Singapore: Celebs Rumors

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Singapore actor and filmmaker Alaric Tay (“Zombiepura”), through his Very Tay Media company has joined forces with two Philippines companies Black Ops Studios Asia and PsyOps Studios to produce a slate of films aimed at international markets. The venture, that was facilitated by Hong Kong-based producer Mike Leeder, was announced on the eve of the Asia Television Forum (ATF) in Singapore. They aim to put together a combined slate across diverse genres, including action, sci-fi, horror and comedy and have suggested a timeline extending to the fourth quarter of 2026. The joint venture also includes partnerships with other Asian companies including Screen Ops (HK), Fly Entertainment, Causeway Media Productions and IAmCasting. “Singapore and the Philippines have the individual potential to execute projects with commercial appeal,” said Tay. “But by building stories together with like-minded visionaries beyond our own shores, we can elevate the types of projects that are being produced in our collective countries.” Tay was the star and executive producer of 2018 Singapore zombie movie “Zombiepura.” He was also co-producer and director of HBO Asia’s first comedy drama series “SeNT” and is best known for playing multiple characters on Mediacorp satirical series “The Noose.” Headed by director Pedring Lopez and producer Rex Lopez, Black Ops Studios Asia and PsyOps Studios focus on action films and series.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief I.E. Entertainment, the global distribution outfit founded and run by industry veterans Indra and Erlina Suharjono, has come on board to handle worldwide sales for Cathay Film Company’s “Coolie.” The TV miniseries is inspired by the little-known history of enslaved Chinese ‘coolies’ in Cuba in the 1860s.

Naman Ramachandran Prolific Singaporean filmmaker Kelvin Tong‘s latest feature “A Year Of No Significance,” which has its world premiere at the 34th Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF), mourns the loss of a generation. Set in Singapore in 1979, the film chronicles the gradual disintegration of a middle-aged architect as changes rock the 45th year of his life. Sidelined in the office because of his inability to speak English, Lim Cheng Soon is cut further adrift when his wife inexplicably leaves him.

Naman Ramachandran Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing delivered an electrifying masterclass to a sold-out ballroom full of screaming fans at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands on Friday. The in-conversation event was part of the 34th Singapore International Film Festival where Fan is the recipient of this year’s Cinema Icon Award. The festival is screening three of Fan’s films, curated by her – the recent “Green Night,” “Buddha Mountain” and “Double Xposure” – and the star walked the red carpet on opening night, Nov.

Manchester’s Hotel Football has been recognised with a prestigious award naming it one of the leading venues in the world.

Mark Shelmerdine, the veteran producer who revived London Films as an indie powerhouse and played a pivotal role in the development of the international TV distribution market, died October 26 in Santa Barbara surrounded by his family. He was 78.

K-pop girl group (G)I-DLE will be releasing their second studio album in January 2024, their label has confirmed.Today (December 1), South Korean news outlet News1 reported that (G)I-DLE would be making a comeback with their second studio album in January 2024. The report was later confirmed by their agency CUBE Entertainment in a statement to XsportsNews.The upcoming record will arrive about eight months after their sixth mini-album ‘I Feel’, which was released in May and features the hit song ‘Queencard’.

Naman Ramachandran Yosep Anggi Noen, whose “24 Hours with Gaspar” premiered at Busan and is playing at the Red Sea and Singapore festivals, has lined up his next movie, an untitled horror film. The film is produced by Palari Films, the Jakarta-based production company behind Edwin’s “Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash,” which won the Golden Leopard at Locarno in 2021. Noen is no stranger to Locarno glory himself, having been nominated in 2012 for “Peculiar Vacation and Other Illnesses” and in 2016 for “Solo, Solitude” and scored a special mention in 2019 for “The Science of Fictions.” The untitled horror-drama-thriller film, produced by Palari’s Muhammad Zaidy and Meiske Taurisia, will unite acclaimed actors Happy Salma and Putri Marino for the first time.

Janine Stein “Tiger Stripes”, the opening film of this year’s Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF), was “kind of a joke that became something very, very close to me and ended up being this film,” Malaysian filmmaker, Amanda Nell Eu, said during Thursday night’s opening ceremony. Speaking to a packed theatre before the screening, Eu said her inspiration had been puberty mixed with her sense of humor.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief CJ ENM (Hong Kong), a channels and content distributor that is part of the Korean CJ ENM conglomerate, has picked up pay-TV rights in parts of Asia to a handful of Korean series that were co-financed by streaming platform Tving and Paramount+. The deal was struck with Paramount Global Content Distribution. The productions are part of a global strategic partnership between CJ ENM and Paramount Global that was announced in December 2021. The deal was announced on the eve of the Asian TV Forum (ATF), which kicks off next week in Singapore. The series debut first on Tving in Korea and on Paramount+ in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

Taylor Swift has shared a statement on social media thanking her fans and touring crew after wrapping up her final ‘Eras’ tour concert of the year.Yesterday night (November 28), Swift took to X (formerly Twitter) to thank her Brazilian fans for their support over six concerts in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, going on to also thank her crew for their hard work.“Bringing a tour to Brazil has been something I’ve dreamt of for years, and those fans blew my expectations away. We’ve officially wrapped up the 2023 Eras Tour and we got to end the year with 6 shows in Rio and São Paulo, with the most magical crowds,” Taylor Swift wrote.Bringing a tour to Brazil has been something I’ve dreamt of for years, and those fans blew my expectations away.

Naman Ramachandran Netflix has acquired Indonesian filmmaker Yosep Anggi Noen’s festival favorite film “24 Hours with Gaspar.” Adapted from a detective novel of the same title that was published in 2017 by Sabda Armandio, “24 Hours with Gaspar” follows the life of private detective Gaspar, who has only 24 hours to live. He discovers clues leading to the mysterious disappearance of Kirana, a childhood friend, and later to Wan Ali, who’s involved in a human trafficking syndicate.

J Balvin has announced huge shows in London and Europe as part of his “Que Bueno Volver A Verte” 2024 world tour.The tour comes off the heels of the Spanish singer’s most recent Summer festival circuit where he headlined multiple sold-out shows in Paris, Spain, Switzerland, Singapore, Australia and many more.Kicking off on April 26 at Festhalle in Frankfurt, Germany, Balvin will then go on to hit arenas across 20 European cities including Geneva, Zurich, Milan, Vienna, Berlin, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Helinski, Kaunas, Cologne, Paris, Brussels, Esch, Barcelona, Madrid, and Lisbon. The tour will wrap up on June 5 in London at The O2 Arena.A ticket pre-sale will begin on Thursday, November 30th at 10am local time.

Grace Dent has landed back in the UK after she quit I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. The BBC food critic was pictured in Brisbane Airport hours it was announced that she left the jungle on Monday.

EXCLUSIVE: Cuban star Mario Cimarro and Hong Kong actress Nina Paw Hee-Ching are joining the cast of historical scripted drama series Coolie, produced by Meileen Choo’s Singapore-based Cathay Film Company.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Lightning International, the Hong Kong- and U.K.-based content distribution and solutions company, is expanding its staff ahead of the upcoming Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) in Singapore. It has hired Eric Tan to be director of content sales Asia. He will be responsible for all aspects of channel and content distribution.

Sheynnis Alondra Palacios Cornejo became Miss Universe 2023, Miss Spain Athenea Paulinha Pérez was named Miss Congeniality. This award goes to the friendliest contestant and is the only honor determined by a contestant vote.Miss Philippines Michelle Dee, one of the top 10 finalists, won the award for Voice for Change alongside Miss Angola Ana Coimbra and Miss Puerto Rico Karla Guilfú.

Grace Dent has been spotted for the first time since her shock exit from I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! which saw her removed by bosses after concerns from viewers. News that the food critic had quit the jungle emerged on Monday, 27 November after a statement was issued by ITV bosses.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Philippines’ ABS-CBN is to launch its new series “The Bagman” at next month’s ATF market in Singapore. Series star Arjo Atayde will attend as part of the promotional team. “The Bagman” is a spin-off from the original, locally-produced digital series “Bagman” that was aimed at the Filipino audience.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese films “Trending Topic” and “The Invisible Guest” will be given theatrical releases in Malaysia and Singapore in the coming month. This step follows agreements between Chinese streamer iQiyi and Malaysian cinema chain GSC and Singaporean distributor Clover Films.

Chinese streamer and producer iQiyi is joining forces with Malaysia’s GSC Movies and Singapore-based Clover Films to handle theatrical distribution of its Chinese-language films in their respective territories. 

Philippines media and entertainment company ABS-CBN is set to launch tentpole co-production The Bagman at this year’s Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) in Singapore, with the star of the series, Arjo Atayde, also attending the event. 

XG have announced a new song called ‘Winter Without You’ and teased an upcoming world tour.Yesterday (November 26), XG released a teaser for the upcoming music video of their new song, titled ‘Winter Without You’. The girl group have yet to confirm a release date for their new single.The teaser clip for ‘Winter Without You’ features the members of XG in a spaceship traveling out into the galaxies, as they await a message from their loved ones back home.XG tear up as they hear the voices of their loved ones, before previewing the song in question.

Naman Ramachandran India‘s Film Bazaar, the Singapore-based Asia TV Forum & Market’s (ATF) IP Accelerator Project Market (AIPA) and the Southeast Asian Audio-Visual Association (SAAVA) have formed a project market partnership. Film Bazaar, South Asia’s largest film market is operated by India’s National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) and runs concurrently with the International Film Festival of India (IFFI).

Single in Seoul made his reflect on his own love life.Single in Seoul is a romantic-comedy that stars Lee Dong-wook as Young-ho, a writer and influencer who has learned to be comfortable with doing everything alone after a series of bad relationship and heartbreaks.Starring opposite Lee Dong-wook is Cobweb actress Im Soo-jung, who plays Hyeon-jin, the editor-in-chief of a publishing company. Unlike Young-ho, Hyeon-jin is a hopeless romantic who is working on a series of essays about singles in the city.Lee Dong-wook revealed in an interview with The Korea Times that he relates strongly to his Single in Seoul character of Young-ho.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The QCinema Project Market, the industry initiative that accompanies The Philippines’ QCinema International Film Festival, revealed its winners list on Tuesday delivering almost $500,000 of grants and in-kind support. The prizes followed a two-day networking and pitching event on Nov. 18 and 19 for 19 feature-length fiction film projects from Southeast Asia.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Cannes’ Directors Fortnight section has joined forces with The Philippines for the latest edition of its Directors Factory professional training program. Operating since 2013, when it kicked off in Taiwan, the Directors’ Factory works with a new partner country each year to mentor eight budding filmmakers who are preparing ambitious first or second feature projects that they will make in pairs. The four resulting co-written and co-directed short films will be screened as part of the Directors’ Fortnight (aka Quinzaine des Cineastes) in May. Four pairs were selected in Manila in October: Eve Baswel (Philippines) and Gogularaajan Rajendran (Malaysia); Maria Estela Paiso (Philippines) and Ashok Vish (India); Arvin Belarmino (Philippines) and Lomorpich Rithy (aka YoKi) (Cambodia); Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan (Philippines) and Tan Siyou (Singapore). They have now begun writing their screenplays and are expected to shoot their films March in Dapitan, a city in The Philippines’ Zamboanga Peninsula, known for its many shrines and as the place of exile of Philippines’ national hero, Jose Rizal. These days it is a hub for domestic and international tourism. Post-production of the four titles will then be hosted in Quezon City, which seeks to become the new film capital of the Philippines and where many of the country’s post-production houses are already based. The program is operated and co-produced by Epicmedia Productions of The Philippines and Dominique Welinski, founder and curator of DW (France).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief iQiyi, the NASDAQ-listed Chinese streaming firm, confirmed its recent swing from loss to profitability with a July-September quarter that saw revenue and profits growth even as subscription numbers dipped fractionally. Net income attributable to iQIYI was RMB476 million ($65.2 million), compared to a net loss of RMB396 million in the same period in 2022, the company said in a filing on Tuesday. Using the company’s preferred non-GAAP statement of its accounts, net income was RMB622 million ($85.3 million), compared to non-GAAP net profits of RMB187 million in the same period last year. Total revenues in the period were RMB8.0 billion ($1.1 billion), a 7% year over year increase. Within that figure, subscription revenue was RMB5.0 billion ($687 million), up 19% year over year.

Disney original animation is looking at a comeback this Thanksgiving. The princess pic Wish is looking at as much as $45M-$50M over five days after the studio suffering a setback over last year’s holiday with Strange World, which did $18.8M.

Taylor Swift is spending Thanksgiving weekend in Brazil.The 12-time Grammy winner has three back-to-back-to-back ‘Eras Tour’ concerts with special guest Sabrina Carpenter at Sao Paulo’s Allianz Parque on Nov. 24-26.These three gigs hold special significance; they will be Taylor’s last until the tour picks back up in Singapore in March 2024.Per usual, prices are sky high to see the “Bad Blood” singer live.At the time of publication, the lowest price we could find on last-minute Swift Sao Paulo tickets was $418 USD before fees on Vivid Seats.However, based on our findings from when Swift toured North America, ticket prices typically plummet on the day of the concert.Therefore, if you’re on the fence about buying last-minute tickets, we recommend refreshing this page all week to see if a deal pops up.Who knows?You just might find “Enchanted” ticket prices.In the meantime, here’s everything you need to know and more about Swift’s short stay in Sao Paulo this weekend.All prices listed above are subject to fluctuation.A complete breakdown of all the best prices on seats for each of Taylor’s trio of Sao Paulo gigs can be found here:(Note: The New York Post confirmed all above prices at the publication time. All prices are in US dollars, subject to fluctuation and include additional fees at checkout.)Vivid Seats is a verified secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand.

Celtic star Hyeon-gyu Oh has told Brendan Rodgers he is ready to become a regular starter for the Hoops and provide competition for main man Kyogo Furuhashi.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese authorities have banned artist and film director Guo Zhenming from traveling to Singapore for the world premiere of his documentary film “Tedious Days and Nights.” The film is scheduled to play at the Singapore International Film Festival on Dec. 4 in the festival’s Standpoint strand. It was advertised as including a Q&A session with the director.

NBC News, some of those placards stated that they felt the group is an LGBTQ “propagandist” that undermines “faith and morals.” Throughout their years together, the members of Coldplay have been outspoken about their support for various groups of people, including the LGBTQ community. Sometimes, the singer of the band, Chris Martin, will speak about issues that are important to him and his group mates while in concert. He has also been known to, from time to time, wave a rainbow flag or wear items that identify him as an ally.A post shared by Coldplay (@coldplay)This support is in contrast to the views of some conservative Muslims around the world.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Get ready for Gawker 3.0: The twice-shuttered blog site has a new owner, who plans to bring the gossipy pop-culture brand back to life — but not in exactly the same way. Meng Ru Kuok, CEO and founder of Singapore-based Caldecott Music Group, acquired the assets of Gawker from Bustle Digital Group. In an email to Variety, Kuok confirmed that he has closed the deal buying the Gawker trademarks and domain name but not its article archives.

K.J. Yossman The BBC has apologized after a news anchor mis-reported a Reuters news story to suggest the Israeli arms was targeting medical staff.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor TikTok has long touted the app as a place to discover new music — and its ability to propel songs into viral hits. Now TikTok is hoping to derive incremental revenue from music fans who use the app. The company’s new Add to Music App feature lets users save songs from TikTok to third-party music streaming services.