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Box office history has somewhat quietly been made. That is, for anyone who lives outside of China. The Chinese animated blockbuster "Ne Zha 2" has been on a tear in its native country all year, and has been easily the biggest movie of 2025 globally since early February. Amazingly enough, there's a good chance it will hold the crown for the rest of the calendar year too. That's because director Yu Yang's breakout sequel just passed the $2 billion mark a little over a month into its theatrical run.

As of Tuesday, March 4, "Ne Zha 2" had collected $2 billion globally, passing 2021's "Spider-Man: No Way Home" ($1.95 billion) on the all-time worldwide charts. It is now just the seventh film ever to cross the $2 billion mark, joining "Avengers: Infinity War" ($2.05 billion), "The Force Awakens" ($2.07 billion), "Titanic" ($2.26 billion), "Avatar: The Way of Water" ($2.32 billion), "Avengers: Endgame" ($2.79 billion), and "Avatar" ($2.92 billion). When all's said and done,...

Joy has turned to Sadness for Disney and Pixar alike now that “Frozen 2,” “The Lion King,” and “Inside Out 2” have each been surpassed at the global box office, one after the other, by “Ne Zha 2,” a Chinese sequel that’s just become the highest-grossing animated film of all time.

The 2019 original grossed a respectable $726 million worldwide, making it the 31st most successful animation ever made. However, director Yang Yu (also known as Jiaozi) has easily doubled that with his follow-up, released in China over the Lunar New Year. That’s not all though. After crossing the record-breaking $1 billion milestone in less than two weeks, “Ne Zha 2” is already approaching $1.9 billion in China alone. With no sign of slowing down, that means “Ne Zha 2” is on track to gross $2 billion in one single market, making it the first film to ever do so in box office history.

Ne Zha 2 North America Box Office: Debut Weekend Update ( Photo Credit – YouTube )

Ne Zha 2’s popularity has reached the United States, helping it achieve a remarkable title in its opening weekend only. It is currently one of the biggest phenomena in the world of cinema. To cross the $1 billion mark in a single market is no small feat. The film is a beast in China, and despite a limited release, it has done a commendable job with its debut in North America. Scroll below for the deets.

The Chinese feature has surpassed some of the biggest Hollywood biggies at the worldwide box office. It is on track to surpass Inside Out 2 as the highest-grossing animation ever, and it will be happening in less than a month of the movie’s release. It is an animated fantasy adventure film written and directed by Jiazi. On its 11th day, it...

Many films have been made that drew their inspiration and aesthetics from video games, manga and anime, but few as successfully, as exciting and as exhilarating as “Escape from the 21st Century”. Li Yang‘s madcap sci-fi adventure is a visual feast boasting excellent visual effects despite its low budget, a convincing mix of live footage and 2D animation and a rousing spectacle that can only honor its many inspirations.

Escape from the 21st Century is available from Signature Entertainment

It is almost impossible to describe the story while doing justice to the film’s nonsensical sense of fun. On distant planet K in 1999, a trio of teenagers are exposed to a toxic chemical that gives them the ability to travel through time to the year 2019 and back… by simply sneezing. In the future, they inhabit the bodies of their future selves and are soon confronted by the challenges, surprises...

An unexpected movie has seemingly come out of nowhere to make history at the box office. "Seemingly" is doing a fair amount of work there because, for movie fans living in China, the animated sequel "Ne Zha 2" has become a cultural cinematic event like no other. Not just in China, mind you, but it's become bigger in some respects than any other movie in history. Yes, really.

Over the weekend, director Yu Yang's blockbuster "Ne Zha 2" added $250.6 million to its already staggering total, bringing its haul to $1.08 billion as of Monday morning. Keep in mind that the movie was only released on January 29, meaning it has done all of this in about two weeks. It has become the first movie ever to make more than $1 billion in a single country, and passed "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" ($936.6 million) to become the biggest movie ever in a single marketplace.

Ne Zha 2 Box Office Breakthrough (Photo Credit – Instagram)

It’s happening! After years of toying with box office analysts and causing Hollywood to clench its teeth in sour, the Chinese film industry is about to deliver the world’s first billion-dollar movie that is neither made in English nor dominated by U.S. dollar earnings.

The latest animated spectacle, Ne Zha 2, has defied all expectations, soaring to unparalleled heights during the country’s Lunar New Year festivities. The result is cataclysmic and inevitable to shatter at least half the records; this adaptation of ‘Investiture of the Gods’ is moving at a pace unseen outside the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Released solely in China on January 29, the sequel has already collected a staggering $756.66 million in just eight days—an unprecedented feat for any January release, surpassing American Sniper and the fastest for an animated feature.

Trending When Kevin Feige Paid Tribute...

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It's still pretty early into 2025, but January is in the books and we have at least a few new movies out in the world. All things considered, it was a pretty quiet month at the box office, with movies like "Wolf Man" falling short of expectations. That's in North America though. Elsewhere in the world, namely China, theaters are overflowing with patrons who are eager to see what wonders await them in the cinema. In particular, an animated sequel now stands as by far the biggest movie of the year overall -- and it's not even remotely close.

"Ne Zha 2," the sequel to 2019's blockbuster "Ne Zha," debuted this past weekend in China. To say that it had a big opening would be a dramatic understatement. Over the Lunar New Year holiday in the country, the animated film opened...

The genre of sci-fi continues to evolve beyond the familiar confines of Hollywood blockbusters, with international and foreign language movies bringing fresh perspectives to the genre. Whether in China or France, many boundary-pushing films challenge traditional sci-fi conventions, offering unique cultural viewpoints and innovative storytelling approaches that transform familiar tropes into something genuinely unexpected, and perhaps brazenly absurd.

Due to its larger budgets, American sci-fi often prioritizes spectacle and cutting-edge visual effects. However, international contributions to the genre frequently take more experimental paths that form, at times, movies that blend sci-fi with horror. This results in films that demonstrate how different cultural perspectives can reshape classic science fiction elements, from time travel to alien encounters, into experiences that feel entirely original. A rich tapestry of global sci-fi emerges that proves the genre's ability to transcend cultural boundaries while maintaining distinct regional identities.

Timecrimes Made With Only Four Main Cast Members...

Fortissimo Films has secured international rights to upcoming Chinese feature Escape From The 21st Century and will launch sales at Toronto in September.

The Amsterdam and Beijing-based sales company has landed rights to the action sci-fi feature ahead of its local release, which Chinese distributor Enlight Pictures today revealed is set for August 3.

The story follows three friends who discover they have the power to travel back and forth 20 years with a sneeze. However, the future is not as good as they hoped and need to take on the responsibility of saving the world.

Produced by Scity Films, it marks...

Zhang Yimou, director of many of China’s most spectacular and successful movies, is to try his hand at sci-fi. He will direct a film adaptation of “The Three-Body Problem.”

The project was announced Sunday by Wang Changtian, founder and CEO of Enlight Media, one of China’s top three studios, at a forum organized within the Shanghai International Film Festival.

Wang said that Zhang is in the early stages of preparations for the film. “We hope that director Zhang Yimou can grasp the essence of the ‘Three-Body Problem’ novel and make some breakthroughs and innovations, and gain something in the international market,” said Wang. Zhang has long been a creative consultant to Enlight and has shot several movies for the studio.

Chinese state media subsequently reported that copyright holder The Three-Body Universe Cultural Development had confirmed Wang’s information.

The 2008 novel is the first part of a trilogy written by Chinese author Liu Cixin.

Zhang Bo is a concept art director, storyboard supervisor, art director, and animation director based in Beijing. He earned his Ma in Animation at Beijing Film Academy. Zhang Bo's diverse portfolio spans from live action films to animation and video games. He is the concept art director and storyboard supervisor for “The Wandering Earth”. All of his capacities and work seem to come together in “Ruthless Blade”.

Ruthless Blade is screening at Short Shorts Film Festival and Asia

Starting with a quote by Siegried Sassoon, the impressive animation of the film becomes quite apparent from the get go, as an ominous voice is narrating, and a lone fighter with a sword enters a building, evidently to have a fight. It turns out that the lone warrior is a humanoid cat who has come to save his comrades, but has to face scores of enemies, headed by Ruthless Blade, Master of Six Lanterns.

There is a large audience for science fiction in China. But until recently, the spectacular, big-budget sci-fi movies have largely been American. Chinese sci-fi fans hoped that the international success of Liu Cixin, who wrote the trilogy of books that Netflix' 3-Body Problem is based on, would naturally lead to China's first sci-fi blockbuster. However, the first try at this, an adaptation of Three Body Problem, filmed in 2015, was never released, with many (including Liu himself) explaining that it was because the VFX industry in China wasn't yet robust enough to carry the film across the finish line. However, in 2019, The Wandering Earth, based on a lesser-known short story by Liu, blew up the Chinese box office, becoming (at the time) the second-highest grossing film in the country's history and marked what some call "year one of Chinese science fiction." While the adaptation, directed by Frant Gwo, makes drastic changes to the source material,...

3 Body Problem received mixed reviews, with some praising it as one of the best sci-fi shows while others found it lacking in substance. Game of Thrones creators and a talented cast contribute to the series' potential success, but some critics question the script and storytelling. The series has divided critics due to attempts to globalize a Chinese story and rushed exploration of complex themes, making it a divisive show.

Netflix has had mixed results adapting beloved science-fiction stories into live-action series. Shows like Alice in Borderland, The Umbrella Academy, and Altered Carbon (Season 1) have been massive hits for the streaming service, while iBoy and Altered Carbon's second season were lambasted by critics and audiences. However, critics can't make up their minds on Netflix's newest sci-fi series, 3 Body Problem, making it one of the streamer's most divisive shows to date.

Based on the acclaimed book trilogy by Chinese author Liu Cixin,...

Just as Dune: Part Two turns a book once thought of as unadaptable into a giant blockbuster with wide appeal, Netflix's adaptation of The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin (who also wrote the delightfully bonkers The Wandering Earth) manages to capture the weirdness and the drama of its source material to great effect. Created by Alexander Woo and the duo David Benioff and D. B. Weiss in their first project post-Game of Thrones, this is a generation-spanning, global sci-fi epic about five scientist friends who make a discovery that changes our understanding of physics and the universe, as an otherworldly existential threat sends the planet into panic mode.

Covid, changing money flows and a new superpower Cold War of sorts may have, over the past few years, helped to reduce the connections between the film and TV industries of China and the rest of the world — so, will the 2024 edition of FilMart, whose organizers continue to claim bridgehead status, be the market to increase those connections?

Candas Yeung, the Trade Development Council associate director who takes over as head of FilMart this year, says that visitor and exhibitor numbers have crept up again this year — to an anticipated 7,500 and 715, respectively — and that fully 40% of market participants hail from mainland China.

“That’s a pretty significant proportion and they are very active in the market, both buying and selling, and making some announcements,” Yeung says. “Clearly, Hong Kong remains a crucial intermediate link between mainland Chinese and the rest of the world’s entertainment industry. We will try to...

The iconic mechs of the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise are getting an insectoid makeover, courtesy of Beastbox.

Produced by Chinese toy developer 52Toys, Beastbox (sometimes written as Beastbox) is a line somewhat similar to Hasbro/Takara Tomy's Transformers franchise. Featuring a range of robotic animals and even creatures from mythology, these toys transform from their robotic beast modes into cubes that can be slid into their titular boxes. Now, Evangelion is getting the 52Toys treatment, with the Eva units all taking on the form of robotic beetles.

Related Evangelion Partners With Designer Brand on Clothing Range After Rei-markable Fashion Week The Neon Genesis Evangelion anime partners with designer brand Seveskig for a retail fashion line after its debut in Rakuten Fashion Week. The Newest Beastbox Figures Are Licensed Evangelion Beetles Close

Released in a collection containing all three toys, the Beastbox Evangelion Kabuto-Eva Set reimagines the Eva-00, Eva-01 and Eva-02 mecha as transforming robotic beetles,...

In 2019, Chinese filmmaker Frant Guo gave his country its very first science fiction blockbuster, The Wandering Earth, a high-concept adventure film set in 2058 with planet Earth threatened by the imminent explosion of the sun. This year, Guo extended his vision with a prequel, The Wandering Earth 2, told years before the story of the first film. Collectively, the two movies have earned a whopping $1.36 billion ($700 million for the first and $564 million for the follow-up), amounting to China’s very first sci-fi franchise that can legitimately rival Hollywood in both scale and production values. A third installment has been announced for release in 2027.

In recognition of The Wandering Earth 2′s achievements — the prequel has an average critics’ score of 82 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, signifying considerable praise beyond China’s borders — Beijing’s Film Bureau selected it as the country’s official entry for the Oscar’s best international film category race.

China’s The Wandering Earth 2 and Pakistan’s In Flames were added to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ members-only streaming service, Academy Screening Room, on Friday, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. This means that these are the respective countries’ official selections for the 2024 Oscars in the best international feature film category.

2019’s The Wandering Earth was directed by Frant Gwo and was loosely based on the 2000 short story of the same name. It became China’s fifth highest-grossing film of all time. The prequel was released in January.

China has submitted more than 20 films for an Oscar since 1979, with two going on to receive a nomination. Both were directed by Zhang Yimou. A Chinese film has not won an Academy Award in the international feature film category.

In Flames is written and directed by Zarrar Kahn and had its North American premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.

Legendary superstar Jackie Chan is “at his best” (Variety) in Ride On,the adventure comedy for the whole family debuting on Digital, Blu-ray and DVD on October 24 from Well Go USA Entertainment. When debt collectors try—and fail—to seize a horse from a stuntman (Chan), video of the attempt goes viral. Furious, the debt collectors return, leading to hilarious, action-packed antics that outdo even the pair’s most daring acts. Written and directed by award-winning filmmaker Larry Yang, Ride On also stars Kevin Guo (Adoring), Wu Jing, Xing Yu, and Andy On (New Police Story). Bonus material includes two behind-the-scenes featurettes and an English dub.

Synopsis:

After debt collectors attempt to seize the beloved stunt horse of washed-up aging stuntman Luo (Jackie Chan), video of the dynamic duo’s daring escape goes viral on social media, immediately reviving Luo’s movie career. But in the midst of this triumphant return to film,...

Singapore has picked Ilker Anthony Chen’s coming-of-age Chinese drama The Breaking Ice as its submission to the 2024 Oscars in the best international feature category. The film made its world premiere in May in Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section, with The Hollywood Reporter‘s critics later selecting it as one of the 20 best films screened at the prestigious French festival this year.

Made with a mostly Chinese cast and crew, The Breaking Ice tells the story of an unlikely, fleeting friendship formed between three restless young people in China’s far northeastern border city of Yanji. It is headlined by a star-studded ensemble of young Chinese talent, including Zhou Dongyu (Oscar-nominated Better Days), Liu Haoran (Detective Chinatown franchise) and Qu Chuxiao (The Wandering Earth). Described as a Generation Z drama, the film’s story follows the blossoming friendship of its three main characters as they discover warmth...

A movie about the United States’ entry into the Atomic Age might not seem like a straightforward sell in an increasingly nationalistic China, but “Oppenheimer” got off to a strong start there, earning $39 million in 10 days.

That’s amid solid word of mouth (an 8.9 from Douban) and a local press tour by director Christopher Nolan. His in-person promotional visit marked the first such event for a Hollywood film since pre-covid times.

The puzzle now is whether Nolan’s popularity in China is a one-of-a-kind factor or if there’s a broader lesson about what can make for a blockbuster in the country. It’s a crucial question about a once-lucrative market for Hollywood superhero movies and other action-driven tentpoles that has lately proven far more challenging for film marketers.

Robert Pattinson and John David Washington star in Christopher Nolan’s ‘Tenet’ The Nolan factor

“Christopher Nolan has a strong following among Chinese moviegoers,...

The top-earning film at the box office this weekend wasn’t “Barbie,” but rather “The Meg 2: The Trench.” The Warner Bros. Discovery/Cmc Pictures shark tale earned $142 million worldwide in its global debut, including a robust $53.3 million in China.

That opening weekend was already 11% higher than “Jurassic World Dominion,” 41% above “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” and more than double “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.” It is also higher than the $50 million first weekend posted by “The Meg” in China back in August 2018.

It’s a big deal that “The Meg 2: The Trench” is performing anything like a pre-covid business-as-usual Hollywood tentpole. The key advantage might be old-fashioned star power.

The earlier Jason Statham/Li Bingbing-led actioner eventually earned $153 million of its $530 million total in the Middle Kingdom. If the sequel, which swaps Li for Wu Jing, legs out accordingly, we could see a $162 million Chinese total.

Where to Watch Powered by Meg 2: The Trench surprises by surpassing Oppenheimer at the weekend box office, despite negative reviews and a press tour cut short. The sequel's success lies in its international audience, with a domestic gross of $30 million and a worldwide tally of $142 million. The appeal of international stars like Wu Jing, paired with Jason Statham, contributes to the film's popularity overseas.

Meg 2: The Trench manages to surpass Oppenheimer at the box office this weekend in a surprising upset. Despite mixed reviews, 2018's The Meg was a commercial success, grossing over $530.2 million worldwide. With the "Barbenheimer" box office battle still going strong, the assumption was that Meg 2: The Trench wouldn't open as strongly as the first film, especially because this installment received overwhelmingly negative reviews a day before it was released in theaters.

Now, Warner Bros. has revealed the official box office numbers for Meg 2: The Trench,...

The biggest event to hit theaters this summer since Barbenheimer is the highly anticipated follow-up to the Jason Statham-led thriller, The Meg (2018). As Meg 2: The Trench splashes its way to the box office, audiences are beyond ready to see what other fantastical, monstrous creatures the deep is home to. Return to Mana One with Statham, global action hero Wu Jing (The Wandering Earth), and their research team to face off not only with whatever lurks beneath the surface but with human foes looking to exploit the Meg’s environment as well.

The summer box office season may have reached the dog days of August, but it’s hardly looked stronger over the past few months. Though the openings of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” and “Meg 2: The Trench” won’t be able to take down “Barbie” as the top performer in North America, both new releases are boosting theaters to a weekend with four different features grossing north of $25 million.

Paramount Pictures’ “Mutant Mayhem” added $9.3 million from 3,858 locations on Friday, tracking neck-and-neck with “Oppenheimer” for second place on domestic charts. The animated feature, produced by Nickelodeon Movies and Point Grey Productions, opened with Tuesday evening preview screenings and is now tracking for a $42 million five-day debut — squarely within the projections of $35 million to $45 million heading into the weekend.

That’s not shabby for the “Tmnt” entry, which cost only $70 million to produce — an especially economical figure for an animated studio release.

The Dolby Cinema poster for Meg 2: The Trench highlights the size of the megalodon, promising an even bigger installment than the original. The sequel will feature multiple megalodons and elevated set pieces, including one eating a T-Rex, adding more over-the-top action. The addition of Chinese actor Wu Jing could make Meg 2: The Trench a massive commercial hit in China, following his success in The Wandering Earth 2.

The Dolby Cinema poster for Meg 2: The Trench showcases how big the titular megalodon will be. Directed by Ben Wheatley and written by John Hoeber, Erich Hoeber and Dean Georgaris, the movie will see Jason Statham reprise his role as Jonas Taylor as he faces an even bigger megalodon than he did in the 2018 original. The Jon Turteltaub-directed Meg was a box office success, grossing over $530.2 million globally, with a sequel being confirmed in 2020.

On Twitter, Dolby posted their...

Strand Releasing has snatched up North American distribution rights to Singaporean filmmaker Anthony Chen’s recent Cannes favorite The Breaking Ice. The film made its world premiere in May in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section, with The Hollywood Reporter‘s critics later selecting it as one of the 20 best films screened at the festival this year.

The Breaking Ice tells the story of an unlikely, fleeting friendship formed between three restless young people in China’s far northeastern border city of Yanji. It is headlined by a star-studded ensemble of young Chinese talent, including Zhou Dongyu (Oscar-nominated Better Days), Liu Haoran (the Detective Chinatown franchise) and Qu Chuxiao (The Wandering Earth).

Chen previously won Cannes’ Caméra d’Or award with his debut feature Ilo Ilo (2013), which was later submitted by Singapore as its entry to the Oscars’ best international film race. His second feature Wet Season premiered in Toronto and his English-language debut,...

After a golden age in the 1980s, Chinese filmmakers were quietly discouraged from dabbling in the sci-fi genre – it isn’t real science and authorities did not want youngsters to get confused. That stance changed during the last decade and the Shanghai International Film Festival has just hosted its first sci-fi week, comprising nearly a dozen film screenings and a trio of panel discussions featuring the new luminaries in the sector.

Reasons for the revised position of China’s authorities are not hard to understand. Not only was Hollywood getting away with dominating a genre that was popular with Chinese audiences, China in the 21st century has become a global technology powerhouse. Its space program, in particular, is now among the most advanced, capable of a normalized rocket launch schedule, international co-operation and lunar and interplanetary missions.

“A great sci-fi film can successfully arouse people’s curiosity to explore the...

Anthony Chen’s well-regarded Mainland China-set “The Breaking Ice” has found favor with multiple European and Asian buyers in the few days since its Sunday premiere as part of the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard.

The film narrates a love triangle story among China’s lost youth generation and is set in the middle of winter in Yanji, a town that is heavily populated by ethnic Koreans. It is headlined by a star-studded Chinese cast of Zhou Dongyu (“Better Days”), Liu Haoran (“Detective Chinatown” franchise) and Qu Chuxiao (“The Wandering Earth”).

“The Breaking Ice” has been newly licensed to Challan for release in South Korea, Trigon-Film for Switzerland, One From the Heart for Greece, Tucker Film for Italy and Edko Films for Hong Kong.

Rights sales are handled by Rediance, Mainland China’s leading indie sales company, which reports that addition territory deals are currently being negotiated.

You’d expect a movie called “The Breaking Ice” to be cold and Anthony Chen’s gentle drama about three isolated young people finding moments of connection definitely stays away from passionate and heated statements. But it’d be a mistake to think that Chen’s restraint comes at the expense of feeling, because “The Breaking Ice” is one of the most beautifully evocative films to screen during the first few days of this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

A luminous “Jules and Jim” riff with a stunning visual design and a real purpose to its apparent aimlessness, “The Breaking Ice” screened on Sunday in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes, bringing the Singaporean director back to the festival where he won the Camera d’Or for “Ilo Ilo” in 2013, and also appeared as part of the Covid-era anthology film “The Year of the Everlasting Storm” in 2021.

“The Breaking Ice...

Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Strand Releasing releases the film in New York City theaters on Friday, January 19 and in Los Angeles theaters on Friday, January 26.

A sweet and shimmeringly beautiful film about how life can flow and then freeze and then thaw into something entirely new if you let it, Anthony Chen’s “The Breaking Ice” finds hope in the most frigid of places. In this case, that place is the small Chinese border city of Yanji during the depths of its endless winter, when people’s breath is as thick as the gray fumes that spew out of the factory smokestacks, and the snowy peak of Changbai Mountain looks closer to heaven than it does to Pyongyang. More than half a million people live there (many of them ethnic Koreans), but few of them seem to think of it as home.

In June of 2021, Singaporean filmmaker Anthony Chen, acclaimed for his intimate, realist dramas Ilo Ilo (2013) and Wet Season (2019), was invited to serve on the jury of the Shanghai International Film Festival. As part of his participation in the event, he was asked to give a round of interviews to local Chinese journalists and critics. During one of these sessions, a Chinese writer began by praising the director’s family dramas by describing them as uncommonly “mature and precise” for a filmmaker of his age — Chen is 39 today, but was just 29 when he became the first Singaporean to win Cannes’ Camera d’Or prize with Ilo Ilo in 2013 — but he also challenged Chen by asking, “What do you think your films would be like if you let go of control and worked with a freer spirit?”

As the filmmaker wrapped up his time in Shanghai and flew back to London, where...

Ever since Chinese production companies have discovered the principles of the blockbusters, it seems like every year we are bombarded with a new feature about heroes facing a catastrophe or other odds. While the genre itself varies, many of these features feel as if they are throwbacks to US-American productions such as “Earthquake” or “The Towering Inferno”, as their focus lies on a group of people, their dynamics and the heroics with which they eventually overcome whatever is in their way. “Restart the Earth” by filmmaker Zhenzhao Lin, who also directed the trashy “Snakes”-franchise, goes in a similar direction, with a few nods to production such as “The Last of Us” thrown in for good measure, and there is also the ideological aspect in the mix.

on Amazon by clicking on the image below

After a world-wide catastrophe which saw plants growing disproportionately large after an experiment gone horribly wrong,...

Jason Statham comes face to face with not one, not two, but three deep sea-dwelling prehistoric sharks, along with some giant creature with a bunch of tentacles, in the first official trailer for “Meg 2: The Trench.”

Shortly after “The Meg” grossed $530 million worldwide in 2018, a sequel was confirmed. The original film followed a group of scientists whose submarine was attacked by a Megalodon — a species of giant shark previously thought to be extinct. Now, Warner Bros. has pulled back the curtain on the film after debuting its first trailer ahead of the movie’s Aug. 4 premiere.

The new footage unveils Statham teaming up with Wu Jing, a massive star in China who has starred in blockbusters such as “The Wandering Earth,” “Wolf Warrior” and “The Battle at Lake Changjin.” The pair lead an underwater journey to the bottom of the ocean to investigate new creatures, before taking on a...

Warner Bros. Discovery’s potential summer sleeper “The Meg 2: Trench” dropped its first teaser trailer, essentially the same mouth-watering footage audiences saw at last month’s CinemaCon presentation.

As noted last month, the trailer’s tagline is “They’re back… for seconds,” mimicking the refreshingly cheeky marketing that helped turn “The Meg” into a surprise super-smash. The trailer opens with two land-bound prehistoric monsters eating a large bug, with onscreen text warning that for 65 million years one species ruled the world. The answer is not the tyrannosaurus rex, but rather a megalodon which is introduced eating a T-rex.

That was actually the prologue of Steve Alton’s first novel which didn’t make it into the first movie. One may recall that “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” and “Jurassic Park III” included setpieces and ideas from Michael Crichton’s “Jurassic Park” novel that didn’t make it into Steven Spielberg’s first dino blockbuster.

Some of the biggest blockbusters to come out of Hollywood have been kept from theaters in China, and even after the virtual ban on Western films was lifted, the major titles have struggled to earn as much as they did prior to China's nationwide cultural shift.

A new analysis from The Economist, using user review data on Douban, offered insight into the ever-changing trends regarding Hollywood films in China and the steep rise in popularity where the country's domestically-produced films are involved. While 2020 saw the most notable decline, owing to the pandemic, followed by sweeping cultural changes brought on by the Communist Party's centennial, the report shows Chinese audiences were already losing interest in Hollywood films by mid-2018, with Western films (labelled "Anglo films" in the report) beginning to lose their share of total views on Douban.

Related: Disney CEO Admits the Studio Sometimes Got It Wrong With China

Hollywood...

“The Meg 2: The Trench” is one of the more under-the-radar tentpoles this summer, even though it may end up being one of the biggest global grossers. Why is that?

Well, “The Meg” earned $155 million in North America and $155 million in China toward a $530 million global total. That cume was bigger than any giant monster movie save for “Kong: Skull Island” ($569 million in 2017) and the various “Jurassic” movies. It was the first and thus-far only big-budget Hollywood/Chinese co-production that qualified as a success on both shores. And now “The Meg 2” will try and repeat that performance.

“They’re back for seconds,” the trailer eventually declares, echoing the tongue-in-cheek tone of the first film’s marketing campaign. The trailer opens with two land-bound prehistoric monsters eating a large bug, with onscreen text warning that for 65 million years one species ruled the world. The T-rex? No, the Meg which eats a T-rex.

Beijing-based sales agent Rediance has revealed first look stills for Anthony Chen’s The Breaking Ice, which has been selected for the Un Certain Regard section of this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Produced by China’s Canopy Pictures, the film is the first mainland Chinese production directed by Chen, a Singaporean filmmaker who won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2013 with his debut feature Ilo Ilo.

Set in Yanji, a border city in the north of China, The Breaking Ice follows the blossoming relationship among three young adults in their twenties over a short few days of heavy winter snowfall.

The cast is headed by Zhou Dongyu (Better Days), Liu Haoran (Detective Chinatown franchise) and Qu Chuxiao (The Wandering Earth). Zhou previously starred in Chen’s segment of omnibus film, The Year Of The Everlasting Storm, which premiered at Cannes in 2021.

The Breaking Ice

China’s Huace Pictures...

With his presence in John Wick: Chapter 4, Donnie Yen is finally getting the English-language, international showcase he’s always deserved. Yen is a huge star in his motherland of China and is about to become a very bright draw for international audiences, finding himself new fans every time he’s seen in an American film. With this new one, he should no longer be “oh I know that guy from somewhere” and be quite well known as the badass that he is. To you get to know his work, here are ten of the best Donnie Yen movies (in no particular order):

Dragon (aka Wu Xia) (2011)

A big part of Yen’s career has been filled with period pieces in which martial arts have an important place (the Wuxia genre). Dragon is no different. Here, Yen plays a family man who is hiding a dark past, when this past catches up with him,...

Exclusive: Conqueror Entertainment, the L.A. and Beijing-based production outfit launched by former Legendary Entertainment executive Vasco Xu, has set a Chinese-language adaptation of leading sci-fi author Liu Cixin’s Supernova Era as one of it first projects.

The company is also planning to simultaneously produce an English-language movie and TV series in the U.S., based on the same novel.

Ann Lu is adapting the novel for the Chinese version with Xu, Jane Zheng (The Farewell), Zhao Jilong (The Three-Body Problem) and Kong Ergou (The Crossing) on board as producers. Conqueror Entertainment’s Brian Cheng and Sun Ge will executive produce.

Liu Cixin is best known for Hugo award-winning trilogy, The Three-Body Problem, which is being adapted by Netflix as an English-language series, executive produced by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss (Game Of Thrones). He also wrote novella The Wandering Earth, which has been adapted into two blockbuster Chinese-language movies.

‘Quantumania’ delivered a bigger opening than any of the other ‘Ant-Man’ films with 225m worldwide.

World box office February 17-19 RankFilm (distributor)3-day (world) Cume (world)3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania (Disney) 225.3m 225.3m 121.3m 121.3m 44 2. Avatar: The Way Of Water (Disney)

16.8m 2.24bn 10.7m 1.59bn 53 3. Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (Universal) 15.2m 421.6m 9.9m 225.6m 81 4. The Wandering Earth 2 (various) 12.3m 573m 12.3m 568.4m 7 5. Titanic 25 Year Anniversary (Disney)

10.3m 48m 8m 35.6m 53 6. Magic Mike’s Last Dance (Warner Bros) 10.1m 37.7m 4.6m 19.6m 42 7. Full River Red (various) 9.4m 647.1m 9.4m 647.1m 2 8. Albi.

M Night Shyamalan’s latest thriller knocked ‘Avatar: The Way Of Water’ off the number one spot in North America.

World box office February 3-5 RankFilm (distributor)3-day (world) Cume (world)3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. The Wandering Earth 2 (various) 57.2m 501.5m 57.2m 498m 6 2. Full River Red (various) 50.2m 586.6m 50.2m 586.6m 2 3. Avatar: The Way Of Water (Disney) 38.7m 2.17bn 27.9m 1.54bn 61 4. Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (Universal) 25.1m 368.6m 17.1m 217.3m 81 5. Knock At The Cabin (Universal) 21.2m 21.2m 7m 17m 61 6. Boonie Bears: The Guardian Code (various) 21.1m 185.3m 21.1m 185.3m 1 7. BTS: Yet To Come In Cinemas...

The Hindi-language thriller made 41.8m in its first five days in India.

World box office January 27-29 Rank Film (distributor) 3-day (world) Cume (world) 3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Full River Red (various) 144.3m 466m 144.3m 466m 1 2. The Wandering Earth 2 (various) 106.2m 382.7m 104.9m 380m 7 3. Avatar: The Way Of Water (Disney) 58.1m 2.12bn 42.4m 1.5bn 53 4. Pathaan (various) 53.8m 67.8m 47.9m 59.3m 100 5. Boonie Bears: Guardian Code (various) 43.7m 136.4m 43.7m 136.4m 1 6. Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (Universal) 25m 334.1m 14.3m 193.3m 80 7. Hidden Blade (various) 22.3m 85.8m 22.3m 85.8m 1 8. Deep Sea (various) 21.5m 66.6m 21.5m 66.6m 1 9. M3GAN (Universal...

Stars: Wu Jing, Wang Zhi, Andy Lau, Zina Blahusova, Clara Lee, Liya Tong, Matias Lorieri, Jeremiah Blakely, Temur Mamisashvili, Yanmanzi Zhu | Written by Gong Geer, Frant Gwo, Cixin Liu, Hongwei Wang, Ruchang Ye, Yang Zhixue | Directed by Frant Gwo

Released in 2019 The Wandering Earth became one of the largest grossing non-English language films in history, mostly on the strength of its performance in its native China. Of course, that made The Wandering Earth II inevitable. The only surprises are that rather than a sequel it’s a prequel, telling the story of the Moving Mountain Project that turned Earth into a giant spaceship and that it manages to be even longer than the original, coming in at just under three hours.

At the film’s start, The United Earth Government (Ueg) has been established and work on the first of the thousands of giant engines needed to move Earth out...

Frant Gwo’s follow-up to his 2019 mega-hit favours special effects and set pieces over performances, as the human race battles for survival

A gargantuan success in 2019, Frant Gwo’s The Wandering Earth remains one of the highest grossing non-English films of all time. This hotly anticipated prequel, even more ambitious in scope, follows the catastrophic events leading up to the Earth leaving the solar system in the original hit.

At nearly three hours long, The Wandering Earth II is packed with expository science talk, which gets more convoluted and tiring as the clock ticks on. The gist of the matter is, in the face of imminent ecological disasters, an internationally consolidated government body has hatched a solution to alter the orbit of our planet. It also involves blowing up the moon. As well as resistance from (mostly) western countries, the decades-spanning enterprise is also routinely sabotaged by the rival Digital Life Project,...

The ‘Avatar’ sequel became the first film of the pandemic era to cross 2bn worldwide.

World box office January 20-22 RankFilm (distributor)3-day (world) Cume (world)3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Avatar: The Way Of Water (Disney) 76m 2.02bn 56.3m 1.4bn 53 2. The Wandering Earth 2 (various) 69.4m 69.4m 69.4m 69.4m 5 3. Full River Red (various) 59m 59m 59m 59m 1 4. Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (Universal) 29.3m 297.5m 17.8m 171m 79 5. M3GAN (Universal) 20.7m 124.6m 10.9m 51.3m 67 6. Hidden Blade (various) 20m 20m 20m 20m 1 7. Bonnie Bars: Guardian Code (various) 19.2m 19.2m 19.2m 19.2m 1 8. Five Hundred Miles (various) 18.4m 18.4m 18.4m 18.4m...

Director James Cameron has pushed for moviegoers to watch “Avatar: The Way of Water” on the big screen and in 3D — as he did with its 2009 predecessor. That is the format for which it was intended. The box office numbers shows that the majority of those who have bought a ticket have listened.

According to data from Comscore and 3D format company RealD, 61 of all tickets sold worldwide for “Avatar 2” so far have been for 3D screenings, amounting to 1.16 billion in global revenue.

3D’s share of the overall box office for “Avatar 2” has remained consistent since its opening weekend, when two-thirds of the film’s 434 million global launch came from the format. In the United States and Canada, 3D has a 58 share of the film’s 576 million total through Martin Luther King weekend, while internationally outside of China, 3D has a 54 share of the 1.13 billion total.

But within China,...

Peter Luo’s Stars Collective has optioned the rights to acclaimed Chinese novelist and screenwriter Tong Hua’s best-selling sci-fi fantasy novel series “The Memory Lost in Space” and will adapt the story into both an English language television series and feature film.

A story told over four book installments, the first of which debuted in 2017, “The Memory Lost in Space” is set in the distant future, with humans forced into an exodus to the edge of the galaxy after the depletion and destruction of Earth’s energy and habitat. Humans resort to genetic modification to stay strong but this creates new diseases and conflict between pure-breeds and those modified.

In China, the novels have been top sellers and sparked huge volume of online commentary, some 120 million views on microblogging site Weibo.

Stars Collective will utilize blockchain to develop, produce and manage this project. The company will release “The Memory...

Stars: Tony Todd, David Gridley, Vince Hill-Bedford, Steffani Brass, Eric Etebari, William Lee Scott, Tyler Clark, John Beasley | Written by Jonah Kuehner | Directed by Benjamin Louis

Stoker Hills gets down to business early, starting with a lecture on film by Professor Smith. That gets the film’s celebrity cameo out of the way in the film’s first five minutes. It also uses those scenes to introduce the three of his students who will be the film’s leads, aspiring filmmakers Ryan, Jake (Vince Hill-Bedford; American Fighter) and Erica.

While shooting their class project, a zombie hooker film entitled Streetwalkers, which was also Stoker Hills’ original title, a car drives by and stops just long enough to drag Erica in before racing off with Ryan and Jake in pursuit with their camera still running.

They don’t return but the camera is found and two of the town’s cops...

Wonka to open on December 15 2023. The Meg 2 set for August 2023.

Warner Bros has pushed The Flash and Aquaman 2 from late 2022 into 2023 and moved Black Adam from this summer to October amid a flurry of calendar changes.

The date moves, which are likely due to post-production delays stemming from the pandemic, see Ezra Miller Justice League spin-off The Flash from It franchise director Andy Muschietti move from November 4 this year to June 23 2023.

Meanwhile Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom directed by James Wan and starring Jason Momoa (pictured with Amber Heard in Aquaman), Patrick Wilson, Heard and Nicole Kidman is...