Tag: Entertainment-Variety

The writer and director of the movie that was likely Nicholas Brendon‘s final starring film role is speaking out after the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star’s death on Friday. Joston Ramon Theney said Brendon was “incredibly proud” of the work he did on romance drama “Yesterday Is Almost Here.”

“Nicholas was the heart of our upcoming film, and his loss is felt profoundly by everyone who had the privilege of working alongside him,” said Theney.

The production was held for release so Nicky could “fully recover from his initial surgery,” said Theney. But after a one-week run at the Look Theater in Monrovia, Calif., the roadshow rollout was paused again after complications from his second surgery, Theney explained.

Brendon underwent knee surgery in November 2025 and spinal fusion surgery in April of that year, according to his Facebook page. He also suffered a serious fall in 2021 and was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect in 2022.

“Now, in the wake of his passing, we find ourselves navigating both a profound loss and an uncertain path forward. Nicky was not only the heart of this film but central to how we hoped to bring it to the world,” said Theney.

Jackie Moore, Shoshana Wilder and Philip Andre Botello co-star in the drama about a writer who suspects his wife of having an affair.

“Nicky gave an extraordinary performance — one marked by depth, honesty, and the kind of presence that reminds you why he was so beloved as an actor. He believed in this film, and in many ways, it stands as a testament to his resilience, his growth, and his enduring talent. He is deeply missed. This loss is a gut punch. But we remain committed to honoring his legacy by ensuring his work is seen and remembered,” Theney said.

“This project represented something truly meaningful to Nicholas. He approached the role with passion, humility, and a renewed sense of purpose. He often spoke about how much this film meant to him — not only as a creative endeavor, but as a personal milestone. It was, in many ways, his comeback, and he embraced it fully.”

Brendon had some well-publicized legal and personal issues over the years, some as recently as last week. However, Theney said, “On set, he was focused, generous, and committed to giving his very best. Off set, he was warm, reflective, and deeply appreciative of the opportunity to tell this story. Nicholas gave this film everything he had, and we are proud to share that with the world.”

Brendon had roles in several indie productions in the last few years, including “Christmas Slasher” and “On a Dark and Bloody Ground.”

Watch the trailer for “Yesterday Is Almost Here” below:

Theme park lovers who yearn for the mines will have their wish granted in 2027 with the debut of Minecraft World.

A $70 million project opening within Chessington World Adventures in the UK from Microsoft-owned “Minecraft” maker Mojang Studios and theme park giant Merlin Entertainments (the owner of the Legoland theme parks), the attraction will mark the first-ever theme park based on the popular building video game.

Per the two companies’ description for Minecraft World at Chessington, which is accessible from London by a 35-minute direct train ride, “Inspired by the game’s most iconic biomes, mobs, and items, Minecraft World will bring the best-selling game of all time into the physical world for the very first time at a major theme park. The land will feature new Minecraft-themed attractions, including a thrilling world first coaster, interactive adventures, epic block built playscapes, and themed retail and dining.”

Ahead of announcing the Minecraft World news during the Minecraft LIVE presentation Saturday, Microsoft Gaming’s head of Mojang Studios and franchise development Kayleen Walters and Merlin Entertainments’ senior vice president of global brand marketing Angela Jobson broke down their new partnership in an interview with Variety.

First off, the execs clarified that Minecraft World isn’t going to be a theme-park adaptation of the blockbusters hit “A Minecraft Movie” — or its upcoming 2027 sequel — brought into real life. It’s going to be based on how you play the game “Minecraft.”

“When a player joins ‘Minecraft’ and plays, it’s their own completely new experience,” Walters said. “They have the agency, they choose how to play. So every time you hit play, it’s a different experience for you, and that’s how we think about broadening beyond the game, too. We want the players to have the agency; we want our fans and our community to have the agency and the experience. So we’ve been thinking about immersive experiences in its own space, not in the movie IP space. This is really its own unique Minecraft experience.”

Walters continued: “So they haven’t taken the sets from the movie or that sort of thing. But what the Merlin team did so well is they worked really closely with the Mojang creative team, and they designed together, and they actually designed using the game, too, which was really great. So they would actually think about what it would look like in game, and then what that player mode is like in real life. And so I think what you’ll really discover is a unique, immersive experience that brings to life what you would want to see if you were to actually get to step into a real ‘Minecraft’ world and get to experience the gravity and the physics and the smell of the different biomes.”

Jobson says Mojang and Merlin Entertainments see the need for Minecraft World to balance between “commitment to delivering real emotion and making it really believable” and “this sense of epicness.”

“There are some features in that land that I’m still not quite sure how we’re even doing it from an engineering perspective,” Jobson said. “There’s a giant floating island in the middle of it, and that we held on to from one of our initial visuals. And sometimes you go really big with your creative vision, but somehow we put our arms around it. I’ll never know. But we all believe that we really need to have this feature in it. It’s going to look quite spectacular.”

Jobson notes that along with the world’s first “Minecraft” rollercoaster and the world’s biggest “Minecraft” retail store, the park will have “Minecraft”-themed dining, “which has led to some very interesting conversations.” “Like, what can you eat? What do you want to eat from the Minecraft world? Because clearly, we want it to be appetizing,” Jobson said.

Walters says following the massive success of 2025’s “A Minecraft Movie,” it was clear to Microsoft Gaming “how excited people were just to be engaging in a different way with what they know and love within ‘Minecraft,’” and that response inspired the collaboration on Minecraft World.

“The natural evolution is to make in-real-life immersive experiences,” Walters said. “And I think it’s going to be really successful. Just that idea of sharing what you play every day with people who don’t play every day, but know it’s really important to you, and now they can bring their whole family or their friends to see what ‘Minecraft’ is like in real life. And I think it’ll get people understanding more around what ‘Minecraft’ is, and will bring people into the game even more. There is that kind of connected ecosystem where we engage in it in one way and it reminds you about a world you built five years ago that you might want to play again, so it brings players back into the game.”

Mojang and Merlin Entertainments note the project will also include collaboration with “a selection of iconic ‘Minecraft’ creators to help bring the universe to life in the most authentic way possible for the game’s global community of fans.” 

See below for images of the Minecraft World concept art provided by Merlin Entertainment and Microsoft.

Actor Judy Greer and journalist and TV host Kara Swisher went right for it as soon as they sat down.

The pair took AI fears, maturing on screen and assessing how the dawn of streaming has changed Hollywood’s traditional compensation models during a conversation held at the SHE Media Co-lab space at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas on March 15.

Greer was at the festival as part of the rollout for the indie drama “Chili Finger,” a true-crime tale revolving around a scam plot gone wrong. She stars opposite Sean Astin, Bryan Cranston and others. Greer described the jobs picture in Hollywood as “scary” for people in the early stages of their careers.

“In the dawn of all the streaming television, we’ve already lost a lot of money. We don’t get those residuals anymore. People who relied on those for their health insurance, they don’t have access to that anymore. And so that’s a big, huge change that we’re trying to figure out,” Greer said. “There’s so many more jobs, but it feels like no one’s working, and now people can’t get their insurance.”

Greer, known for her character turns on “Two and a Half Men,” “Arrested Development” and a host of other TV series and movies, told Swisher that getting older as an actress has been creatively fulfilling. Swisher is a veteran journalist and author and now a TV personality. She is host of the docu-series “Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever,” on the science and understanding of aging, which bows April 11 on CNN.

“I’ve been so happy with the way things have been going for me. The roles I’m getting offered are so much more layered and interesting, and so I have loved this section of my life,” Greer said. “Moving forward, I do tend to see all these older actors, male actors, playing these super-angry villains and stuff. And I would like to see some women playing those roles — being like ‘Retribution!’ I think would be interesting. We would do it in a lot smarter way,” Greer said.

“One of the things that has been freeing as I’ve aged is, I don’t have to adhere to a certain look anymore. I feel that is why the roles are becoming so interesting to me. Even myself — I’m personally not as worried about how I look and being pretty in a movie. I don’t care anymore,” Greer said.

Swisher pressed Greer on the concerns about making a living as a performer in the age of AI.

“Personally, I’m still a bit sheltered from the really scary parts, because I am recognizable. My voice is recognizable. I haven’t had to be scanned [for potential AI reproductions], things like that,” Greer said. “People at my level and above, it’s really our duty to fight for the middle class of what I do. Because people who are background artists, people who are day players — they’re the ones that I think are really going to get super-fucked.”

Swisher admitted that she has conflicting feelings about how to handle AI’s rapid advance. Greer agreed.

“If we can’t kill this thing, and I don’t know if we should, how can we use the superpower for good and not evil? is there something that we can use this to like, elevate our art and to elevate artists and like in the way that sort of the iPhone gave a medium to young filmmakers, young people and young artists. Is there a way to utilize the superpower to help creatives?” Greer asked.

(Pictured: Kara Swisher and Judy Greer at the SHE Media Co-lab at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas on March 15.)

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for the Season 1 finale of “The Madison,” now streaming on Paramount+.

The too-brief first season of “The Madison” has come to an end, and after six tear-jerking episodes, fans are already looking forward to what a second season will bring for the Clyburns. The first season focused on Stacy Clyburn (Michelle Pfeiffer), who packed up and moved her family from bustling New York City to Montana after the death of her husband and family patriarch, Preston (Kurt Russell).

While no date has been set for the second season, it was already filmed before the show premiered. Because of that, during the press cycle for Season 1, stars Michelle and Russell were able to preview what audiences can expect next season.

“It’s after the initial stage of raw grief passes, and some time has gone by,” Pfeiffer says. “It’s the messy and profound rebuilding of everything that you knew after everything that you knew has fallen apart and what that looks like.”

Christina Alexandra Voros, who directed every episode of Season 1, also teased the idea of moving on in the next season.

“I think by the end of Season 1, there are a number of questions to be answered in terms of what the next steps will be for the Clyburn family,” she says. “Season 2 begins to delve into that.”

Russell adds that a darkness comes into the show’s second season.

“I think it’s fair to say that in Season 2 — and I believe Michelle will agree with me — what happens is the level of real danger goes up,” he says. “Things begin to become dangerous in realistic ways.”

When it comes to realism, Russell says the script’s relatability in Season 1 was a main element that appealed to him.

“It was a matter of reading it and saying, ‘Wow, at what point was [writer Taylor Sheridan] a fly on the wall in our house?’” he says. “We lived part of the time in Los Angeles, but I did move to Colorado when I was 26 years old to live the way I wanted to live and still be in the business. When I read it, I realized how, for the first time, I was going to play somebody similar to myself, as opposed to somebody who was a broad character or something in a very different genre. This is in the wheelhouse of reality, relatability as human beings, one to the other. It’s adventure of the soul, and I was right for it. There were both sides of this guy. I’ve lived it. So it was more bringing the right thing for Michelle and for the show, which I felt confident in doing.”

Voros also says she felt an intense closeness to the material.

“I would be hard-pressed to imagine a story that felt more organic for me,” she says. “I’m a Boston-raised, longtime New York City-living gal who met a cowboy on a Western in Mississippi, and now live in West Texas. My husband’s actually our animal coordinator on this show, and a lot of the ‘Yellowstone’ shows. The idea of being someone who identifies as being from a city and discovering not only a part of the country that is foreign to you, but the part of yourself that emerges when you transplant yourself into a different environment, and makes you question your identity and the choices one makes in how to live their life. It was a wild script to end up on my doorstep, because it felt so incredibly personal to me.”

Watch a trailer for “The Madison” below.

“The Handmaid’s Tale” sequel “The Testaments,” based on a 2019 novel by Margaret Atwood, is expanding the Gilead universe.

“It was very exciting to see this other side of Gilead, with all these privileged people. ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ was about those at the very bottom of the social structure. Here are the women who are at the absolute top. And it still kind of sucks,” said creator Bruce Miller at French fest Series Mania after the show’s world premiere. 

Set in Aunt Lydia’s elite preparatory school for future wives, the show follows the daughters of Commanders, many of whom have been taken away from their birth parents, and so-called Pearl Girls, recruited from outside Gilead. 

“As Bruce said, it’s a different world entirely. And Lydia is a different person,” said Ann Dowd, who won an Emmy for her role. Her character emerges from a “very crushed place” at the end of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” 

“She was brought to her knees, literally, in deep and profound remorse. When that happens, you can say: ‘I don’t care. I will keep doing what I’m doing.’ Or you can change the way you see the world, acknowledge what you have done, live with the pain and the misery of that, and begin a new life.”

“I remember those early scripts and how clear they were about who Lydia is. I was raised in a Catholic home and educated by Catholic sisters. They weren’t unkind, but you learn that you’re not special. You have a job to do, so don’t look for attention. Don’t walk away before it’s complete. Get it done.” 

Although the environment Aunt Lydia creates for her students comes with “less pain and suffering,” Gilead’s rules are still strict.  

“I don’t know if [the current political situation] makes the story more relevant today than at any other time, but the interesting thing about Margaret Atwood is that she puts her finger on the points of friction that exist forever,” noted Miller, who first discovered her work in college. 

“That was a long, long, long time ago, and it seemed like the right time to read that book. Then, 25 or 30 years later, I made the show and it still seemed as if ait was built for that time. It’s the same with ‘The Testaments.’ I think it’s more of a reflection on Margaret’s sense of where women are and what things they’re always fighting.”

He added: “As Margaret says, you can look back on any point in history and find horrible things being done to women. But I think having her write ‘The Testaments’ and say there’s hope in Gilead, is really her way of saying there’s hope for women in general. Women will move forward.”

Joining Ann Dowd are Chase Infiniti, acclaimed for her turn in Oscar-winning “One Battle After Another” as the daughter of Tayana Taylor’s Perfidia Beverly Hills, and Lucy Halliday. As Agnes and Daisy, they form an unexpected friendship. 

“We were very grateful to have Ann, [producer] Warren Littlefield, Bruce and also Elizabeth Moss, who’s an executive producer, as our encyclopedias for everything. We could ask them any question we had about Gilead. On top of that, they welcomed us into the world with such love and support,” said Infiniti, who “fell in love” with the script. 

“It was so intriguing, and so different from Willa and ‘One Battle’. I thought I would have a hard time with the source material – it’s incredibly heavy. But because of the community that was built on set, anytime I struggled, they were there to catch me.”

According to Halliday, they both felt a “weight of responsibility.” 

“‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ was so beloved. It really resonated with audiences, and the books were so brilliant. When you step into it, you want to do it justice. You don’t want to be the cog in the machine that disrupts what already existed.” 

Miller also praised Mike Barber, “The Handmaid’s Tale” veteran who directed the first three episodes. 

“No one knows ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ better than Barber. He also knew what things he would like to do differently and what he could do with a younger cast. He was amazing at building the world.”

Ultimately though, it’s all about Margaret Atwood. 

“Margaret’s very involved in the show, and she’s busier than all of you put together. She’s the busiest 86-year-old I’ve ever met! From the beginning, she was more used to her work getting adapted than I was adapting her work. ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ was a play, an opera, a ballet, and a movie. She was very loose with it and I was a little stricter,” he recalled. 

She still gets every script and watches every episode.

“She’s the first person I talk to – even before the studio, before Warren. She has to say: ‘Ok, that makes sense.’ When you see her eyes light up, you know you really got something.”

Warren Littlefield added: “Every time we’ve spoken to Margaret, we’ve learned something about the world we live in. We always felt just a little bit smarter.” 

“The Testaments” also expands the color palette of the show, with young female students dressed in pink and purple, and with white reserved for the Pearl Girls. 

“Margaret and I talked about it a lot. We had all these new characters and we wanted to underline they were still cloaked by Gilead. They were still categorized by Gilead, but they were different women,” said Miller. 

“We had discussions about shorts sleeves, tons of discussions about the length of skirts and how much skin you could show. It got weird. You start feeling like you’re naked when you’re wearing your regular clothes, because it’s so restrictive.”

Littlefield observed: “The red robe from ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is so iconic. It has been used as a symbol around the world, and it has made us tremendously proud. But you won’t find it in ‘The Testaments.’ That’s part of us saying: This is a new world.”

“Bruce and I had a wonderful experience watching June [played by Elisabeth Moss] come to life. We saw her on the monitor, and we said: ‘I think this is going to work.’ Now, all these years later, we were on the set of ‘The Testaments,’ looking at the monitor and watching Chase as Agnes. It was history repeating itself.”

Elon Musk artificially drove down the price of Twitter‘s stock in 2022 with tweets claiming the social-media company — which he had already agreed to acquire — had underreported how many fake and spam accounts were on its platform, a federal jury found.

The verdict was handed down Friday in a civil trial in California against Musk brought on behalf of Twitter shareholders, in a lawsuit alleging that Musk was attempting to back out of his agreement to buy Twitter or negotiate a lower price. The jury found that Musk’s tweets in 2022 — saying he was suspending his takeover of Twitter (citing his skepticism about Twitter’s claims that spam and bot accounts were less than 5% of the total) — were materially false or misleading. However, the jury also found that Musk was not liable for “engaging in a scheme to defraud investors.”

Musk’s legal team at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan said in a statement, “We view today’s verdict, where the jury found both for and against the plaintiffs and found no fraud scheme, as a bump in the road. And we look forward to vindication on appeal.”

Francis Bottini, a lawyer representing shareholders in the class-action suit, estimated that damages Musk will be required to pay in the matter could run to about $2.5 billion, Reuters reported. “Musk’s ⁠status as the world’s richest man is not a free pass,” Bottini said in a statement. “If you’re able to move markets with your tweets you’re responsible for the harm you cause to investors.”

Musk, 54, is the wealthiest individual in the world with a net worth currently estimated at $814 billion, per Forbes.

The jury found two of Musk’s tweets misleading. On May 13, 2022, he wrote, “Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users.” In the other one, which came four days later on May 17, Musk claimed without providing evidence that Twitter’s user base could represent “20% fake/spam accounts” and that it “could be *much* higher”; he said “This deal cannot move forward” until Twitter’s then-CEO provided proof of the sub-5% claim. During the trial, Musk’s attorneys had defended those tweets as representing his legitimate concerns about Twitter’s spam/bot issues and argued that they weren’t a scheme to depress the company’s stock price.

The class-action lawsuit, Pampena v. Musk, ⁠was brought on behalf of investors who sold Twitter shares between May 13 and Oct. 4, 2022. The suit was filed on Oct. 10 2022, after Musk agreed to consummate his purchase of Twitter for $54.20/share, valuing the deal at $44 billion.

Shortly before the deal closed, Musk said that he and other investors were “obviously overpaying for Twitter right now.” Musk had agreed to buy Twitter for $54.20/share in April 2022, then spent several months trying to back out of the pact. After Twitter sued Musk, seeking to enforce the original terms of the merger agreement, he ultimately agreed to complete the deal at the original purchase price.

In July 2023, Musk renamed Twitter as X (his favorite letter of the alphabet).

Separately, Musk is in talks to settle an SEC lawsuit accusing him of failing to properly disclose his initial purchases of ⁠Twitter in early 2022, per a court filing by the agency this week. The SEC’s suit alleged Musk’s undisclosed stock purchases cost other Twitter shareholders at least $150 million because they sold shares at lower prices without knowing that Musk was amassing shares in the company.

Last month, Musk’s SpaceX bought his artificial-intelligence company, xAI, which had previously acquired X. The transaction — valuing the combined entity at $1.25 trillion — is the largest merger of all time, valuing SpaceX at $1 trillion and xAI at $250 billion, per CNBC.

Thirty years in, and FilMart still knows how to fill a room.

The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre hummed with a density that attendees said felt more like the market’s pre-pandemic peak than anything seen in recent years – a buzzing, deal-hungry crowd that reflected just how much the appetite for Asian content has grown, and how many new players now want a seat at the table. From Myanmar’s first international market debut to Sri Lankan distributors comparing notes with European buyers, the 30th edition of the Hong Kong International Film & TV Market made a persuasive case that the screen business, for all its anxieties about AI and fragmentation, remains hungry for connection.

“I am meeting friends and new business partners from Turkey, the U.K., the U.S., and even Brazil,” said Timothy Oh, general manager of leading microdrama player COL International Group, a first-time FilMart participant from Singapore. “Hong Kong’s role as an international hub helps create a bustling market with many business opportunities for those looking at innovation and what’s next.”

FilMart and its co-located forum EntertainmentPulse, organized by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), drew roughly 8,000 industry professionals from 53 countries and regions, with over 790 exhibitors from a record 38 countries – including first-time participants from Belgium, Poland, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Uzbekistan.

Here are six takeaways from FilMart 2026.

1. AI Moves From Buzzword to Workflow

Artificial intelligence was the year’s dominant conversation – but the tenor has shifted. Where previous editions treated AI with theoretical enthusiasm, this year’s market found practitioners speaking in more practical, and sometimes cautious, terms.

The returning AI Hub, supported by the Cultural and Creative Industries Development Agency (CCIDA) and the Film Development Fund, showcased companies including Alibaba Cloud, Kling, MiniMax and Vidu alongside academic partners from the University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. The newly launched AI Academy offered 19 hands-on workshops covering generative text, audio and animation. At the Golden Rooster Roundtable, organized by the China Film Association and China Film Co-production Corp., AI was cast as a creative “partner.” Meanwhile, Mei Ah Entertainment unveiled a slate of AI-generated short dramas reimagining classic IP for mobile-first audiences, and Red Empire Productions and Organic Media Group bowed hybrid animated vertical series “Home Away AI.i.Ce.”

Yet legendary director Peter Chan Ho-sun offered a more sobering counterpoint at the Producers Connect panel. “I think we’re at the worst times. Those days of the blockbusters are gone. We’re experiencing now what I learned when I went to Hollywood in the late 90s. Nobody knows anything,” said Chan. “With the fragmented markets, with the vertical short dramas, with AI, and with cinemas closing. I think we’re at the worst times.” Chan drew a sharp line between commercial cinema and auteur work: “I don’t think AI is an enemy to auteur film. But AI would be an enemy to mediocre blockbusters. Basically, AI can replace any blockbuster or commercial film in three years, I believe.” He reserved particular scorn for the industry’s reliance on data analytics: “Big data. That’s one of the dirtiest words I’ve ever heard for creative people. A lot of these so-called big data could actually end up killing the film.”

Henry Or, SVP of strategic partnerships, Asia at Boat Rocker Studios, says the divergence in attitude between Asian and Western markets is striking. “If you look at the whole AI development from China, it is more advanced, because it’s something that the government is really leading the whole development for the industry,” he tells Variety. AI dubbing is already widespread in Chinese drama production, he notes, though he adds a caveat about its screen applicability: “China is okay, because 90% of people, they watch content on their mobile. So it’s a small screen.”

Bizhan Tong, a U.K. and Hong Kong-based filmmaker, frames AI as a force multiplying collaboration rather than diminishing it. “The use of AI has emboldened more collaborations to occur, because they see AI not as a tool for removing jobs, but one that can actually save jobs by reducing costs, and therefore enabling more productions to be made,” he says.

Quietly, the technology has spread throughout production workflows, even if few are advertising it. One director noted matter-of-factly that certain generative AI shots in his sizzle reel would be replaced with conventional VFX before release – an admission that spoke volumes about how embedded the technology has become, and how wary practitioners remain of audience or investor scrutiny.

2. China: The Gateway Is Warming, but Not Yet Wide Open

With 355 mainland Chinese companies participating at this year’s FilMart, expectations were high for distribution breakthroughs. The reality proved more complicated.

China remains a heavyweight in the global box office, its market generating approximately $7.4 billion in 2025 and maintaining its position as the world’s second-largest. Year-to-date 2026 revenue stands at roughly $1.58 billion – down 52.9% from the same period last year, in large part because of the outsized performance of “Ne Zha 2” in early 2025 – but still running some $350 million ahead of North America. Local films account for nearly 80% of ticket sales, and the audience itself is transforming: women now make up 60% of cinemagoers, over-25s represent 85% of the audience base, and emerging tier cities are posting double-digit growth.

However, China has maintained an unofficial ban on Korean content – dramas, films and K-pop performances – since 2016, when Beijing imposed the restrictions in retaliation for Seoul’s deployment of U.S. missile defense systems. Diplomatic signals of a thaw have been building: Chinese President Xi Jinping met South Korean President Lee Jae-myung in Beijing in January 2026 and suggested improvement would come gradually. But at FilMart, Korean distributors were still waiting.

Paul D. Kim, CEO of Seoul-based Hive Filmworks, says Korean distributors remain frustrated by persistent barriers. “It’s unfortunate the mainland China censorship is not lifted yet. We were hoping that we meet more Chinese distributors to be able to do the distribution of really good Korean commercial films,” he tells Variety. “We did meet some, but seems like nothing’s gonna move forward for a little longer while, so we are hoping the second half of the year we might be able to do more collaboration with China.”

Yet there are signs of gradual thawing. On the market floor, talk of loosening censorship red lines circulated, with recent mainland screenings of previously unreleased library titles in the horror genre – among them “Alien: Romulus” and “The Shining” – drawing notice as cautious indicators of a shifting content environment.

Diplomatically, the mood is more optimistic. For Tong, the biggest recent catalyst has been political: U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit to China, which paved the way for visa-free travel for British citizens from Lunar New Year. “I’ve had meetings where people have just reached out to me and asked me, can we quickly meet in Shenzhen or Guangzhou, and suddenly I can now do that,” he says. Tong adds that his company is currently working with China on both scripted and unscripted projects.

3. Co-productions Find New Momentum – and New Complexity

Cross-border collaboration is rising, driven partly by economics, partly by shifting audience behavior. A new generation of viewers increasingly receptive to subtitles and foreign languages has lowered cultural barriers, while tightening production budgets are making multi-territory partnerships a necessity rather than a luxury.

The Producers Connect initiative – jointly organized by the HKSAR’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, the CCIDA, the Hong Kong Film Development Council and the HKTDC – brought together more than 100 producers from Hong Kong and around the world. At a panel titled “International Coproductions in an Evolving Film Industry Landscape,” producer Janet Yang observed that “the world is getting flatter, language is mattering less and less to audiences everywhere.” Chan, addressing the same session, counseled diversifying investors and partners across regions as essential strategy.

The Shanghai Broadcasting Film & TV Producers Association and the Hong Kong Screenwriters’ Guild formalized their relationship at the market, signing a memorandum of understanding covering co-production, talent cultivation and technological exchange.

Tong, who conducted meetings with partners across Asia during the event, describes the shift in atmosphere as tangible. “In contrast to two recent years, there is a more positive spirit in what we can do together. What we’re seeing is different regions looking to do more international collaborations, more co-productions, and I feel as a result of that, we should be seeing more projects getting made,” he says.

4. Microdrama Goes Global — and Gets Serious

For years, microdrama was a Chinese local story: bite-sized vertical episodes, consumed on mobile, monetized at scale, and largely invisible to Western industry. At FilMart 2026, that story acquired a new chapter.

The format has already overtaken traditional film and television in mainland China in revenue terms, and producers are now pushing hard beyond its borders. Linmon Media arrived at the market with a dedicated microdrama division built on the back of 11 titles in 2025 – 80% of which ranked in the top three in Thai and Indonesian markets – and unveiled a new vertical-format lineup tailored for broader Asian audiences. Mei Ah Entertainment, meanwhile, has been collaborating with Douyin to turn classic films into short-form dramas, using AI to generate new short-form dramas from its classic IP.

The most telling indicator of the format’s maturation, however, was structural. COL Group and Nasdaq-listed BeLive Holdings launched what they described as the world’s first “Microdrama in a Box” — a bundled offering combining cloud-based platform infrastructure with access to a curated content catalogue, designed to let broadcasters, mobile operators and streaming services in emerging markets deploy a branded microdrama platform within 30 days. The proposition is aimed squarely at markets where appetite for the format is growing but the building blocks – content libraries, platform technology and operational know-how – remain out of reach.

EntertainmentPulse dedicated a full session to the format, with speakers from Chinese companies including DataEye, Mansen Culture Media and Xiaowu Brothers dissecting both the production economics and the business models driving expansion. The consensus: microdrama is no longer an experiment. It is an industry.

5. Southeast Asia and New Voices Step Forward

The market’s geographic footprint continues to widen, with Southeast Asia and a wave of emerging-market first-timers asserting themselves with growing confidence.

Myanmar production company aTwentyThree used FilMart as its first international market outing, with founder Arker Soe Oo connecting with distributors from the U.S. and Europe. Sri Lanka’s Mogo Studios, another first-time exhibitor, said the market exceeded expectations.

Filipino producer Wilfredo Manalang of Fusee found the event energizing, particularly around content trends in the region. “There’s a lot of interest in BL [Boys’ Love] stories and BL kind of content from different Southeast Asian countries,” he tells Variety, noting that he also encountered companies actively interested in Filipino content more broadly.

Liuying Cao of Parallax Films China says FilMart proved far more productive than the Berlin European Film Market, attributing the shift to economic conditions that are driving more Asian buyers toward regional events. “FilMart has been quite busy for us – we had almost three and a half days of meetings nonstop. We got some oral offers already through the meetings, and we’re expecting more deals to be done after FilMart ends,” she says.

Her wish list for next year is a more geographically diverse buyer pool. “At the moment, our key buyers come from Southeast Asia, Japan and Korea – very traditionally strong markets. But from other territories, we still got less interest,” she says. “So we hope next year this can be a little bit different.”

6. A Market in Motion – and in Transition

FilMart 2026 felt noticeably busier than recent editions – and more visibly weighted toward Chinese-language content. Panels and presentations were markedly less likely to offer simultaneous translations into English than in previous years, a shift that several English-speaking attendees remarked upon, and which some attributed to budget pressures or evolving trade relations.

Henry Or, who has worked in the film and television industry for three decades, says the market’s identity is evolving alongside the industry it serves. “In Hong Kong, when it was a very good time, we had around like over 100 movies a year. But now, maybe less than 20,” he says. “People may be going less to the cinema because there are a lot more other entertainment for people to watch on different devices.” He argues that FilMart’s future lies in content beyond film: “FilMart is really just the name, but there will be more than just movies in this venue here, because this is where you can really connect yourself to China and to the East as well.”

Ronan Wong, COO and co-founder of AR Asia Production, says the expansion into new formats is creating tangible energy. “We feel the vibe in the different format of content – not only movie, TV, AI format, and also vertical drama is heavily discussed this time,” he says. “Cross-industry cooperation and also using the new technology – we feel fear sometimes, but actually, when we see the result and we use it, we feel it’s a strong tool to improve our efficiencies, and also in terms of costing and monetization.” He is also looking ahead to greater crossover between brands and entertainment content, citing conversations that emerged at EntertainmentPulse’s Marketing Pulse event as particularly promising.

For Paul D. Kim, the market’s overall value holds even as its character changes. “The more efficient people are narrowed down to stay in the market,” he says. “So still productive.”

One notable shift was the reduced presence of European buyers and delegates – a gap that the Middle East conflict goes some way to explaining. Airspace closures across the Gulf region from late February, triggered by military strikes on Iran, forced carriers to reroute Europe-Asia flights around the conflict zone, adding hours to journey times and sending airfares soaring. “People from Europe – I’m not sure if it’s the effect of the war. Before, there were people walking around, you see them everywhere. But now it seems like it’s very Asian-centric in terms of a market,” said Manalang.

Meanwhile, despite Japan’s ongoing diplomatic tensions with China, 37 Japanese companies attended FilMart. At the concurrent Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum, Japan debuted a dedicated Film Frontier section, placing seven Japanese projects across HAF’s strands in a clear signal that Unijapan is pursuing an outward-facing strategy regardless of bilateral headwinds. Japanese projects were among HAF winners.

Hong Kong’s own screen industry provided a reminder of what the city still does best. The flashy launch of “Cold War 1994,” an ensemble period thriller featuring Chow Yun-fat, Aaron Kwok, Tony Leung Ka-fai and Louis Koo, the announcement of a sequel to “Twilight of the Warriors” and a peek at upcoming series “The Season,” generated considerable buzz on the market floor – proof that Hong Kong content, even in a contracted state, retains its capacity to electrify.

The wait is over: The world premiere of “The Testaments” took place at French festival Series Mania. 

The new show, produced by MGM Television and based on Margaret Atwood’s novel of the same name, is set to premiere on Disney+ in April. It tells the dramatic story of a young woman’s coming of age in Gilead. 

It follows the privileged Agnes (“One Battle After Another” breakout Chase Infiniti) and Daisy (Lucy Halliday), a new arrival and convert from beyond Gilead’s borders, as they navigate the halls of Aunt Lydia’s (Ann Dowd) elite preparatory school for future wives.

Dowd, famous for her portrayal of everyone’s favorite villain, said of Aunt Lydia: “I love her. That’s our job as actors. The first rule is: do not judge. I don’t judge her, and she has become a very dear friend of mine. I came to know her, she came to know me, and I couldn’t be more grateful.”

She described reprising her role as “the great pleasure and the great joy, a privilege, all of it.” “Imagine knowing the character for these many years. How lucky can one be?”

Lucy Halliday, also present at the fest, was happy to have both the novel and the legendary series – which ended after six seasons – to turn to. 

“We had such strong source material ready, and [with Chase Infiniti] we’ve both been fans of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’ We’ve seen the show and read the books. Then we had Ann, Warren Littlefield, Bruce Miller and Elisabeth Moss [who exec produces], all involved in the creation of the show. We had so much to lean on.” 

She recalled: “Bruce is so open and willing to have a conversation. He would really sit down with you and [talk about] what the character should be, the ideas you had or just trying to know that his thoughts were your thoughts. That really created a wonderful environment where you felt: ‘Ok, there’s a responsibility stepping into this world that’s so beloved, but I feel reassured these people have trusted me and given me the space to step into it.’ I felt: ‘We can do a good job. I really hope the audience thinks so too’.”

Chase Infiniti discussed the show’s iconic costumes. 

“For all of us, since we are wearing a variety of costumes in the show, it’s your first piece of armor. All of our costumes were made to fit us perfectly, but they can be restrictive at times. It helped to get into the physicality of our roles.”

Creator Bruce Miller and producer Warren Littlefield were also in Lille.. 

“‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ covered people who are at the bottom of Gilead, and this shows women who are at the top of Gilead. But it also shows how for women, the top and the bottom are very similar,” Miller told the audience. 

“This is a story about awakening and rebellion among younger women in Gilead and those who have grown up there. That’s the expansion of the world.”

Despite the show’s darkness, it’s “critical to have humanity,” added Littlefield.

“We live in a world that’s a dark place, and hope comes from their strength and their resilience. Ann crosses over from ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ as Aunt Lydia – she knows that world. These young women have an awakening in our season one, and they will come to fight it. Let’s hope they take it down.”

During the opening ceremony, Managing Director Laurence Herszberg also welcomed the jury of the International Competition, led by Icelandic director Benedikt Erlingsson who presented “The Danish Woman” only last year.

“When I came here, ‘The Danish Woman’ didn’t get any prizes. It was a scandal! Now, I’m here to take revenge. And by ‘revenge,’ I mean that I will make sure the best series wins,” he joked, joined by Alice Braga, Hatik and Cécile de France.

But there was a somber note too, as one of the jurors, Ida Panahandeh, couldn’t attend Series Mania because of the ongoing war. She did send a message to the audience. 

“I’m deeply happy to know that somewhere in the world, there are people like you, people who strive to make this world a better place to live. You know, if I come out of this war alive, perhaps I will make a series that tells the story of the bitter days and nights my people are dealing. People who have been crushed for decades under the weight of social or political discrimination, economic sanctions, and who are now also living under fallen missiles, emancipated,” she said. 

“Whenever soldiers begin crossing their country’s borders, artists suddenly find themselves forbidden to leave theirs. It’s a bitter irony, isn’t it? I wish all the soldiers to stay within their own borders and take a rest. While, you know, all the artists could cross borders freely, without a doubt, we would have a far better world.”

She added: “My dear friends, let us condemn war, any war, whether it’s in Ukraine, Iran, or Gaza. Let us condemn the brutal killing of children and civilians, regardless of the color of their skin or their eyes. And let us not below the promise of peace and democracy to become an excuse for the re-emergence of fascism.”

Herszberg noted: “In a world rife with violence coming from all sides and deepening divisions, it is essential to remember the role of culture – as a source of guidance and enlightenment – and the role of festivals as a place where we can come together when everything else is in flux.” 

She called Series Mania an event that “gives a voice to artists and their work.” 

“It is a week that fosters the exchange of perspectives and opinions, and allows artists to express themselves freely, regardless of their nationality. Here, we do not judge by passport; we look at the works of the mind. We would like to remind everyone of a truth that is often forgotten. Creative freedom is fragile, and wherever that freedom is threatened, artists are among the first victims.”

“To all these artists, we want to say one simple thing. Their works will always find a place at Series Mania. Because we know that culture is not a luxury reserved for peaceful times. It allows societies to weather storms without losing their soul. It is the thread that connects human beings, transcending borders, languages, and fears.”