‘Godzilla Minus One’ Sets Pan-Europe Theatrical Releases Through Piece of Magic (EXCLUSIVE)

If Christmas is all about cheer, we can see why Christine Lampard is the poster girl for the season.The presenter, 44, is all smiles as she sits down to talk to us about returning as No7’s Christmas gifting ambassador, joking, “Does that make me Mrs Claus?” To her children – Patricia, five, and two-year-old Freddie – we imagine it does. Loose Women star Christine, who is married to football legend Frank, says Christmas is big in their household, and that this year she’ll be making it more magical than ever.The couple will celebrate their eighth wedding anniversary in December – though she says it will be a low-key occasion and she’d rather spend quality time with her husband than be spoiled with lavish presents.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were seen jumping and cheering from the stands as they watched an ice hockey game in Canada, all while their family Christmas plans are up in the air. The royal couple watched the Vancouver Canucks and the San Jose Sharks play during the first period of an NHL ice hockey game in Vancouver, on Monday, 20 November.

Suki Waterhouse has shown off her growing baby bump after she announced her pregnancy during a performance at Corona Capital Festival in Mexico City. The Daisy Jones and the Six star, 31, took to Instagram following the concert, where she posed with pal Georgia May Jagger and proudly showed off her blossoming bump.

Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal) and Eve Unwin (Heather Peace) are in danger when Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry) discovers they have been seeing each other behind his back in EastEnders spoilers. With Suki deciding not to leave Walford after all, she races back to her house where Priya Nandra-Hart (Sophie Khan Levy) is waiting for her. Priya reveals she knows the truth and demands a huge amount of money in exchange for her silence.

Amber Turner has sparked rumours that she's dating again following her split from Dan Edgar earlier this year.The TOWIE star, 30, teased that she may have embarked on a new romance as she took to her Instagram Story to share a photo of herself posing with a huge bouquet of roses. It comes after she posted a cryptic quote about being 'romanced' to her Stories, writing: "I love being romanced and spoiled like the princess baby angel that I am," and added: "Princess baby angel that’s me x." And Amber's love-life recently hit the headlines after it was revealed she'd been exchanging messages with her Celebrity SAS Who Dares Wins co-star Chris Oliver.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Middle East streamer OSN+ is joining forces with Anghami, the Arab world’s rival to Spotify, in what is being touted as a landmark deal. The combination of OSN+ and Anghami will become the first platform in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to provide customers premium movies, TV series and music.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have jetted off to Canada where they made a surprise appearance at a hockey game in Vancouver Monday night.The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were all smiles as they watched the Vancouver Canucks take on the San Jose Sharks from the comfort of a VIP box at the Rogers Arena.What’s more, Harry was the guest of honor as he even made the ceremonial first puck drop ahead of the match-up as San Jose Sharks’ Tomas Hertl and Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes stood on either side.The exiled royal’s puck drop came 21 years after his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, made her own ceremonial puck drop ahead of the same match up in 2002.Her Late Majesty visited Vancouver during an 11-day tour of Canada in honor of her Golden Jubilee.Hertl spoke after the game about Harry’s puck drop.“I actually had to tell him [to drop the puck] because he keeps holding and smiling,” he said. “I’d say ‘it’s time to drop it’ but it’s a cool moment.

Benefits could be slashed in the upcoming Autumn budget as the government looks to get more people into work.

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Sir Chris Whitty will give evidence to the Covid-19 Inquiry later in a highly anticipated appearance.

The Ukrainian winner of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest has been placed on Russia‘s wanted list, according to local reports.

For many beauty buffs, Charlotte Tilbury's Magic Cream is the holy grail of products for achieving 'flawless' skin. But with a price tag of £130 for 100ml, for many, it's out of budget.

A swingers club with 18 bedrooms, a sauna, cinema room and dancefloor housed in an aquarium building has been approved by Bolton Council. The private members club now has permission to operate on the site of Dave’s Aquarium, Folds Road, Bolton.

Just two per cent of Black Friday deals were at their cheapest price on the day of the sales event last year, according to a study by a consumer watchdog.

Christmas is set to be 'edgier' this year for Emmerdale and the New Year is set to get off to a mixed start for the villagers with tragedy for some as well as the arrival of new and familiar faces for some.

Niall Barry knew he was facing serious trouble when detectives investigating the murder of Ashley Dale downloaded the contents of her phone.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “The Boy and the Heron” supposedly the final feature film by Japanese animation maestro Miyazaki Hayao, placed on top of the south Korean box office for a second weekend. It held off challenges from a clutch of new releases, including “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” and “Talk to Me.” “The Boy and the Heron” collected $2.49 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Two films from Japan, Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days” and Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” won the top prizes at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards on Friday. Multiple other honors went to films from Korea and Kazakhstan. The 16th edition of the APSA Awards was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia and recognized films from eight countries. “Perfect Days,” a gentle comedy drama about a toilet cleaner in Tokyo finding happiness in the everyday, premiered in Cannes and more recently was selected as Japan’s Oscar contender and as the opening title of the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hong Kong-based sales firm Autumn Sun has acquisition worldwide rights to Chinese family-oriented animated film “I Am T-Rex,” directed by Shang Ming and Si Lin, produced by Beijing Create Dream. “I Am T-Rex” follows a young T-Rex named Didi in her coming of age journey after the death of powerful father T-Rex Rog, who is killed by a rival dino gang. She must learn the ways of the T-Rex and claim the crown again with the help of her uncle and a very caring friend.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Australia’s Rialto and the U.K’s Vertigo Releasing have joined forces to launch Galaxy Pictures, a new film distribution company in Australia and New Zealand. The company will focus on “broad-appeal, star-driven commercial pictures that cater to consumers attuned to an increasingly digital landscape.” The two companies have already been cooperating for the past three years and handle 120 titles.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Vietnam-based sales agent Skyline Media has closed multi-territory deals for two of its current titles “The Soul Reaper” and “Vietnamese Horror Story.” The deals follow Skyline’s recent trip to Busan’s ACFM and come ahead of its participation as exhibitor at a string of further final quarter sales events – Tokyo’s TIFFCOM, Santa Monica’s American Film Market and Taipei’s Taiwan Creative Content Fest. Folk horror film “The Soul Reaper,” currently in the final stages of post-production, was licensed to GaragePlay for Taiwan and to Westec Media Limited (WML) for Laos, Cambodia and nine other Southeast Asian territories. The film, adapted from Thao Trang’s best-selling horror novel “Lunar New Year in Hell Village” (aka “Tet O Lang Dia Nguc”), is set to be released in Vietnam cinemas on 08 December. GaragePlay is one of Taiwan’s leading distributors, and recently handles releases of “Suzume,” “John Wick: Chapter 4” and “Someday or One Day.” WML is the biggest content distributor in Cambodia and has distributed more than 1,000 titles theatrically since its establishment.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Top Japanese director Kurosawa Kiyoshi is in post-production of “Le Chemin du Serpent,” a French-language adaptation of his own 1998 film “The Serpent’s Path.” The story sees a mysterious woman team up with a man whose daughter was killed and who is now seeking revenge. Together they kidnap members of an organization and torture them to find out what really happened. With Damien Bonnard (“Asteroid City,” “Les Miserables”) and Shibasaki Ko (“47 Ronin,” “Battle Royale”) in the leading roles, the picture is the anchor title of the TIFFCOM sales slate of major Japanese studio Kadokawa. Production is by Kadokawa and Jean-Luc Ormieres’ Cinefrance Studios.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Boutique sales agent, House of Film has acquired worldwide rights, excluding Asia, to represent the Malaysian mythical horror film “Curse of the Totem” (aka “Sumpahan Jerunei”) from Produksi Seni Duapuluh-Duapuluh SDN BHD. Based on the 13th Century Borneo sacrificial rituals, “Curse of the Totem” tells the story of Dr.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Japanese drama film “Mountain Woman,” which was one of the standouts titles at last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival, is to be represented for global sales by EST N8. Inspired by “The Legends of Tono,” which is Japanese folklore from the Tohoku region, the film depicts a small Japanese village overrun by famine. The burden falls upon Rin, a woman whose connections with the spirit and natural worlds allow her to rise amidst familial conflicts.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief No Maori Allowed, directed by Corinna Hunziger was named the winner of the Pasifika Award and recipient of a $5,000 cash prize at the Hawaii International Film Festival. It recounts the story of a teacher who unearths a secret past in the town of Pukekohe. Thet causes M?ori community figures to come forward to share personal stories that shaped their lives.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Six film projects currently at development stage have been selected to take part in a workshop session as part of mylab+@Jogja next month. The six share a common characteristic of Indonesian co-production and a recurring theme of luminescence. “This theme underscores the importance of having the distinctive light of Asian cinema arise from its own characteristics.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief A TIFFCOM seminar on Thursday demonstrated both a sense of incredulity that Japanese animation “Suzume” could have enjoyed such wide international success and conveyed the depth of passionate behind-the-scenes strategizing that made it happen. Since its release in Japan at the end of 2022 and international expansion in spring of 2023, following a Berlin festival competition slot, “Suzume,” a fantasy drama about a girl who helps avert natural disasters, sold more than 47 million tickets worldwide. “And most of those people don’t even speak Japanese,” said the session’s moderator Sudo Tadashi, journalist and professor at the Japan University of Economics. Sunami Kazuki, MD of producer CoMix Wave Films and the Takeda Akihiro, an executive attached to the president’s office at the film’s worldwide distributor Toho, said that “Suzumi’s” success was not a foregone conclusion. Its success was years in the making and based on the growing performance of director Makoto Shinkai’s previous movies as well as growing international understanding of the Japanese anime genre. At the beginning of their collaboration, Shinkai and CoMix had little expectation that Shinkai’s works could appeal to non-Japanese distributors and audiences. But, within Asia at least, fans are tuned in to certain kinds of content from other countries. “We also owe this success to the cumulative impact of Studio Ghibli and ‘Demon Slayer 2’,” said Sunami. Shinkai’s 2013 film “The Garden of Words” was initially a Japan-only theatrical release, but it registered in China after Japanese box office success.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The immediate family of leading Taiwanese film director Hou Hsiao-hsien said on Wednesday that he had retired from filmmaking due to illness and is now living peacefully in retirement. They said that their family-run company remains active and in business. The statement (see below) was issued in response to news articles earlier this week that followed an introductory speech given in London by critic and curator Tony Rayns before a screening of 1985 title “A Time to Live and a Time to Die,” one of Hou’s best-known features. Rayns was reported to have said that Hou has dementia, will not direct again and that members of Hou’s company had lost their jobs. The family statement – signed by Cao Baofeng, Hou’s wife, son Isaac Hou and daughter Bess Hou – explained that Hou had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease before the COVID pandemic and that COVID had, to their surprise, worsened the problems. They continued by saying that Hou has recovered from the COVID-related complications and is now resting quietly at home with his family.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Toei Animation, the Japanese studio behind “Dragon Ball,” “Slam Dunk” and the “One Piece” cartoon franchises, is planning to open a European office in Italy. That may be followed by others in Latin America and India as well as a ramp up of its international production. The group already has a handful of overseas regional offices covering Asia, the Americas and Australasia, and Europe-Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Ichiyama Shozo assumed control of the program of the Tokyo International Film Festival after a long programming career that included Tokyo and the slightly more indie Tokyo Filmex events. He is also a regular producing partner of Chinese art-house darling Jai Zhangke. These influences have shaped his approach to this year’s Tokyo IFF lineup, he told Variety.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief TIFFCOM, the film market attached to the Tokyo International Film Festival, is set to be more international and more diverse in its first full comeback year after the COVID hiatus. It should also be more pleasant and convenient, having re-located to a more modern venue that is close to the film festival. “Bringing the in-person market back after four years, my priority was to make sure that TIFFCOM could happen during the festival, not some other time,” said Shiina Yasushi, who has headed the market for ten years.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Japan’s Nikkatsu studio is pitching “River” at the top of its TIFFCOM sales slate. The film – on which it shares rights with Third Window Films – is a time loop comedy from Yamaguchi Junta, director of “Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes.” The one-hundred-year-old Fujiya inn stands in a quiet region of Kyoto. An employee is standing in front of the Kibune river at the back of the building when she is called back to work.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Iranian drama film “Empty Nets” was Monday named winner of the AFF Feature Fiction Award at the Adelaide Film Festival. Directed by Behrooz Karamizade, it collected an A$10,000 ($6,320) cash prize.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” opened with an unconvincing second place debut at the South Korean cinema box office. It earned $406,000 between Friday and Sunday and $499,000 over its full four-day opening period. Its market share was a shade below 9%, according to data from KOBIS, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). That left “Love Reset,” a local romantic comedy, at the top of the chart for the third successive weekend.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “The Quiet Yakuza,” is one of two late additions made by Japanese indie sales firm Free Stone Productions to its slate of films being pitched at TIFFCOM, the film rights market attached to the Tokyo International Film Festival. Directed by Yamaguchi Kento, the two-part-film is adapted from the highly popular manga “Shizukanaru Don – Yakuza Side Story” by Nitta Tatsuo, which runs to 108 volumes and has sold nearly 50 million copies. It sees Ito Kentaro as Shizuya, the only son of the Shinsen Group, the largest yakuza group in Kanto,. However, Shizuya has zero interest in the yakuza and wants to be a regular civilian. He is perfectly happy working at a design company, living a simple, puritan life and lusting after his colleague Akino.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Recently-released titles by – very different – Japanese film icons Yamada Yoji and Shimizu Takashi adorn the TIFFCOM sales slate of Shochiku, one of Japan’s oldest and most powerful film studios. The 91-year-old Yamada, known for classics including “The Yellow Handkerchief” and “The Twilight Samurai,” is behind “Mom, Is That You?,” a heartwarming drama that marks the third picture in his recent “Mother” series, following “Kabei, Our Mother” and “Nagasaki: Memories of My Son.” Starring Yoshinaga Sayuri and Oizumi Yo, the film tells how a dissatisfied salaryman pays a rare visit home and discovers his mother’s previously hidden fashionable and outgoing sides. It released in Japanese theaters on Sept.