Streamlined Insights
Last weekend I finally went to see Ne Zha 2 and began to understand why this Chinese animated film has grossed US$2bn. First the basics – it’s a visually jaw-dropping movie, truly epic in scale, but also contains humour (mostly toilet humour, but still amusing); pathos, with more
Streamlined Insights
Not surprisingly, given current events in the US and Europe, politics weighed heavily on this year’s Berlin and Rotterdam film festivals. The films, awards and speeches all reflected the valid concerns of the industry and filmmakers as they attempt to navigate an alarming new world order. At the same
Streamlined Insights
Before we dig into recent events, I just want to explain that Streamlined is changing its format this year to get back to its roots – which is to make your life easier by summarising all the major news in the content industries of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Over
Streamlined Insights
Looking in general at the film industries that have recovered at the box office since the pandemic, and those that are still struggling, it does seem that the more established production hubs of Hollywood, Bollywood and South Korea (I have an aversion to the term Hallyuwood) are having a tough
Streamlined Insights
For the last free Streamlined of the year, we’re looking at the 2024 box office of Asia’s biggest theatrical market, mainland China, and a market where local films just broke the all-time admissions record, Indonesia. In addition, the links round-up below includes all the international sales
Streamlined Insights
In November, I inadvertently worked my way down the Pacific Rim, covering film festivals and markets in Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines. Three very different industries, with very different issues and market conditions on the ground, but all communicating the same message – that they’re open to international collaboration and
Streamlined Insights
The outdoor billboards towering over the streets of Centum City during this year’s Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) said it all. One was for the second season of Netflix’s Hellbound and the other for Disney’s Gangnam B-Side, both of which were premiering in BIFF’s On
Streamlined Insights
After a relatively buoyant if not exemplary Cannes, this year’s autumn festival season is expected to be a bellwether of the current health of the global film industry. Do we still have an independent sales business? Do we have many strong awards contenders, despite Hollywood strikes and other disruptions?
Streamlined Insights
This week, I’m sharing an article I wrote for KoBiz about how Korean films are being received internationally since the pandemic. Since I wrote this, a few mid-budget Korean films have been performing relatively well at the local box office, including Pilot, Handsome Guys and Escape, which is
Streamlined Insights
Before signing off for a few weeks holiday, Streamlined is taking the temperature of the summer box office, along with a round-up of half-year box office results, in major Asian markets. There is so much drama currently going on in the world between wars, natural disasters, political unrest,
Streamlined Insights
One issue that comes up repeatedly in the conversations I’ve had with producers in Asia and the Middle East over the years is the difficulty of setting up co-productions between ‘established’ (usually meaning Western European) nations and ‘developing’ nations. Of course, there are other established film producing territories
Streamlined Insights
When Streamlined was launched two years ago, it came with a promise to cover Africa, swiftly followed by the realisation that a steep learning curve would be necessary before doing justice to the content industries of this huge and complex continent. One thing I’ve learned since launching Streamlined is
Streamlined Insights
Heading into this year’s Cannes Marché, there were several reasons to believe business would be muted, with slow box office recovery nearly everywhere in the world, rising interest rates and the hangover from the Hollywood strikes and pandemic all cited as reasons for a depressed market. And yet there
Streamlined Insights
This year’s Cannes film festival was relatively smooth and controversy free, despite all the speculation in the run-up to the event around France’s #MeToo movement, pro-Palestinian protests and striking film festival workers. Cate Blanchett may or may not have made a classy display of Palestinian solidarity
Streamlined Guides
As previously promised, Streamlined is launching a new content strand, Streamlined Guides, as a monthly subscription service. Paid subscribers to the Streamlined Guides will receive a monthly report with an easy-to-digest overview of market conditions, as well as lists of the major producers, investors, distributors, talent, funders and
Streamlined Insights
As Far East Film Festival (FEFF) in Udine, northern Italy, was kicking off last week, the festival’s associated distribution company, Tucker Film, was gearing up to release Malaysian drama Abang Adik on 50 screens across Italy. Tucker Film has partnered with another Italian distributor, Academy 2, to release the
Streamlined Insights
Although this year’s Cannes line-up is one of the most commercial in a while, it’s also one that highlights how much cross-cultural collaboration we still have in international cinema, and how borders continue to blend and shift, despite the divisions thrown up by politics, war and
Streamlined Insights
This is very late as I’ve just been very sick with Covid (yes, it’s still out there) but I wanted to summarise the major themes from the ‘Conversations’ section of the recent Cinevesture International Film Festival (CIFF, March 27-31) in Chandigarh, India. Cinevesture, which comprises the festival,