “Big Brother,” which first launched 23 years ago, is set to return to ITV screens on Oct. 8. The show is hosted by Aj Odudu and Will Best and produced by Initial, part of Banijay U.K. “Big Brother: The Launch” will air on ITV1, ITV2 and streamer Itvx, while the remainder of the series will be available nightly at 9pm on ITV2 and Itvx, except Saturdays.

“Big Brother” will be followed each night by “Big Brother: Late & Live,” hosted live by Odudu and Best from the site of the Big Brother house in front of a studio audience, where evictees will be interviewed. Following this, “Big Brother: Live Stream” will stream live footage seven nights a week on Itvx.

The Banijay format is popular globally with some 500 seasons of the show having aired around the world in 64 countries and regions.

Exclusive: Aloke Devichand, Netflix’s Head of Asian Original Documentaries who commissioned docs on Blackpink and Naomi Osaka along with an Oscar-nominated short, has exited the streamer after nearly five years.

Devichand joined Netflix in 2018 in the newly-created post to build a slate of docs from the Asia-Pacific region, which Netflix has been prioritizing of late. He won’t be replaced like-for-like but Netflix will continue prioritizing Apac non-scripted via country content teams.

Former CNN and Al Jazeera exec Devichand oversaw a slate featuring the likes of Blackpink: Light up the Sky and Naomi Osaka about the Japanese tennis icon. He more recently worked on Hope Frozen: A Quest to Live Twice and Oscar-nominated short The Elephant Whisperers. The former won Thailand its first ever International Emmy for Best Documentary and the latter tells the heartwarming story of an indigenous couple who are given an orphaned elephant to look after.

David Tennant, French comedy Call My Agent and Israeli drama Tehran are among those vying for prizes at the International Emmy Awards this year. Nominations for the awards this year saw 44 nominees across 11 categories and a record number of 24 countries.

Tennant is up for Best Performance from an Actor for his starring role in ITV crime series Des while Call My Agent has been nominated in the comedy category and Tehran in the Drama Series category.

Actress Menna Shalaby has earned her first ever Emmy nomination for her performance in the crime mini-series Every Week Has A Friday.

“We’re so proud of our nominees and the record-breaking number of countries,” said International Academy President and CEO Bruce Paisner in a statement. “To those who feared the pandemic would slow down TV production around the world, this is your answer.”

Winners will be announced at an in-person ceremony in New...

As if September hasn’t already been filled to the brim with incredible movies and shows, Netflix is bringing even more to you today in the largest content drop since the first of the month. With a handful of documentaries, a popular children’s flick, and new seasons of some great shows, there’s something for everyone on this exciting release day.

To begin with, The Smurfs 2 lands on the platform today, ensuring that any kids in the house are certain to sit still for a few hours. Plus, although the sequel is widely considered worse than the original and holds only a 14% on Rotten Tomatoes, you may find some harmless and inoffensive fun if you grew up watching the classic show.

Elsewhere, beloved series like Ancient Aliens and Pawn Stars are getting additional seasons today, too. The former is finally having its third season added, while the latter...

It’s time to look ahead at what’s coming to Netflix over the next seven days and what a big week it’s set to be for the streaming giant. As well as the usual assortment of newly licensed titles being added to the site’s library, there are a number of hotly anticipated original movies and TV shows due this week as well.

While nothing new arrives on Monday, Tuesday delivers 15 fresh titles for you to consume, ranging from the latest season of British period drama Call the Midwife to 2013’s The Smurfs 2. There’s also some great documentary content, including the second seasons of both America’s Book of Secrets and The Universe.

Wednesday then sees the first major original of the week hit Netflix – psychological thriller The Devil all the Time, starring a packed cast of A-Listers including Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson and Sebastian Stan.