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Pluto TV, Paramount’s free streaming service, has revealed its May highlights. The Pluto TV May 2024 schedule includes Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month programming, more anime content, new channels, and new film additions.

Pluto TV is the leading free streaming television service, delivering hundreds of live linear channels and thousands of titles on-demand to a global audience.

The Emmy Award-winning service curates a diverse lineup of channels in partnership with hundreds of international media companies. It offers a wide array of genres, languages, and categories featuring movies, television series, sports, news, lifestyle, kids, and much more.

Pluto TV can be easily accessed and streamed across mobile, web, and connected TV devices. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Pluto TV’s growing international footprint extends across three continents and over 35 markets.

Pluto TV May 2024 Programming

Asian American, Native Hawaiian, And Pacific Islander Heritage Month

To pay tribute, Pluto TV...

The cinematic odyssey of Ip Man — the real-life master of Wing Chun and, famously, instructor of Bruce Lee — continues with “Master Z: Ip Man Legacy.” But don’t expect Donnie Yen to show up in this installment and don’t expect much in the way of historical fealty, narrative plausibility or serious examinations about human dignity or the ethics of kung fu.

Expect, instead, a spin-off about Ip Man’s rival from “Ip Man 3,” Cheung Tin Chi. After his secret defeat at the hands of Ip Man, Cheung Tin Chi became a mercenary — so briefly that it barely impacts the story. After retiring, he sets up a tiny grocery and tries to raise his son in peace, but a chance encounter with opium dealers leads to one giant fight sequence after another.

The story of “Master Z” is frustratingly muddled, and Cheung Tin Chi has very little to do with it.

Li Bingbing stars in Nest.

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Filming has wrapped on the largest ever Chinese-Australian co-production at Village Roadshow Studios on the Gold Coast.

The 3-D Movie, Nest, stars Chinese megastar Li Bingbing, Kellan Lutz (The Twilight Saga, Expendables 3), Kelsey Grammer (Transformers), Stef Dawson (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay), Chinese popstar and actor Wu Chun and Shane Jacobson (The Dressmaker, Oddball, Kenny).

Li Bingbing.s most recent film, Zhongkui: Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal, on which Arclight Films holds the worldwide sales rights, earned $80 million in China last year.

She is best known internatiionally for her work in Transformers: Age of Extinction, Resident Evil: Retribution and Detective Dee: Mystery of the Phantom Flame.

Nest is the largest Chinese-Australian co-production to date, with investment funding from Screen Australia and Screen Queensland, and features an award-winning team both in front of and behind the camera..

Visual FX will be created by Cutting Edge and the world renowned,...

Action icon Scott Adkins is a one-man wrecking machine, taking out numerous enemies in our exclusive clip from Wolf Warrior. There is certainly no shortage of fighting scenes in this action-thriller, as you can see in our clip where Scott Adkins' Tom Cat uses his extensive martial arts skills, even as he's out-numbered. This new film debuts on Blu-ray and DVD September 1 from Well Go USA.

The action-packed war drama Wolf Warrior marks Jacky Wu's second film as a director, following Legendary Assassin. In addition to his directing duties, Jacky Wu (Badges of Fury, Shaolin) also stars as a Chinese Special Forces soldier with extraordinary marksmanship who is expelled from the army and joins a mysterious troupe of insurgents known as the Wolf Warrior. Nan Yu (The Expendables 2, The Taking of Tiger Mountain) plays the formidable female captain of the insurgents, while British martial arts sensation Scott Adkins (Zero Dark Thirty,...

Wolf Warrior Action-Packed War Drama Debuts Under WellgoUsA

An Elite Squad of Mercenaries Just Met Their Deadliest Target Wolf Warrior The action-packed war drama Wolf Warrior, Wu Jing’s second film as a director (following Legendary Assassin), debuts on Blu-ray™, DVD and Digital HD Sept. 1 from Well Go USA Entertainment. In addition to his directing duties, Wu Jing (Badges of Fury, Shaolin) also ...

Hnn | Horrornews.net - Official News Site...

The Expendables 3 is debuting this weekend in 40 territories including Russia, the UK, Mexico and Australia — and features a powerhouse ensemble that includes Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, Wesley Snipes, Antonio Banderas, Dolph Lundgren, Kelsey Grammer and Kellan Lutz.

Together, the cast outweighs the sum of its parts, but the parts are actually quite interesting when looked at in terms of international box-office drawing power, especially in mega markets like China, Korea, Russia, Brazil, and parts of Western Europe. Below, I’ve broken out numbers for some of the individual stars across those markets with a nifty slideshow that covers their last three major titles outside the franchise in these key territories.* The first Expendables film did about $274M worldwide, with $171M from overseas. In an unusual turn of events for a sequel, the franchise’s second film saw its earnings drop in the U.

Our International Sales Agent (Isa) of the Day coverage has resumed for this year's Cannes Film Festival. We will feature successful, upcoming, innovative and trailblazing agents from around the world (during and after the festival) and cover the latest trends in sales and distribution. Beyond the numbers and deals, this segment will also share inspirational and unique stories of how these individuals have evolved and paved their way in the industry, and what they envision for the new waves in global cinema.

Clay Epstein is the Senior Vice President of Sales and Acquisitions for Arclight Films, a leading international film sales company with a strong global reach, including the Easternlight and Darclight brands that rule in the Asian and genre markets. Arclight has a long list of titles that spans across the genres, including epic period action The Last Knights with Clive Owen and Morgan Freeman, family film Paper Planes starring Sam Worthington, thriller Reclaim starring John Cusack, Outcast starring Hyden Christiansen and Nicholas Cage, and the animated adventure Legend of A Rabbit: Martial of Fire 3D.

Clay embarked on his film career in Los Angeles back in the days when Pulp Fiction and El Mariachi were changing the playing field for independent cinema. His broad experience in the film world equips him with a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the filmmaking process - a great advantage and benefit for any of his clients.

Clay shares more about Arclight Films, his experience from the days of the indie film explosion in Los Angeles, and why America's television renaissance is keeping the film business on its toes.

Please share an overview of Arclight Films.

I joined Arclight Films just over two years ago as Vice President of Sales and Acquisitions. Arclight was started 12 years ago by Gary Hamilton, and is an Australian based company with its headquarters in Los Angeles and offices in Sydney, London, Beijing, and Toronto.

We have three divisions of the company, which is more of a branding exercise. Arclight Films is the gold standard, with titles like The Bank Job, Lord of War, and Predestination under its banner.

Darclight is for the edgy genre driven cinema, has nothing to do with budget level, but more with genre. Bait 3D, a 25 million dollar film under Darclight, was number one in the Chinese box office last year. It also carries some of the best award-winning modest budgeted horror films coming from the world of cinema right now. Wolf Creek 1 and 2 also fall under Darclight, as does Grave Encounters 1 & 2.

Our Easternlight division focuses on Asian cinema. We're representing the biggest films coming out of Asia with names like Jet Li, Chow Yun Fat and Donnie Yen. We also sell non-Asian cinema into Asia, and have an aggressive share in this market because of the level of cinema that we're selling. Recent success includes Special ID starring Donnie Yen and Badges of Fury starring Jet Li.

What distinguishes Arclight in the global market?

Let's take China for example. They're looking at commercial films in the west more than noncommercial films in China: cast driven, big budget commercial content, special effects, branded content, 3D big movies, as well as the cast-driven Chinese films. A Jet Li or Donnie Yen film, which might be a limited release in some western territories, will be a number one film throughout Asia, and will earn millions in the box office. We’re excelling in this market, because we truly understand its stars, the content, the filmmakers and especially the cultural idiosyncrasies - this sets us apart from the rest.

We’re also closely tied to the production aspects of half of our slate. This means a combination of development, packaging, and co-production possibilities. There's some incredible cinema coming out of Australia right now. It's a renaissance, and we have many Australian co-productions with support from the Australian film industry. We're developing films that can be made in Australia's film infrastructure with budgets anywhere from 3-4 million up to 20-30 million. Our recent success includes Predestination starring Ethan Hawke, A Few Best Men, and the upcoming sequel A Few Less Men.

We're commercially driven; we know what our distributors want and what the audience is drawn to. We want to be able to make films that they're interested in and that there's a market for. We'll always have some art house films on the lineup because we're all cinephiles, and we need to support those filmmakers too.

How are sales going?

If I take a step back from my sales agent role for a moment, the truth is that the market has become nothing more than selective. Look at other industries. They're selective as well: the tech industry, the automotive industry, and the housing industry. If something doesn't work, if the TV breaks down, if the car does not meet consumer demand, they're not going to sell. If they're not the right shape, and the color's not good, that TV just won't sell. That's what's happening in the film industry. If the films are not what the consumer necessarily wants to see, if the film was not produced well, if the story is off, it's the wrong genre for the market, it just won't do well.

The reason why everyone is saying the market is tough is because yesteryear, you could sell a sub-par film and make money on it. There was an appetite for pure content regardless of quality. Today the challenge is to make a film within a manageable budget that will appeal to a global audience. Unless you have a major hit on your hands, the obstacle we all face is that the cost to produce a film continues to rise while the cost that distributors will pay is creeping downwards.

The market has become selective. The consumers have other choices. They're not going to sit in front of the TV and watch movies all day. There are so many other things that they can do, so we're competing for their free time. We're competing against apps and videogames. We have TV with many amazing series--it's the glory days of TV again. People will sit and watch whole seasons of shows like Breaking Bad, so we're competing for this time as well. What we offer them better be good enough to compete with all the other media that's out there - that's why we all say that it's getting tough.

What do you consider when reviewing potential films?

We all have responsibility to the company, to the audience, to our distributors and our clients. When we evaluate a project, we're thinking whether or not there's an audience. One of the first classes I had in film school said the film is not a film until there's an audience to see it. That stuck with me. I still think about that when I'm evaluating a film. My job is to get an audience for that film. What steps I'll take to get there can be placing it with the right distributor, finding the right festival to launch it at, or finding the right publicist. You have to take different steps depending on the film or the strategy, but my ultimate goal is to find the audience and to identify its potential size.

Please talk about Arclight's current projects.

We have some projects in postproduction including Outcast with Nicholas Cage and Hayden Christensen, Reclaim with John Cusack and Ryan Philippe, and The Last Knights with Clive Owen and Morgan Freeman. They have promos and trailers; we've been successful at securing distribution. It's thrilling to have seen those from go from script stage and then all the way to completion. Nothing beats when you see distributors lining up their release schedules.

We have some films in development that we've just announced: Heart of Darkness and The Nest. I'm looking forward to the next six to twelve months as these films come together.

There are projects that we became involved in during production, and we're lucky enough to be a part of, like Tell, with Jason Lee and Milo Ventimiglia. The distributors' response has been extremely positive.

What is your background?

I wanted to be in the movie business since day one. I never wanted to do anything else. There was a short period when I wanted to be a psychologist, but that was an excuse to avoid failure in what was then a less common field to major in.

I wanted to be an actor, writer and filmmaker. I went to film school when Pulp Fiction came out and Robert Rodriguez was making a name for himself. It was the birth of indie cinema (it was a brand in the early 90's), and I was right in that world as a film student. I remember meeting Robert Rodriguez at a book signing for “Rebel without a Crew” and he was incredibly inspiring. The possibilities seemed endless. Everyone thought that they were going to be the next Tarentino. There was a buzz! People were shooting all over La, such as Paul Thomas Anderson and Ben Stiller. There was a sense that film was breaking away from the studio system, and everyone could go and make an indie film. Inexpensive broadcast quality video was just about to break, but we were still dependent on film.

I learned on 16mm and was always in the labs at school. I spent more money on film processing at the labs than on tuition. I was cutting negatives at the school all night long. There was certainly encouragement to do things in a new and different way, but it's not really embraced when you try to do that in film school. There was a bit of a contradiction there, and my inflated plan to become the next Woody Allen was being stomped on.

I did a few short films and a feature. They were all horrible, but I learned the filmmaking process - that's what's important. I wrote a script. I raised money, and I made it. I learned that process, and I respect it so much; this helps me when I'm evaluating projects and meeting filmmakers. I understand what it takes to make a movie. It's hard to make a good film, and it’s hard to make a bad film. It's a tireless endeavor, and probably one of the most difficult things that a person could do. A filmmaker is so reliant on so many people, so much money and so much time. I am incredibly sympathetic to the endeavor.

Where does your drive come from?

I get passionate for everything I'm working on. I have to, because it influences everyone we work with. Our success relies on this... we're living in a parallel universe with the studios that have the resources to create awareness for its products. They have the marketing and publicity. Sometimes we don't have those means for our films, so we have to find creative ways to get them out there. This is where my drive comes from.

Learn more about Arclight's current lineup.

More About Arclight:

Arclight Films is one of the world’s leading international sales companies for theatrical, television and home video. Arclight Films has sold over 150 motion pictures including the Best Picture Oscar® winner Crash, and Golden Globe® Best Picture Nominee Bobby.

Arclight Films additionally encompasses subsidiary labels Darclight Films, the edgy genre-driven division of the company whose films include the worldwide horror hit Wolf Creek, action thriller Bait 3D and a current slate that includes Wolf Creek 2, and Easternlight, a specialty arm showcasing Asian cinema with the largest film library of any non Asian-based indie film label. Films sold under the Easternlight banner include the worldwide blockbuster Forbidden Kingdom starring Jackie Chan and Jet Li, 14 Blades starring Donnie Yen, legendary auteur Chen Kaige's Sacrifice and a live action adaptation of the world-renowned legend Mulan, now in pre-production.

The latest additions to Easternlight include Outcast starring Nicholas Cage, now in post production, Special ID starring Donnie Yen, The Assassins starring Chow Yun Fat and Cannes Film Festival “Directors Fortnight” official selection and Toronto International Film Festival Gala Selection Dangerous Liaisons starring Zhang Ziyi, Cecilia Cheung and Jang Dong Gun.

Some of the latest additions to the Arclight Films’ slate include Last Knights starring Clive Owen and Morgan Freeman, Predestination starring Ethan Hawke, Reclaim starring John Cusack, Paper Planes starring Sam Worthington, and Left Behind starring Nicholas Cage.

Arclight Films maintains a presence at all major motion picture and television festivals and markets with offices in Los Angeles, Sydney, Hong Kong, Beijing and Toronto.

For more information on Arclight Films, please visit www.arclightfilms.com...

Martial arts legend Donnie Yen discusses what fighting styles influenced his work in our exclusive featurette for Special ID, debuting on Blu-ray and DVD May 13 from Well Go USA. The actor portrays a Hong Kong undercover cop deep within a violent gang, whose leader is determined to find all of the traitors in his midst. Take a look at this featurette you can't find anywhere else, where Donnie Yen breaks down the various martial arts styles he has used over the years.

The cops can't control him. The mob wants him dead. And time is running out. Legendary action icon Donnie Yen (Ip Man, Hero) returns to contemporary Mma films as a deep undercover police officer in the action-packed mob drama Special ID, debuting on Blu-ray and DVD May 13th from Well Go USA Entertainment. Yen takes on the role of "Dragon" Chen, a Hong Kong undercover police officer deep...

Because Madman's massive giveaway competitions have been so popular with our Australian readers, we are running not one, but two giveaway competitions with Madman this month! Competition #1To celebrate the release of the action-packed The Wrath Of Vajra and Unbeatable on DVD, Madman is giving you, our dear readers, the chance to win a DVD pack that includes some of the best Chinese action films. First prize (one winner): All of the DVDs shown in the picture above - The Wrath of Vajra, Unbeatable, Spl, The Myth, Ip Man, Legend of the Fist: Return of Chen Zhen, Ip Man: Legend is Born, Drug War, Wu Dang, Badges of Fury  Second prize (three winners): Either Unbeatable or The Wrath of Vajra on DVD.For a chance to win, all you have...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Stars: Jet Li, Zhang Wen, Shishi Liu, Michelle Chen, Yan Liu, Collin Chou, Stephen Fung, Raymond Lam, Ka-Yan Leung, Siu-Lung Leung, Yili Ma | Written by Tan Cheung | Directed by Tsz Ming Wong

Jet Li, star of countless classic martial arts movies, teams up with the producer of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Kung Fu Hustle for Badge of Fury (aka Badges of Fury) a crime drama caper that is more caper than crime… Even though, at least on paper this would seem like a perfect Hong Kong action flick:

When a spate of murders erupt across Hong Kong, two kick-ass cops are assigned to the case. Chaos soon escalates when they reach a dead end and the detectives must play a deadly game to lure the killer out.

You see from that synopsis I was expecting something special, along the lines of New Police Story or (an undoubtedly sub-par) Infernal Affairs,...

The cops can’t control him. The mob wants him dead. And time is running out. Legendary action icon Donnie Yen (Ip Man, Hero) returns to contemporary films as a deep undercover police officer in the action-packed mob drama Special ID. In addition to Yen and Chou (The Matrix trilogy, Badges of Fury), Special ID also stars Tian Jing (Police Story 2013) and Hanyu Zhang (Back to 1942, White Vengeance) under the direction of Clarence Fok Yiu-leung (Snakeheads, Together). Bonus materials include a behind-the-scenes featurette and it hits Us Blu and DVD May 13th. Donnie-tastic indeed! Synopsis: Yen takes on the role of “Dragon” Chen, a Hong Kong undercover police officer deep within the ranks of one of China’s most ruthless underworld gangs. The leader of the gang, Xiong (Collin Chou), has made it his priority to weed out the government infiltrators in his midst. Struggling to keep his family together and his identity concealed,...