The Box: Becky G To Lead Peacock Remake Of ‘La Reina Del Flow’; ‘The Bad Kids’ Getting Japanese Remake

Nyiko Shiburi

Africa: Nyiko Shiburi, CEO of MultiChoice South Africa, is stepping down after three years in the position. Shiburi is now set to be the head of a recently formed tech division within the company. SuperSport CEO Marc Jury will be stepping into Shiburi’s vacated role of MultiChoice CEO.

Micaela Kleinsmith is officially the winner of the first season of Apple TV+’s international music competition show, My Kind Of Country. The South African singer’s music will now receive massive exposure on a global scale from Apple and Apple Music.

Following a decrease in DStv subscribers, M-Net has pulled the plug on the telenovela series, Gomora, which airs on its network Mzansi Magic. The Seriti Films produced show will be receiving a shortened fourth and final season which will run from April to October of this year. The stars of the show, Siphesihle Ndaba and Katlego Danke, will not be returning.

Jung Chae-yul

Asia: The hit series, The Bad Kids, from Chinese streaming platform, iQiyi, will be getting a Japanese remake in the form of a feature film under the title Gold Boy. The film will be directed by Kaneko Shusuke with Minato Takehiko writing the script. The series, originally adapted from the novel of the same name, consisted of twelve episodes and was previously licensed to Wowow, the Japanese pay-TV group.

Iskandar Malaysia Studios, the Malaysia based production studio, has been sold to GHY Culture & Media of Singapore. The production facility is located near the Malaysia-Singapore border and houses sound stages, filming tanks, and support and technical facilities. GHY has previously produced shows at the facility.

Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo is set to be Disney+ Hotstar’s next original series. Director Homi Adajania will helm the project with Dimple Kapadia, Radhika Madan, and Angira Dhar starring. The drama series will launch in India on May 5.

Jio Studios has unveiled a slate of up to 100 upcoming film and television projects that will be developed for various streaming platforms under the studio’s parent company, Reliance Industries. The projects will span across multiple genres and will be developed in a number of languages including Bengali, Marathi, and Bhojpuri.

South Korean actress Jung Chae-yul, known for her appearance in the series Zombie Detective as well as her role in the film Deep, was found dead in her home last week at the age of 26. Details of her death remain unknown at this time as her agency, Management S, has released a statement at the end of which requests press outlets to avoid speculating on the cause of the actress’s passing.

The book rights to Jesse Q. Sutanto’s thriller novel, Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, have been acquired by Warner Bros. TV. The project is set to be produced by Mindy Kaling’s international production arm, Kaling International, alongside Harpo Films. The story follows a widowed tea shop owner living in Chinatown, San Francisco who finds a dead body lying in her shop.

According to a study conducted by the government agency, Screen Australia, Australian TV has made progress in areas pertaining to diversity and representation of certain groups such as First Nations people, yet still falls short of platforming other communities such as LGBTQ+ and disabled groups. Some notable titles that have contributed to the increase in representation of under-platformed groups include Mystery Road, Total Control, and Black Comedy.

Comcast is set to invest roughly $200 million in the Indian media company, Bodhi Tree Systems. The Competition Commission of India approved the transaction last week. Bodhi Tree is committed to invest about $1.69 million into Viacom18.

Lotte Cultureworks, the Korean production house, is producing an adaptation of the Israeli TV series, On The Spectrum. The autism-centered sitcom was created by Dana Idisis and Yuval Shafferman and follows three young roommates all on the autism spectrum as they navigate their daily lives.

Sira-Anna Faal - Robin Karter

Europe: Disney+ is developing an original German series and has brought the minds behind Netflix’s How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) on board to shape out the series. The show follows a pregnant teenager, played by Sira-Anna Faal, who gets into a one night stand with a boy whom she falls in love with, played by Ludger Bokelmann, only to find out that he is the devil himself. The series, under the working title Pauline, is being written by Sebastian Colley.

France TV Distribution has sold the second season of its hit show Parliament to the U.S. streaming service, Topic. The company has also sold seasons 1 and 2 of the detective anthology series, Criminal Games, to Sky Italia.

Becky G - Emma McIntyre

Latin America: Queen of Flow, a remake from Peacock of the Colombian telenovela, La Reina del Flow is in the works with Becky G in talks to lead. The series follows a singer who falls in love with a man belonging to a powerful family.

Big Media has signed a deal with RCTV International cementing it as the exclusive distribution arm for FAST and AVOD platforms. The New York media giant will distribute over thousands of hours of telenovelas across streaming services all over the world and will now also be the sole distributor of all forms of RCTV content across Europe and Asia.

KondZilla and LB Entertainment, the developers behind Netflix’s hit South American streaming show, Sintonia, are collaborating once again on a slate of upcoming series. The two companies, both based in São Paolo, currently have three titles in the works include After the End, A Close Call, and South.

Amazon’s podcast focused studio, Wondery, made an appearance at Rio2C in Rio de Janerio to announce a slate of Portuguese-speaking podcasts featuring Brazilian hosts for the Amazon Music platform. Among these titles will be an Amazon Music exclusive, Historias da Firma, which will feature humorous stories about employees in Brazilian companies as well as an upcoming true crime podcast from the creator of Atelie, Chico Felitti.

Middle East: Some of the top funding bodies across the Middle East are pouring money into Western entertainment companies. Countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE are heavily investing in the U.S. entertainment industry. Saudi Arabia in particular is spending millions in fields such as entertainment and tourism in an effort to present itself in a reformative light.