Encore Films has acquired worldwide distribution rights outside mainland China to Kung Fu Soccer, Stephen Chow’s first film as director in seven years and the long-awaited spin-off of his beloved martial-arts-meets-football hit Shaolin Soccer from 2001.

The Singapore-based distributor will handle theatrical and related rights across international markets outside the mainland, where the film will be released by Maoyan Entertainment. Release dates are still to be announced.

Chow wrote and directed Kung Fu Soccer — covered for the past two years under its announced title, Shaolin Women’s Soccer — but does not appear in it, having stepped back from acting after 2008’s CJ7. The film recasts the Shaolin Soccer premise around an all-women squad: the underdog Emei team, who integrate martial arts into their game on an improbable run at a championship. Zhang Xiaofei (Hi, Mom) leads the cast as the team’s captain, alongside Dilraba Dilmurat and Lay Zhang (Zhang Yixing).

Shot in 2025 and now in post-production — with heavy use of visual effects — the film is expected in 2026, the 25th anniversary of Shaolin Soccer. It will also hope to ride the global enthusiasm surrounding this year’s FIFA World Cup.

Chow remains one of the most internationally recognizable figures in Chinese-language cinema, with a cherished body of irreverent work that includes Shaolin Soccer, The Mermaid, CJ7 and Kung Fu Hustle, the last of which grossed more than $100 million worldwide.

“Most football films ask, ‘Can they win the match?’” said Encore managing director Joyce Lee. “A Stephen Chow film asks, ‘Can they win the match while breaking the laws of physics?’”

Encore Films, founded in 2003, has built a regional distribution business out of Singapore, with recent releases including the record-setting animation Ne Zha 2. It acquired Kung Fu Soccer from Chow’s production banner, The Star Overseas, and further territory deals are still being lined up.

Michaelle Buteau hosted The Circle in the U.S. for seven seasons, and with Hulu rebooting the reality competition, many viewers wondered if she would return as the host.

While appearing on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live, the comedian revealed that she would not be hosting the new iteration of the series.

“I’m glad that The Circle found a new home because it’s a great show,” Buteau said on the late-night talk show hosted by Andy Cohen. “I hosted the U.S. version, the longest-running version (seven seasons), and I put my foot in it, my back, my back fat, my right titty, I put all the stuff in it.”

She continued, “But they’re not going to go through with me being the host, so I say, good luck, bless up, I hope you have fun putting a square in a circle.”

The Circle, produced by Studio Lambert and Motion Content Group, premiered on Netflix in 2020, with Buteau as host. The competition featured contestants who lived in isolated, separate apartments and communicated with each other through a platform called “The Circle.” Contestants could portray themselves as whomever they wanted, and the object of the game was to be the last remaining to win a cash prize.

Earlier this month, Deadline reported that Hulu had ordered a new version of the format after Netflix passed on renewing it following seven seasons, with the last one premiering in 2024. The new version is reportedly being filmed in real time, with viewers having input in the game throughout the season.

Netflix also produced the show in France and Brazil, with each lasting only one season. In the UK, Channel 4 produced three seasons, with the first one airing in 2018, with Love Island UK’s Maya Jama as host. The show returned in 2019 with Emma Willis as host for the next two seasons. A celebrity version of the format was produced as a special in 2021.

Carlos Mencia entered a not guilty plea today to tax evasion charges that could land the comic behind bars for over 11 years if a jury finds the Mind of Mencia frontman guilty of the felonies.

Scheduled to be back in Lo Angeles Superior Court on August 14, the incarcerated Mencia also saw his bail dramatically cut to $50,000 at the hearing earlier Monday in the Van Nuys courthouse. Stand-up Mencia, who hosted his own Comedy Central show from 2005 to 2008, posted bail and was released just under two hours ago,

Back on June 18, L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman‘s office claimed the comedian was arrested early that AM “for failing to report $8.7 million in personal and corporate income taxes between tax years 2019-2024.” Today defense attorney Dana Cole argued successfully for his CAA-repped client’s reduced bail and return home. Cole also admitted the tax situation that started seven years ago for Mencia was unfortunate, but could be quickly resolved.

“We are grateful that the judge today rejected the District Attorney’s grossly inflated bail request of $250,000,” Cole told Deadline this afternoon, not long after his client was heading home following a weekend and Father’s Day in the clink. “Instead, the judge reduced the bail to $50,000 and the judge also agreed to allow Carlos to post a bond without having to prove the source of funds, which was something the district attorney also requested.”

Cole went on to say: “Regardless, Carlos is committed to making this right and paying all taxes due with penalties and interest. We believe that the District Attorney’s effort to make Carlos the poster child of its new business tax fraud unit was overreach, and we believe the court recognized that. We look forward to resolving this case in the near future.”

Outside court Monday, Cole said when it came to Mencia’s unpaid taxes, there were “reasons why this happened, which I’m not going to get into.”

Taken into custody at his sprawling Encino home by the cops with great flourish as the D.A. filed the 12 charges on June 18, the 58-year-old Honduran-born comedian was originally given the $250,000 bail with a hold on it from the drop. Usually intended for drug dealers and other instances where the bail money may have criminal origins itself, that hold meant even if Mencia had put the quarter of a million dollars up, he wouldn’t have gotten out.

The very public and loud (literally and figuratively) manner of the arrest, which came after Mencia had been mailed 78 demand notices from the California Franchise Tax Board, has been a major point of contention for the comic and his lawyer since the cops showed up at the defendant’s door last week.

“No one argues against the obligation to pay taxes, but the raid at his home with multiple law enforcement agents, screaming ‘search warrant’ with a bullhorn, and drawing guns was an absurd show of force for the alleged offenses that do not involve weapons, drugs or violence,” states a filing from Cole for Mencia’s reduced bail.

The bail motion filing went on to take a swipe at the D.A.: “The defendant has now already paid a steep price by damaging his national reputation, incarcerating him for several days without the opportunity to post bail and missing out on four nights of a booked venue where he could have earned up to $40,000 that he would have willingly paid to the Franchise Tax Board to start to pay back any taxes owed.”

This first case filed by the DA office’s newly established Business Tax Fraud Unit alleges the rough justice of a possible more than a decade sentence kicks in because previously apparently taxes paid in full Mencia not meeting his legal and societal obligations over the 2019-2024 period cost California “more than one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000).” To be specific, according to the D.A.’s office, “Mencia allegedly owes over $300,000 in taxes to the state of California: approximately $267,594 in personal income taxes and approximately $35,117 in corporate income taxes.”

The D.A’s office had no comment when contacted by Deadline Monday on the Mencia hearing or his release on bail.