#Sony India, Zee Entertainment Merger Gets Key Approval

#Sony India, Zee Entertainment Merger Gets Key Approval

Indian regulators have approved, after much delay, the proposed merger between Sony’s TV operations in India and the country’s Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It would bring together linear TV networks, digital businesses, production operations and content libraries to create an Indian sector powerhouse. The merger, first unveiled in 2021, faced antitrust and other concerns. Last year, the…

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#Netflix Unveils Five Japanese Reality Series

#Netflix Unveils Five Japanese Reality Series

Netflix is betting big on reality TV as it seeks to expand its reach in Japan, a key international growth market amid plateauing subscriber gains for streaming services in much of the West. The company unveiled a slate of five reality series Wednesday at its offices in Seoul, South Korea, during an event showcasing unscripted…

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#Sony Pictures Quarterly Profit Drops to 5M

#Sony Pictures Quarterly Profit Drops to $115M

Sony Pictures saw its fiscal first-quarter bottom line drop to a profit of $115 million (16 billion yen), down 68 percent from the $394 million (50.7 billion yen) profit it reported during the same period in 2022. While theatrical sales were up, revenue from new TV series and streaming licensing were down. Promotional costs also…

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#FIRST Film Festival Founder on Creating China’s Top Platform for Young Talent: “Our Biggest Goal Is to Support New Auteurs”

#FIRST Film Festival Founder on Creating China’s Top Platform for Young Talent: “Our Biggest Goal Is to Support New Auteurs”

If you ask any Chinese indie auteur for their own favorite film festival, expect to be directed to the city of Xining, China’s historic gateway to the vast Tibetan Plateau. Here, in a now-teaming city in the foothills of the world’s tallest mountains, the FIRST International Film Festival has carved out a reputation that regularly…

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#China Box Office: ‘Barbie’ Opens in Fifth Place on Friday as ‘Oppenheimer’ Awaits Release Date

#China Box Office: ‘Barbie’ Opens in Fifth Place on Friday as ‘Oppenheimer’ Awaits Release Date

The Barbenheimer’s box-office dominion does not extend to China, it seems.  Greta Gerwig’s Barbie released in China Friday to considerable fanfare, but its pink appeal is proving no match for a slew of local Chinese blockbusters. The Warner Bros. comedy-fantasy is on track to finish its opening day in China in fifth place, having earned only…

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#China Box Office: ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ Opens Soft in Third Place

#China Box Office: ‘Mission: Impossible 7’ Opens Soft in Third Place

Tom Cruise failed to do the seemingly impossible in China over the weekend: Revive Hollywood’s former box-office muscle at the world’s second-biggest theatrical movie market.  Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One badly lost its opening weekend in China, debuting in third place behind a pair of holdover Chinese hits.  The Paramount and Skydance sequel opened…

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