The Box: Newmation Signs Malenga Mulendema Creator of Supa Team 4

Malenga Mulendema - HEAVY

Africa: David Neumann’s management company Newmation announced its signing of Malenga Mulendema, the creator of Supa Team 4, Netflix’s first-ever original animated series out of Africa, which debuts on the platform on July 20th. The show follows four teenage girls living in futuristic Lusaka, Zambia, who are recruited to save the world. Superprod, the French company behind Song of the Sea, will provide the animation. Supa Team 4 is produced by Triggerfish Studio, which debuted the Afrofuturist animated anthology series Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire on Disney+.

Binnelanders actor and producer Bradley Olivier is on life support following a heart attack. In a statement from the family, there is no possibility of recovery. Olivier got his first on-screen role in 2007 for kykNET's first Afrikaans soapie Villa Rosa.

Netflix has started to roll out the video streaming service's password crackdown in South Africa. Netflix started its password crackdown initiative last year and is now going global. The company began its "paid sharing" across South American countries like Chile, Costa Rica, and Pery and expanded it to Canada, Portugal, New Zealand, Spain, and the United States.

M-Net is dashing rumors that the TV series Gqeberha: The Empire has been canceled or will end after its first season on Mzansi Magic and says planning is underway for the second season. MultiChoice and M-Net are investigating allegations of abuse at the Tshedza Pictures produced show in the Eastern Cape province, with allegations ranging from underpayment and a lack of food to ill-treatment of staff.

Park Eun-bin - Cindy Ord

Asia: Disney+ will launch its most extensive slate of new originals in Asia-Pacific. The lineup includes more than 20 new series and films and will roll out in the second half of 2023, with most of the programming coming from Korea and Japan. Highlights include a new documentary about Korean pop group BTS, several Korean crime thrillers, and Japanese anime titles like Tokyo Revengers: Tenjiku Arc and Phoenix: Eden17.

Netflix has removed the Chinese-produced drama series Flight to You from its service in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government has banned the series because the series included scenes that show a map of the South China Sea that depicts the “nine-dash line” that represents China’s territorial claim to almost all of the area. Vietnam says that the use of the map violates its sovereignty and that it will not tolerate it.

Disney is considering its strategic options in India and could sell its streaming and TV business there. They have reported considering selling or finding a joint venture partner for its Indian business, which includes the Star TV channels and the Disney+ Hotstar streaming service.

Korean actress Park Eun-bin teams up with Netflix and has signed on as the lead of Netflix’s upcoming series Castaway Diva (working title), which will release in late 2023. The series will be directed by Oh Chung-hwan and written by Park Hye-ryun, marking their third collaboration. Park will play Seo Mok-ha, an aspiring singer stranded on a deserted island for 15 years. Park is joined by actors Kim Hyo-jin, Chae Jong-hyeop, Cha Hak-yeon, and Kim Joo-hun.

Tom and Jerry are getting a new localized version for Southeast Asian audiences. The series will be produced locally in Asia and association with Warner Bros. Animation. The pilot episode will launch in August. The show will premiere on Cartoon Network in Asia Pacific and HBO Go in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong later this year before being rolled out internationally.

France Channel

Europe: Prime Video will add Gallic streaming service France Channel, the most extensive French titles in the market, which will be available in the U.S. for the first time. Entertainment exec Julien Verley founded France Channel and hopes his service celebrates French lifestyle, history, and culture. It will provide original series, films, and documentaries on arts, travel, food, language, fashion, and children’s programming.

Prime Video

Latin America: Production has begun on Cada Minuto Cuenta, a new Prime Video series set in Mexico’s catastrophic 1985 earthquake that claimed the lives of 5,000 people. Jorge Michel Grau will direct the series based on a script by Alfredo Félix-Díaz, Victoria Orvañanos, Natalia Quevedo, Alejandro Valenzuela, Jorge Michel Grau, and Venancio Villalobos. The series stars Osvaldo Benavides, Maya Zapata, Jesús Zavala, Antonio de la Vega, Miriam Balderas, Azalia Ortiz, Mónica Del Carmen, Gabriela Cartol, Luis Fernando Peña, Zamia Fandiño, Damayanti Quintanar, Daniel Martínez and Pamela Vargas.