It’s a mid-summer Monday and we’re looking at… one new job, one missing set of earnings, one unkillable Korean zombie comedy, two shiny new bundles, and one retro hijack drama on Netflix’s horizon.   Our daily brief begins with...   

"Jumbo" gave Indonesia’s domestic animation industry a whole new spring in its step; Korean broadcaster SBS’ US$20-million investment in MD Entertainment for a 3.8% stake signalled new growth directions and another level of optimism; Media Partners Asia (MPA) put the country’s VOD total subs at 2

Our new section – NO BLINKS – is where we’re logging what’s bubbling, breaking, or just bugging us, from brewing deals and background drama to strategic moves with the potential to (or not) reshape the industry. 

The embrace of artificial intelligence by the BiFan film festival in South Korea is no longer new, as its conference and AI film competition this month amply demonstrated. But the event might serve as a lesson – or warning – to those who would rather bury their heads in the sand.

Among other tags, Indonesian filmmaker and businessman Angga Dwimas Sasongko has been called a “visionary” and a “disruptor”. And that was long before Visinema Pictures, the company he founded and leads as CEO, backed Jumbo –  Indonesia’s highest‑grossing film ever.  

Hong Kong-based regional production house, AR Asia Productions, has upsized its vertical video rollout, delivering micro-drama titles at scale in Indonesia with streaming platform Vidio and in Thailand with True Corp’s TrueVision Now, as well as sealing distribution deals for four of its 10 verti