TAKING TOEI
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund (PIF) has increased its stake in Japanese film and TV studio Toei Company, from 5% to 6.03%, according to a report by the Reuters financial news agency. The move comes shortly after Toei published a ten-year plan for international expansion.
Toei includes film and TV production operations, the T-Joy cinema chain and Toei Animation. Last month, it said that it had beaten its film revenue record, thanks to the success of titles including “The First Slam Dunk,” “The Legend of Butterfly” and “One Piece Film Red.”
The stake increase also follows PIF’s February announcement that it had increased its stake in Japanese games and console maker Nintendo to 8.26% and that (along with the Singapore state fund GIC) was a buyer of a $966 million bond issue from Korean entertainment-tech firm Kakao Corp.
Entertainment appears to be a significant part of the PIF’s vision for a post-oil economy. The firm also has stakes in three other Japanese games firms Nexon, Capcom and Koei Tecmo. PIF is also one of the prime movers behind LIV Golf, a golf tour to rival the currently dominant PGA and paid $500 million in 2020 for a 5.7% chunk of Live Nation.
CHEERING THOUGHT
“Victory,” a South Korean movie about cheerleading, has begun production under the direction of Park Bum-soo (“Red Carpet,” “Single in Seoul”). The film stars singer-actor Hyeri (“Reply 1998”) and Park Se-wan (“Never Twice”) as two unlikely friends who for a cheerleading team in the 1990s. Production is by Annapurna Film.
CANCEL CALL
A petition has been launched on Change.org to ask the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences to rescind the invitation made to “John Wick 4” actor Donnie Yen to be a presenter at next week’s Oscars ceremony. The petition accuses Yen of supporting the Chinese Communist Party’s violation of human rights, notably voicing his support of Hong Kong’s introduction of a National Security Law and accusing pro-democracy protesters of being rioters. “If the Oscars Committee continues to invite such a person as guest presenter,, it will damage the image and reputation of the film industry,” the petition alleges. At the time of going to press, the online petition had attracted 30,000 signatures. Yen has recently been vocal about the stereotyping of Asian performers.
FORMATS AT MIPTV
Nippon TV, Japan’s leading multiplatform entertainment firm, will pitch two new formats at the upcoming MipTV convention in France: scripted show “Rebooting” and unscripted show “Doki Doki Video.” “Rebooting,” which has 60-minute episodes, has a “Groundhog Day”-like premise of a woman who is pronounced dead in a car accident, but get the chance to relive her life over multiple times. While she gets a big surprise from finding that she is not the only one reliving her life, the comedy is focused on the banal and bizarre daily occurrences. It is currently enjoying success on Japanese TV and is performing strongly on SVOD and AVOD and social media. “Doki Doki Video” (30–180-minute episodes) is a family-oriented game show which puts celebrities to the test by asking them to hold back their facial expressions while facing the most shocking viral videos.
Read More About:
Source: Read Full Article
