May is here, and with it the beginning of summer and — most crucially — more time to watch movies. But while the multiplex is sure to deliver some great thrills, spills and chills this month, if you’re looking to stay in for a night we’ve got a bevy of streaming recommendations to throw your way. Indeed, a number of exciting new movies are streaming in May, from an Anne Hathaway-led romcom to a truly bonkers Jerry Seinfeld movie to a much-maligned Marvel film that may be good for some unintentional laughs.
Below we’ve put together a curated list of the best new movies streaming in May on Netflix, Prime Video, Max, Disney+, Hulu and more. So heat up some popcorn, grab your favorite blanket and settle in.
“Turtles All the Way Down” Isabela Merced in “Turtles All the Way Down” (Max)
Max – May 2
Based on the bestselling...
Below we’ve put together a curated list of the best new movies streaming in May on Netflix, Prime Video, Max, Disney+, Hulu and more. So heat up some popcorn, grab your favorite blanket and settle in.
“Turtles All the Way Down” Isabela Merced in “Turtles All the Way Down” (Max)
Max – May 2
Based on the bestselling...
- 5/3/2024
- by Drew Taylor, Adam Chitwood
- The Wrap
May has only just arrived, and it’s already heating up at Hulu! Dozens of new titles have moved in for the new month, with some of streamer’s biggest hits landing on the platform during its first weekend, including Season 3 of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s “Welcome to Wrexham” and Season 5 of “The Kardashians,” but Hulu will be adding major titles all month long, from the premiere of the coming-of-age comedy film “Prom Dates” to the streaming debut of last year’s psychological thriller “Eileen.”
Ready to watch? Check out The Streamable’s top picks for this month at Hulu and find out everything coming to the streamer in May!
30-Day Free Trial $7.99+ / month hulu.com What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Coming to Hulu in May 2024? “The Contestant” Premiere | Thursday, May 2
The new documentary turns the lens on “our culture of oversharing” and tells the true...
Ready to watch? Check out The Streamable’s top picks for this month at Hulu and find out everything coming to the streamer in May!
30-Day Free Trial $7.99+ / month hulu.com What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Coming to Hulu in May 2024? “The Contestant” Premiere | Thursday, May 2
The new documentary turns the lens on “our culture of oversharing” and tells the true...
- 5/3/2024
- by Ashley Steves
- The Streamable
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg (Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill)
You can’t always get what you want, unless you are a Rolling Stones fan hungering for documentary deep-dives into the band’s storied history. Indeed, it is spectacularly serendipitous that Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg arrives just a few months after The Stones and Brian Jones. The latter doc, from Nick Broomfield, centered on Jones, the band’s founder and leader until Mick Jagger and Keith Richards snatched that mantle. Catching Fire and The Stones and Brian Jones cover much of the same ground, use some of the same archival footage, and even feature the same anecdotes from delightful Tin Drum director Volker Schlöndorff. The films are...
Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg (Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill)
You can’t always get what you want, unless you are a Rolling Stones fan hungering for documentary deep-dives into the band’s storied history. Indeed, it is spectacularly serendipitous that Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg arrives just a few months after The Stones and Brian Jones. The latter doc, from Nick Broomfield, centered on Jones, the band’s founder and leader until Mick Jagger and Keith Richards snatched that mantle. Catching Fire and The Stones and Brian Jones cover much of the same ground, use some of the same archival footage, and even feature the same anecdotes from delightful Tin Drum director Volker Schlöndorff. The films are...
- 5/3/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
His name is Nasubi. He sits alone and naked in a small apartment for months on end, trying to win food and clothing as mail-in sweepstakes prizes. He doesn’t quite know it, but his strange predicament is being broadcast to 17 million people. It sounds like a work of fiction about a torturous psychopath — something out of a “Saw” film — but in 1998, it was the premise of a Japanese reality TV show, and is now now the subject of documentary Clair Titley’s wildly intriguing (if often imbalanced) “The Contestant.”
The British documentary, now available on Hulu, chronicles the inception of this cruel and unusual game through the eyes of not only its subject — wannabe comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu, a.k.a. Nasubi — as well as TV super-producer Toshio Tsuchiya, who created the bizarre challenge for comedy/prank reality series “Susunu! Denpa Shōnen.” Starting with six-minute segments of Nasubi’s life,...
The British documentary, now available on Hulu, chronicles the inception of this cruel and unusual game through the eyes of not only its subject — wannabe comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu, a.k.a. Nasubi — as well as TV super-producer Toshio Tsuchiya, who created the bizarre challenge for comedy/prank reality series “Susunu! Denpa Shōnen.” Starting with six-minute segments of Nasubi’s life,...
- 5/2/2024
- by Siddhant Adlakha
- Variety Film + TV
The effects of reality TV and social media on the human psyche are still being explored. In an era where anyone can put themselves on camera at a moment’s notice, our most frustrating moments can be captured in the blink of an eye. Hulu’s new documentary, The Contestant, follows the story of Nasubi. American audiences may not know Nasubi, the comedian turned reality star lived in a small windowless room without or consistent food for over a year.
For his time on the show Denpa Shonen, Nasubi was stripped of his clothes and lived exclusively in this room. His only sustenance came from winning awards from magazine competitions. His goal was to win prizes and gifts with a total value of over 1 million Yen (or under $9000). Unbeknownst to him, Nasubi’s days were recapped on Denpa Shonen, and his room was live-streamed for over a year.
Fandomwire spoke with Nasubi,...
For his time on the show Denpa Shonen, Nasubi was stripped of his clothes and lived exclusively in this room. His only sustenance came from winning awards from magazine competitions. His goal was to win prizes and gifts with a total value of over 1 million Yen (or under $9000). Unbeknownst to him, Nasubi’s days were recapped on Denpa Shonen, and his room was live-streamed for over a year.
Fandomwire spoke with Nasubi,...
- 5/2/2024
- by Alan French
- FandomWire
Hulu‘s latest documentary is a downright doozy that is both hilarious and horrifying at the exact same time. The Contestant, which is available to stream as of Thursday, centers on the very wild story of Tomoaki Hamatsu aka Nasubi, a Japanese man who was recruited by a respected producer, Toshio Tsuchiya, to star in a nebulous show and subsequently ended up living more than a year of his life in solitude, surviving on sweepstakes prizes, and showing off his slide into insanity to millions of rapt viewers. Called Denpa Shonen: A Life in Prizes, the show launched in 1998 as Nasubi was dropped off in a small barren apartment with a camera, stripped of everything he owned (including every stitch of his clothes), and left to apply for sweepstakes and learn to survive on the winnings. As The Contestant details, Nasubi was challenged to collect ¥1 million worth of prizes during his adventure,...
- 5/2/2024
- TV Insider
A man walks into a room. He’s just picked a winning ticket in a lottery, been blindfolded, and led through the snow. Now, inside a windowless and mostly bare apartment, he’s being asked to disrobe. I have to take off everything, the man asks? Everything. The fact that a TV producer is telling him this is cause for concern. Besides, isn’t this supposed to be some sort of televised contest? Why is he being left au naturel? Don’t worry, the producer says. Most of this won’t be aired.
- 5/1/2024
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
The tagline of Clair Titley’s The Contestant is “The naked truth about the world’s first reality star.” The show referred to is Susunu! Denpa Shōnen, which aired in Japan from January 1998 to March 2002, and which saw participants––usually young people eager for fame––complete grueling challenges, such as hitch-hiking from South Africa to Norway or traveling from India to Indonesia by peddle boat. The star is Tomoaki Hamatsu, better known as “Nasubi”, who appeared on Denpa Shōnen’s now infamous program A Life in Prizes. The question that the show posed was simple: how long could someone survive on competition prizes alone?
To answer it, the show’s producer, Toshio Tsuchiya, had Nasubi blindfolded and taken to a secret location––a dreary one-room apartment somewhere in Tokyo––where he was asked to strip naked and was instructed to use a selection of magazines and a large stack of...
To answer it, the show’s producer, Toshio Tsuchiya, had Nasubi blindfolded and taken to a secret location––a dreary one-room apartment somewhere in Tokyo––where he was asked to strip naked and was instructed to use a selection of magazines and a large stack of...
- 5/1/2024
- by Oliver Weir
- The Film Stage
When Tomoaki Hamatsu aka Nasubi first auditioned for a game show run by famed Japanese producer Toshio Tsuchiya, he wanted to be a comedian. What he didn’t know is that people would be laughing at him for all the wrong reasons — and he wouldn’t even know it. Now, Hulu’s riveting documentary The Contestant aims to show the horror behind all of the humor. In 1998, Nasubi’s name was randomly chosen during the audition, and he was whisked away to a small, empty apartment and instructed to take all of his clothes off. He would then spend the next year and three months in that condition, surviving only off of the prizes he received from mail-order contests until he won ¥1 million worth of prizes. Though he knew there was a camera in the room, he didn’t know it was feeding a daily broadcast of Denpa Shonen: A...
- 5/1/2024
- TV Insider
Tomoaki “Nasubi” Hamatsu in The ContestantImage: Disney
During its run from 1998 to 2002, Susunu! Denpa Shōnen (translated: Do Not Proceed! Crazy Youth) became the biggest thing on Japanese television. The travel-focused variety show, cited by many as the foundation for reality TV as we know it, saw contestants tossed into survival scenarios,...
During its run from 1998 to 2002, Susunu! Denpa Shōnen (translated: Do Not Proceed! Crazy Youth) became the biggest thing on Japanese television. The travel-focused variety show, cited by many as the foundation for reality TV as we know it, saw contestants tossed into survival scenarios,...
- 4/29/2024
- by Jarrod Jones
- avclub.com
What’s the best destination for spring TV? IndieWire doesn’t have a definitive answer, but as we do every month we’ll help you weigh the options with a breakdown of everything coming to your favorite streaming platforms in May.
The month is a prime time to have Disney+, what with the ongoing and buzzy success of “X-Men 97” and upcoming “Marvel Studios’ Assembled” going behind the scenes of the reboot series. May is of course the month of Star Wars, and the House of Mouse will celebrate with “Star Wars: Tales of the Empire” on May 4. Disney is also home to BBC America’s “Doctor Who,” which returns for a highly-anticipated 14th season with Ncuti Gatwa stepping into the Tardis as the new Doctor (he stepped into the role in December 2023 as part of the series’ beloved Christmas special tradition).
Meanwhile, Hulu will continue airing episodes of FX’s...
The month is a prime time to have Disney+, what with the ongoing and buzzy success of “X-Men 97” and upcoming “Marvel Studios’ Assembled” going behind the scenes of the reboot series. May is of course the month of Star Wars, and the House of Mouse will celebrate with “Star Wars: Tales of the Empire” on May 4. Disney is also home to BBC America’s “Doctor Who,” which returns for a highly-anticipated 14th season with Ncuti Gatwa stepping into the Tardis as the new Doctor (he stepped into the role in December 2023 as part of the series’ beloved Christmas special tradition).
Meanwhile, Hulu will continue airing episodes of FX’s...
- 4/17/2024
- by Proma Khosla
- Indiewire
The premiere schedule for Hulu in May 2024 has been announced and can be viewed below. The streaming service has also revealed the titles that will be leaving next month.
The Hulu originals for the month include The Contestant, The Kardashians Season 5, The Killing Kind, Lainey Wilson: Bell Bottom Country, Past Lies, Prom Dates, Shardlake, and Uncle Samsik. Films like Elvis, Ferrari, The Promised Land, and Where the Crawdads Sing will also be available.
Hulu gives viewers instant access to current shows from every major U.S. broadcast network, libraries of hit TV series and films, and acclaimed Hulu Originals. Check out the highlights below and read on for the full slate of titles coming to Hulu in May 2024.
Highlights
A look at the originals, exclusives, and premieres that are part of the Hulu May 2024 lineup.
Elvis (2022 – Streaming May 1)
The life of American music icon Elvis Presley, from his childhood to...
The Hulu originals for the month include The Contestant, The Kardashians Season 5, The Killing Kind, Lainey Wilson: Bell Bottom Country, Past Lies, Prom Dates, Shardlake, and Uncle Samsik. Films like Elvis, Ferrari, The Promised Land, and Where the Crawdads Sing will also be available.
Hulu gives viewers instant access to current shows from every major U.S. broadcast network, libraries of hit TV series and films, and acclaimed Hulu Originals. Check out the highlights below and read on for the full slate of titles coming to Hulu in May 2024.
Highlights
A look at the originals, exclusives, and premieres that are part of the Hulu May 2024 lineup.
Elvis (2022 – Streaming May 1)
The life of American music icon Elvis Presley, from his childhood to...
- 4/16/2024
- by Mirko Parlevliet
- Vital Thrills
Rap and hip-hop music have a long legacy of challenging oppressive powers. In upcoming Hulu documentary “Hip-Hop and The White House,” injustices against music creators of color are re-examined within the historical lens of political movements.
The film is written and directed by Sundance alum Jesse Washington, who has documented hip-hop since the 1980s and has been a senior writer at Andscape since it launched in 2014 as The Undefeated. His film credits include “Bearing Witness: A Portrait Of Darnella Frazier” for ESPN+ and “March On Washington: Keepers Of The Dream” for Nat Geo.
Atlanta rapper Jay “Jeezy” Jenkins narrates and executive produces the documentary alongside Washington. Jeezy’s song “My President” came out ahead of President Barack Obama’s historical 2008 election. Additional onscreen interview subjects include Common, Yg, U.S. Representative Maxine Waters, Krs-One, Roxanne Shante, Bun B, Bakari Kitwana, Farai Chideya, Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka, Curren$y, Dave “Davey D” Cook,...
The film is written and directed by Sundance alum Jesse Washington, who has documented hip-hop since the 1980s and has been a senior writer at Andscape since it launched in 2014 as The Undefeated. His film credits include “Bearing Witness: A Portrait Of Darnella Frazier” for ESPN+ and “March On Washington: Keepers Of The Dream” for Nat Geo.
Atlanta rapper Jay “Jeezy” Jenkins narrates and executive produces the documentary alongside Washington. Jeezy’s song “My President” came out ahead of President Barack Obama’s historical 2008 election. Additional onscreen interview subjects include Common, Yg, U.S. Representative Maxine Waters, Krs-One, Roxanne Shante, Bun B, Bakari Kitwana, Farai Chideya, Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka, Curren$y, Dave “Davey D” Cook,...
- 4/16/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
"For months, my life has just been a struggle between sanity and madness." Hulu has revealed an official trailer for a documentary film titled The Contestant, a fascinating, unbelievable true story about a game show contestant in Japan in the 1990s known as "Nasubi". It's a bizarre cross between The Truman Show and Oldboy (and predates both of these films), but it actually really happened. This true story of a Japanese reality TV star left naked in a room for more than a year, tasked with filling out magazine sweepstakes to earn food & clothing, prompts innumerable questions about our culture of oversharing. Before the reality TV craze, there was this ominous harbinger in Japan of what was to come in oversharing-obsessed culture. The Contestant traces the experience of aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi, who unwittingly became an extreme case study. The doc film brings a revelatory depth of insight by interviewing Nasubi and others,...
- 4/9/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Hulu documentary “The Contestant” is putting “The Truman Show” to shame.
Centered on the shocking true story of Japanese comedian Tomoaki “Nasubi” Hamatsu, the feature is written and directed by Clair Titley. “The Contestant” charts the early days of reality TV in the 1990s, with Nasubi an unknowing participant in a twisted reality show. Nasubi was trapped alone and naked in an apartment for 15 months with cameras surrounding him as he fulfilled tasks like entering magazine sweepstakes to earn food and clothing. The show was watched by more than 15 million people and titled “Denpa Shonen: A Life in Prizes.”
Per the official synopsis for “The Contestant,” Nasubi thought he was attending an audition when a successful Japanese TV producer, Toshio Tsuchiya, enlisted him to take part in a challenge. Tsuchiya led Nasubi into a room, ordered him to strip naked, and left him with a stack of magazines. Nasubi’s...
Centered on the shocking true story of Japanese comedian Tomoaki “Nasubi” Hamatsu, the feature is written and directed by Clair Titley. “The Contestant” charts the early days of reality TV in the 1990s, with Nasubi an unknowing participant in a twisted reality show. Nasubi was trapped alone and naked in an apartment for 15 months with cameras surrounding him as he fulfilled tasks like entering magazine sweepstakes to earn food and clothing. The show was watched by more than 15 million people and titled “Denpa Shonen: A Life in Prizes.”
Per the official synopsis for “The Contestant,” Nasubi thought he was attending an audition when a successful Japanese TV producer, Toshio Tsuchiya, enlisted him to take part in a challenge. Tsuchiya led Nasubi into a room, ordered him to strip naked, and left him with a stack of magazines. Nasubi’s...
- 4/9/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Hulu has revealed the trailer and key art for its original documentary, The Contestant, which will premiere on Thursday, May 2, 2024.
This true story of a Japanese reality TV star left naked in a room for more than a year, tasked with filling out magazine sweepstakes to earn food and clothing, prompts innumerable questions about our culture of oversharing.
Before the onslaught of reality television in the West, there was an ominous harbinger in Japan of what was to come in our oversharing-obsessed culture. The Contestant traces the experience of aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi, who unwittingly became an extreme case study.
In 1998, Nasubi thought he was attending an audition when a successful Japanese TV producer, Toshio Tsuchiya, enlisted him to take part in a challenge. Tsuchiya led Nasubi into a room, ordered him to strip naked, and left him with a stack of magazines.
Nasubi’s task was to...
This true story of a Japanese reality TV star left naked in a room for more than a year, tasked with filling out magazine sweepstakes to earn food and clothing, prompts innumerable questions about our culture of oversharing.
Before the onslaught of reality television in the West, there was an ominous harbinger in Japan of what was to come in our oversharing-obsessed culture. The Contestant traces the experience of aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi, who unwittingly became an extreme case study.
In 1998, Nasubi thought he was attending an audition when a successful Japanese TV producer, Toshio Tsuchiya, enlisted him to take part in a challenge. Tsuchiya led Nasubi into a room, ordered him to strip naked, and left him with a stack of magazines.
Nasubi’s task was to...
- 4/9/2024
- by Mirko Parlevliet
- Vital Thrills
Two new Australian films, both enjoying their world premiere, are among the first titles confirmed to play at the Sydney Film Festival in June.
“In Vitro,” a sci-fi mystery thriller set on a remote cattle farm in the near future, hails from directors Will Howarth and Tom McKeith (“Beast”) and stars Ashley Zukerman (“Succession”).
With “The Pool,” director Ian Darling (“The Final Quarter”) paints a cinematic portrait of a year in the life of the iconic Bondi Icebergs, the pool and the people who cherish it.
They will be joined by New Zealand actor Rachel House (“Hunt for the Wilderpeople”), who makes her feature directorial debut with “The Mountain,” which centers on three children discovering friendship’s healing power through the spirit of adventure as they trek through spectacular New Zealand landscapes. It is executive produced by Taika Waititi and will be eligible for Sydney’s recently announced First Nations Award,...
“In Vitro,” a sci-fi mystery thriller set on a remote cattle farm in the near future, hails from directors Will Howarth and Tom McKeith (“Beast”) and stars Ashley Zukerman (“Succession”).
With “The Pool,” director Ian Darling (“The Final Quarter”) paints a cinematic portrait of a year in the life of the iconic Bondi Icebergs, the pool and the people who cherish it.
They will be joined by New Zealand actor Rachel House (“Hunt for the Wilderpeople”), who makes her feature directorial debut with “The Mountain,” which centers on three children discovering friendship’s healing power through the spirit of adventure as they trek through spectacular New Zealand landscapes. It is executive produced by Taika Waititi and will be eligible for Sydney’s recently announced First Nations Award,...
- 4/2/2024
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
The retelling of Bon Jovi’s legacy is wanted dead or alive.
The iconic New Jersey-based band is at the center of four-part Hulu docuseries “Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story.” Billed as an “all access” account of the band’s rise to fame, the docuseries spans 40 years of rock ‘n roll history culminating in frontman Jon Bon Jovi’s vocal injury that throws the band’s touring future into question.
“Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story” joins the band in February 2022 and follows their real time journey with its fits and starts as they attempt to chart out what’s next. The series uses personal videos, unreleased early demos, original lyrics, and never-before-seen photos to capture Bon Jovi’s journey from Jersey Shore Clubs to the biggest stages on the planet. The docuseries is directed and executive produced by Emmy winner Gotham Chopra.
“Thank You, Goodnight” features interviews with Jon Bon Jovi,...
The iconic New Jersey-based band is at the center of four-part Hulu docuseries “Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story.” Billed as an “all access” account of the band’s rise to fame, the docuseries spans 40 years of rock ‘n roll history culminating in frontman Jon Bon Jovi’s vocal injury that throws the band’s touring future into question.
“Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story” joins the band in February 2022 and follows their real time journey with its fits and starts as they attempt to chart out what’s next. The series uses personal videos, unreleased early demos, original lyrics, and never-before-seen photos to capture Bon Jovi’s journey from Jersey Shore Clubs to the biggest stages on the planet. The docuseries is directed and executive produced by Emmy winner Gotham Chopra.
“Thank You, Goodnight” features interviews with Jon Bon Jovi,...
- 3/7/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Hulu’s released the lineup of its upcoming spring 2024 premieres, including season two of Extraordinary, season five of The Kardashians, and the first season of Vanderpump Villa. This spring’s schedule also features an in-depth behind-the-scenes look at Bon Jovi and We Were the Lucky Ones, a limited series based on the New York Times bestseller.
The limited series Under the Bridge, based on Rebecca Godfrey’s book and starring Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone, will premiere on April 17, 2024. The streaming service’s spring announcement also includes release dates for Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told and The Contestant.
Extraordinary Season 2 – Premiere Date: March 6, 2024, All 8 Episodes
Season two picks up where season one spectacularly left off, following Jen (Máiréad Tyers) on her powers journey as she enrolls as a client at the power Clinic, but quickly discovers that the process isn’t as easy as she’d hoped. Things with ex-cat,...
The limited series Under the Bridge, based on Rebecca Godfrey’s book and starring Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone, will premiere on April 17, 2024. The streaming service’s spring announcement also includes release dates for Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told and The Contestant.
Extraordinary Season 2 – Premiere Date: March 6, 2024, All 8 Episodes
Season two picks up where season one spectacularly left off, following Jen (Máiréad Tyers) on her powers journey as she enrolls as a client at the power Clinic, but quickly discovers that the process isn’t as easy as she’d hoped. Things with ex-cat,...
- 2/10/2024
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
Hulu has announced the premiere dates for limited series Under the Bridge and the two docs The Contestant and the film Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told.
Under the Bridge is a limited series with eight episodes that’s based on Rebecca Godfrey’s book about the 1997 true story of fourteen-year old Reena Virk who went to join friends at a party and never returned home. The Hulu limited series that stars Lily Gladstone, Archie Panjabi and Riley Keough premieres April 17.
The series was adapted for screen by Quinn Shephard and is executive produced by Samir Mehta, Liz Tigelaar and Stacey Silverman (Best Day Ever), Shephard, Godfrey and Tara Duncan. Keough will executive produce with Gina Gammell (Felix Culpa). Geeta Patel will direct the pilot and EP the episode. The series is produced by ABC Signature.
Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told bows March 21 on Hulu in the U.S.
Under the Bridge is a limited series with eight episodes that’s based on Rebecca Godfrey’s book about the 1997 true story of fourteen-year old Reena Virk who went to join friends at a party and never returned home. The Hulu limited series that stars Lily Gladstone, Archie Panjabi and Riley Keough premieres April 17.
The series was adapted for screen by Quinn Shephard and is executive produced by Samir Mehta, Liz Tigelaar and Stacey Silverman (Best Day Ever), Shephard, Godfrey and Tara Duncan. Keough will executive produce with Gina Gammell (Felix Culpa). Geeta Patel will direct the pilot and EP the episode. The series is produced by ABC Signature.
Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told bows March 21 on Hulu in the U.S.
- 2/9/2024
- by Lynette Rice
- Deadline Film + TV
Hulu has officially announced its Spring 2024 slate of shows and movies landing on the streaming platform.
New installments of “Extraordinary” (Season 2) and “The Kardashians” (Season 5) will debut soon, and a fresh crop of highly anticipated titles are also set to premiere.
“The Act” star Joey King returns to Hulu with “We Were the Lucky Ones” based on the true story of a Jewish family separated at the start of WWII. Logan Lerman co-stars in the film based on Georgia Hunter’s New York Times bestselling book. A trailer was released ahead of the limited series’ March 28 premiere; “The Morning Show” writer Erica Lipez serves as showrunner, with “Fosse/Verdon” helmer Thomas Kail directing.
Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone continues her TV reign following “Reservation Dogs” with “Under the Bridge,” another adaptation of a true story. Based on author Rebecca Godfrey’s book, “Under the Bridge” captures the 1997 true story of 14-year-old Reena...
New installments of “Extraordinary” (Season 2) and “The Kardashians” (Season 5) will debut soon, and a fresh crop of highly anticipated titles are also set to premiere.
“The Act” star Joey King returns to Hulu with “We Were the Lucky Ones” based on the true story of a Jewish family separated at the start of WWII. Logan Lerman co-stars in the film based on Georgia Hunter’s New York Times bestselling book. A trailer was released ahead of the limited series’ March 28 premiere; “The Morning Show” writer Erica Lipez serves as showrunner, with “Fosse/Verdon” helmer Thomas Kail directing.
Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone continues her TV reign following “Reservation Dogs” with “Under the Bridge,” another adaptation of a true story. Based on author Rebecca Godfrey’s book, “Under the Bridge” captures the 1997 true story of 14-year-old Reena...
- 2/9/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
European production powerhouse Mediawan has bought a majority stake in Misfits, the prestige U.K. company whose anticipated documentary “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” will play at the Sundance Film Festival.
The London-based production company, founded in 2016, is run by Andee (Dee) Ryder and Ian Bonhôte, the BAFTA-nominated filmmaker-producer duo behind “McQueen,” the critically laureled documentary about the fashion designer Lee Alexander McQueen. The company’s thriving track record in the non-fiction space also includes “Rising Phoenix,” a documentary about the Paralympic movement which won a pair of Emmy Awards, and “Kingdom of Dreams,” a four-part premium non-fiction series about the fashion industry which sold across 169 territories, as well as “The Contestant” which premiered at last year’s Toronto and sold to Hulu for a 2024 release.
Aside from being a key player within the feature documentary landscape, the banner recently expanded into fiction with “Alleycats,” a high-concept thriller directed by...
The London-based production company, founded in 2016, is run by Andee (Dee) Ryder and Ian Bonhôte, the BAFTA-nominated filmmaker-producer duo behind “McQueen,” the critically laureled documentary about the fashion designer Lee Alexander McQueen. The company’s thriving track record in the non-fiction space also includes “Rising Phoenix,” a documentary about the Paralympic movement which won a pair of Emmy Awards, and “Kingdom of Dreams,” a four-part premium non-fiction series about the fashion industry which sold across 169 territories, as well as “The Contestant” which premiered at last year’s Toronto and sold to Hulu for a 2024 release.
Aside from being a key player within the feature documentary landscape, the banner recently expanded into fiction with “Alleycats,” a high-concept thriller directed by...
- 1/16/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Clair Titley’s true story follows bizarre story of aspiring Japanese comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu.
Hulu has acquired MRC and Misfits Entertainment’s TIFF world premiere and Doc NYC opening night selection The Contestant and will debut the acclaimed documentary on its platform in 2024.
Clair Titley’s film follows aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi, who found fame in 1998 when he starred in extreme reality competition series Denpa Shonen: A Life In Prizes.
The show’s premise left Nasubi naked in a room for more than a year and tasked him with filling out magazine sweepstakes to earn food. He had...
Hulu has acquired MRC and Misfits Entertainment’s TIFF world premiere and Doc NYC opening night selection The Contestant and will debut the acclaimed documentary on its platform in 2024.
Clair Titley’s film follows aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi, who found fame in 1998 when he starred in extreme reality competition series Denpa Shonen: A Life In Prizes.
The show’s premise left Nasubi naked in a room for more than a year and tasked him with filling out magazine sweepstakes to earn food. He had...
- 11/28/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Hulu has acquired the rights to The Contestant, the documentary feature from MRC and Misfits Entertainment that had its world premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.
The Contestant is the true story of aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi, whose fame kicked off in 1998 when he starred in reality competition series “Denpa Shonen: A Life in Prizes.” The show’s premise left Nasubi naked in a room for more than a year and tasked him with filling out magazine sweepstakes to earn food, but he had no idea he was becoming the most famous TV star in Japan as the series broadcast to more than 15 million people..
The film explores one of the first extreme reality shows that pushed boundaries and gave rise to an explosion of the genre worldwide. The feature documentary reveals the true...
The Contestant is the true story of aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi, whose fame kicked off in 1998 when he starred in reality competition series “Denpa Shonen: A Life in Prizes.” The show’s premise left Nasubi naked in a room for more than a year and tasked him with filling out magazine sweepstakes to earn food, but he had no idea he was becoming the most famous TV star in Japan as the series broadcast to more than 15 million people..
The film explores one of the first extreme reality shows that pushed boundaries and gave rise to an explosion of the genre worldwide. The feature documentary reveals the true...
- 11/28/2023
- by Lynette Rice
- Deadline Film + TV
Hulu has acquired rights to “The Contestant,” a documentary about an aspiring comedian who unknowingly becomes the most famous TV star in Japan.
Clair Titley directed the movie, which premiered at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival to positive reviews. “The Contestant” will launch on Hulu in 2024.
The documentary tells the stranger-than-fiction story of Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi, who auditioned for a TV show in 1998. The premise of “Denpa Shonen: A Life in Prizes,” the series that eventually made him a household name in Japan, left Nasubi naked in an empty room for more than a year and tasked him with filling out magazine sweepstakes to earn food, clothes and other necessities. But he had no idea he was becoming wildly famous in Japan as the series was broadcast to more than 15 million people.
“The Contestant” explores one of the first extreme reality shows that pushed boundaries and paved way for others like it.
Clair Titley directed the movie, which premiered at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival to positive reviews. “The Contestant” will launch on Hulu in 2024.
The documentary tells the stranger-than-fiction story of Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi, who auditioned for a TV show in 1998. The premise of “Denpa Shonen: A Life in Prizes,” the series that eventually made him a household name in Japan, left Nasubi naked in an empty room for more than a year and tasked him with filling out magazine sweepstakes to earn food, clothes and other necessities. But he had no idea he was becoming wildly famous in Japan as the series was broadcast to more than 15 million people.
“The Contestant” explores one of the first extreme reality shows that pushed boundaries and paved way for others like it.
- 11/28/2023
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety Film + TV
Updated: While the fall festival season often plays home to the kind of films we’ve been buzzing about for quite some time (here are 36 of those very titles), the kind of features long set for “awards season potential” before they roll so much as a trailer, the sort of heavy-hitters we’re eager to keep chatting about for months and months (here are 18 in particular that we loved), there are always a wide variety of gems that arrive on the circuit still looking for homes (read: a way to reach the wider movie-going public).
This year’s season is no exception, and while the Hollywood strikes have thrown more than a few wrenches into business-as-usual, the rise of interim agreements and the need for many non-amptp distributors to bulk up their slates mean that sales should still be cooking. While Netflix has already done the bulk of this season’s buying,...
This year’s season is no exception, and while the Hollywood strikes have thrown more than a few wrenches into business-as-usual, the rise of interim agreements and the need for many non-amptp distributors to bulk up their slates mean that sales should still be cooking. While Netflix has already done the bulk of this season’s buying,...
- 10/18/2023
- by Kate Erbland, David Ehrlich, Anne Thompson and Marcus Jones
- Indiewire
The 2023 Doc NYC lineup has officially been announced.
The program for the 14th annual festival includes opening night selection “The Contestant,” a real-life “Truman Show”-esque story of a Japanese comedian who was trapped alone and naked in an apartment for 15 months as part of a reality TV show. The only twist? The comedian had no idea he was being filmed. Clair Titley directs the stranger-than-fiction documentary which premiered at TIFF.
Doc NYC runs from November 8 through 26, featuring 30 world premieres and 26 U.S. premieres with more than 200 films programmed. New films from Wim Wenders, Penny Lane, Dawn Porter, and Jeff Zimbalist are among the lineup for America’s largest documentary festival, with screenings at New York City’s IFC Center, Sva Theatre, and Village East by Angelika. In-person screenings take place November 8 through 16, with online selections available through November 26.
The centerpiece screening is the world premiere of D.W. Young’s...
The program for the 14th annual festival includes opening night selection “The Contestant,” a real-life “Truman Show”-esque story of a Japanese comedian who was trapped alone and naked in an apartment for 15 months as part of a reality TV show. The only twist? The comedian had no idea he was being filmed. Clair Titley directs the stranger-than-fiction documentary which premiered at TIFF.
Doc NYC runs from November 8 through 26, featuring 30 world premieres and 26 U.S. premieres with more than 200 films programmed. New films from Wim Wenders, Penny Lane, Dawn Porter, and Jeff Zimbalist are among the lineup for America’s largest documentary festival, with screenings at New York City’s IFC Center, Sva Theatre, and Village East by Angelika. In-person screenings take place November 8 through 16, with online selections available through November 26.
The centerpiece screening is the world premiere of D.W. Young’s...
- 10/12/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Long before Bethenny Frankel began fighting for reality stars’ rights, there was “Denpa Shonen: A Life in Prizes,” a Japanese reality show that began airing in 1998.
The show starred aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi. In a room by himself and naked, Nasubi had to fill out contest coupons in order to win what he needed to survive. What Nasubi didn’t realize was that his experiences were being broadcast to more than 15 million people.
The true story of the show and Nasubi’s unwitting involvement are explored in Clair Titley’s “The Contestant.” The docu, which made its world premiere at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival earlier this month, recently screened at the 19th edition of the Camden Intl. Film Festival.
“Camden feels like such filmmaker’s film festival,” Titley says. “It’s wonderful when people love your film, but when your peers love your film and people in...
The show starred aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi. In a room by himself and naked, Nasubi had to fill out contest coupons in order to win what he needed to survive. What Nasubi didn’t realize was that his experiences were being broadcast to more than 15 million people.
The true story of the show and Nasubi’s unwitting involvement are explored in Clair Titley’s “The Contestant.” The docu, which made its world premiere at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival earlier this month, recently screened at the 19th edition of the Camden Intl. Film Festival.
“Camden feels like such filmmaker’s film festival,” Titley says. “It’s wonderful when people love your film, but when your peers love your film and people in...
- 9/16/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
For most Americans, the name Nasubi doesn’t mean anything. However, his impact on the world of television is immeasurable. Hell, he’s most likely the reason the eggplant emoji is used as a penis in text messaging. Seriously. But the cause of his fame and cultural significance is nearly overshadowed by an incredible darkness. You see, Nasubi is a Japanese man who was stripped naked, imprisoned for almost a year alone in a small room, and forced to survive off scraps of dog food.
Continue reading ‘The Contestant’ Review: Clair Titley’s Shocking Doc Shows The Power Of Human Resilience & The Depths Of Cruelty [TIFF] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘The Contestant’ Review: Clair Titley’s Shocking Doc Shows The Power Of Human Resilience & The Depths Of Cruelty [TIFF] at The Playlist.
- 9/14/2023
- by Charles Barfield
- The Playlist
Game shows have become a weird new sub-genre at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, with Anna Kendrick telling the somewhat true story of a serial killer who appeared on “The Dating Game” in “Woman of the Hour” and the documentary “The Contestant” detailing a truly bizarre Japanese reality show that required its player to live naked in a room for more than a year winning prizes in order to survive.
And because it takes three to make a trend, Saturday night at TIFF brought Jessica Yu’s “Quiz Lady,” a spirited if slight comedy starring Awkwafina and Sandra Oh as mismatched sisters whose fate is bound up in a nightly game show called “Can’t Stop the Quiz.” Both actresses try hard to keep this energetic concoction afloat, although the future of this Disney/20th Century property seems healthier on a streaming outlet than in theaters. (The plan is for a Nov.
And because it takes three to make a trend, Saturday night at TIFF brought Jessica Yu’s “Quiz Lady,” a spirited if slight comedy starring Awkwafina and Sandra Oh as mismatched sisters whose fate is bound up in a nightly game show called “Can’t Stop the Quiz.” Both actresses try hard to keep this energetic concoction afloat, although the future of this Disney/20th Century property seems healthier on a streaming outlet than in theaters. (The plan is for a Nov.
- 9/10/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The story at the center of Clair Titley’s documentary The Contestant is astonishing and infuriating, almost guaranteed to cause viewers a level of tangible discomfort, a measure of personal introspection and some amount of judgment when it comes to the world of unscripted TV and perhaps the world at large.
It’s an astonishing story and Titley tells the core of it well. If all you’re coming to The Contestant for is a recounting of a bizarre circumstance in Japanese culture from 1998, you’ll be properly aghast.
However — and not everybody will demand this — The Contestant ought to have the advantage of 25 years of distance for a healthy dose of introspection and cultural context. At the very least, it ought to have the advantage of a decade-plus of introspection and cultural context, since it was the basis for a 2014 This American Life episode. In this respect, The Contestant is a missed opportunity.
It’s an astonishing story and Titley tells the core of it well. If all you’re coming to The Contestant for is a recounting of a bizarre circumstance in Japanese culture from 1998, you’ll be properly aghast.
However — and not everybody will demand this — The Contestant ought to have the advantage of 25 years of distance for a healthy dose of introspection and cultural context. At the very least, it ought to have the advantage of a decade-plus of introspection and cultural context, since it was the basis for a 2014 This American Life episode. In this respect, The Contestant is a missed opportunity.
- 9/9/2023
- by Daniel Fienberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Every film festival with a robust documentary section will have its share of Wtf movies, but “The Contestant” could well be the Wtf-iest at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Premiering on Friday in the TIFF Docs section, director Clair Titley’s film starts with a ridiculous but true premise and piles on more and more ridiculousness until the whole thing makes no sense at all. Except that it happened.
Your jaw may drop, your head may shake and you may well end up hating at least one character, but it’s hard to take your eyes off the damn thing — and especially hard to take your eyes off Tomoaki Hamatsu, aka Nabusi, the poor guy at the center of it.
It started in 1998 with the Japanese reality TV show “Denpa Shonen,” which was originally dedicated to putting young people through endurance tests. Two years before “Survivor” premiered and helped kick off the U.
Your jaw may drop, your head may shake and you may well end up hating at least one character, but it’s hard to take your eyes off the damn thing — and especially hard to take your eyes off Tomoaki Hamatsu, aka Nabusi, the poor guy at the center of it.
It started in 1998 with the Japanese reality TV show “Denpa Shonen,” which was originally dedicated to putting young people through endurance tests. Two years before “Survivor” premiered and helped kick off the U.
- 9/8/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The Contestant, making its world premiere on Friday at the Toronto International Film Festival, begins with this text on screen: “At the end of the 20th century, Japanese audiences were confronted with an extraordinary television event.”
The event in question was the 1998 premiere of a reality TV series with an “entertaining” but ultimately cruel premise: Place a game show contestant in an extreme situation and watch what happens. An aspiring comedian nicknamed Nasubi (the Japanese word for eggplant) won an audition to be the centerpiece of the show.
Nasubi in ‘The Contestant’
“The setup was they put him in this apartment with nothing in the room apart from a pile of magazines… and a pile of postcards,” director Clair Titley explains. “They make him take off all his clothes and he has to win everything that he needs to survive through the competitions in the backs of magazines.”
That’s...
The event in question was the 1998 premiere of a reality TV series with an “entertaining” but ultimately cruel premise: Place a game show contestant in an extreme situation and watch what happens. An aspiring comedian nicknamed Nasubi (the Japanese word for eggplant) won an audition to be the centerpiece of the show.
Nasubi in ‘The Contestant’
“The setup was they put him in this apartment with nothing in the room apart from a pile of magazines… and a pile of postcards,” director Clair Titley explains. “They make him take off all his clothes and he has to win everything that he needs to survive through the competitions in the backs of magazines.”
That’s...
- 9/7/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
What does it mean to be one of the “hottest” or “buzziest” titles in a film festival sales market if there’s no stars drum up that excitement? Or if there’s little likelihood of an all-night bidding war by a streamer spending in the 7-figures to land their next Oscar contender?
As we reported earlier today, those are all ways in which the strike threatens to weigh on the film markets at Venice, Telluride, and Toronto. A handful of those films are directorial debuts by famous actors-turned-filmmakers, and some even have interim agreements from SAG-AFTRA that will let them promote. But all these films should stand on their own merits and could catch the eyes of the many non-amptp distributors that need creative ways to fill out their slates.
In part because of the strikes, the Venice and TIFF slates are loaded with independent movies without U.S. distribution,...
As we reported earlier today, those are all ways in which the strike threatens to weigh on the film markets at Venice, Telluride, and Toronto. A handful of those films are directorial debuts by famous actors-turned-filmmakers, and some even have interim agreements from SAG-AFTRA that will let them promote. But all these films should stand on their own merits and could catch the eyes of the many non-amptp distributors that need creative ways to fill out their slates.
In part because of the strikes, the Venice and TIFF slates are loaded with independent movies without U.S. distribution,...
- 8/28/2023
- by Brian Welk
- Indiewire
This year, non-fiction titles will be front and center at the Toronto International Film Festival, as many writers and actors will not be on hand due to the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
Opening night at the 2023 festival brings a documentary world premiere, Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine’s “Copa 71” (seller: Dogwoof), about an historic international women’s soccer tournament lost to sports history. The filmmakers bring us back to the record-setting crowds assembled in Mexico City in 1971. U.S. soccer star Alice Morgan and athletes Venus and Serena Williams are among the film’s executive producers.
That’s the sort of unexpected story that veteran TIFF documentary programmer Thom Powers sought for this year’s documentary program of 22 titles from 12 countries. While it’s always painful to whittle down the selection from 800 feature submissions (the post-pandemic production boom continues), Powers looked at giving a boost to sales titles...
Opening night at the 2023 festival brings a documentary world premiere, Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine’s “Copa 71” (seller: Dogwoof), about an historic international women’s soccer tournament lost to sports history. The filmmakers bring us back to the record-setting crowds assembled in Mexico City in 1971. U.S. soccer star Alice Morgan and athletes Venus and Serena Williams are among the film’s executive producers.
That’s the sort of unexpected story that veteran TIFF documentary programmer Thom Powers sought for this year’s documentary program of 22 titles from 12 countries. While it’s always painful to whittle down the selection from 800 feature submissions (the post-pandemic production boom continues), Powers looked at giving a boost to sales titles...
- 7/26/2023
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
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