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“Successor,” a Chinese-produced comedy drama about escape from poverty, dominated a big weekend at the Mainland China box office. The session also saw an impressive re-release for Japanese animation “Your Name” and Hollywood action film “Twisters” blown into instant irrelevance.

Data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway showed “Successor” earning RMB633 million ($89.1 million) between Friday and Sunday in China. While this represented the film’s official first weekend, “Successor” finished Sunday with a cumulative total of RMB1.55 billion or $219 million.

That is due to two days of wide screenings a weekend earlier that were considered as previews (causing the title to be omitted from Comscore charts a week earlier) and an opportunistic pulling forward of its official release to Tuesday (July 16), allowing it to jump ahead of weaker titles in the market.

“Successor” is co-directed by Yan Fei and Peng Damo and stars Shen Teng, Ma Li, Shi Pengyuan, Sa Rina and Xiao Bochen.

“Successor,” a comedy drama film that has taken the Chinese box office by storm, is set for an international roll-out from early next month.

Rights to the film have been picked up by Cmc Pictures, the Chinese studio behind “The Meg” monster shark franchise. It will handle theatrical releases in North America, Australia, New Zealand, the U.K. and Benelux, rolling out from Aug. 2.

“Successor” charts the ups and downs of a poor dad and a hardworking mom, living in a broken yard and seemingly having fallen behind others on the road to prosperity.

The film only opened officially in Chinese theaters on Tuesday (July 16) and earned an estimated $21 million. But it finished its first day with an $89 million cumulative, thanks to wide-scale previews that caused it to dominate China’s most recent weekend charts. On each of Saturday and Sunday, the film enjoyed more than 140,000 screening sessions in China.

“Successor,” a Chinese-produced comedy drama about escape from poverty, opened on top of the mainland China box office over the latest weekend. “Despicable Me 4,” performed well, but landed only in third position.

Data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway shows “Successor” earned RMB358 million ($50.4 million) between Friday and Sunday. The film charts the ups and downs of a poor dad and a hardworking mom, living in a broken yard and seemingly having fallen behind others on the road to prosperity.

According to an official synopsis, “Ma Chenggang and Ma Chunlan, ride their donkey to work and see their son, Ma Jiye, as their only hope of turning their fate around. Jiye is very promising, excelling academically every year. He is tough and determined. But as Jiye grows up, he perceives that the people around him are becoming more and more strange.”

The film is co-directed by Yan Fei and Peng Damo and stars Shen Teng,...

Exclusive: Buenos Aires-based sales FilmSharks has taken international sales rights to the Chinese animated film A Hero’s Journey to the West.

Made with a budget of $26M, the film is directed by Phil Nibbelink (The Fox and the Hound) and written by James Felder (Ultimate Spider-Man). A Hero’s Journey to the West will have its world premiere on May 18 at the film market during the upcoming Cannes Film Festival.

A Hero’s Journey to the West is set to be the first instalment of a trilogy telling the story of Sun Wu Kong (also known as the “Monkey King”), one of the most well-known characters from the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West.

The first instalment will focus on Sun Wu Kong’s discovery of his extraordinary fate from birth as well as his fight with the gods. The second instalment will follow Wu Kong’s rise as he meets other heroes.

Chinese filmmaker Yang Feng is directing period-action drama The Coldest City, produced by Hena Film Culture Media. The stars Xia Yu (Breaking Through, A Little Red Flower), Lee Li-chun (Hello Mr. Billionaire, Goodbye Mr. Loser) and Tan Kai (Detective vs. Sleuths, Drug War).

Beijing-based Blossoms Entertainment is shopping The Coldest City to buyers in Cannes. It is among a somewhat shorter-than-usual list of Chinese commercial films on offer at the Marche du Film this year, as the Chinese industry continues to emerge from its pandemic-period isolation to re-engage with the global film business. The Coldest City will be released in China later this year.

The Coldest City is set in a frigid city of Northeast China in 1945, a turbulent period in Chinese history after the surrender of the Japanese army. In an unmanned city rampant with underworld forces, the story follows Gu Nian, a classic figure of the gunman who...

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A heartwarming sci-fi comedy about a Chinese astronaut who believes he’s the last human alive has revived China’s box office in spectacular fashion. Moon Man, directed by Zhang Chiyu of the hit-making comedy troop Mahua FunAge, opened to 148 million over the weekend, including pre-sales, according to data from Artisan Gateway. Local ticketing app Maoyan projects the film to earn over 640 million (Rmb 4.34 billion) before it leaves Chinese screens, which would make it the country’s sixth-biggest film of all time.

Like a more whimsical version of The Martian, Moon Man stars Shen Teng (Goodbye Mr. Loser) as a Chinese astronaut on the moon who comes to believe he’s the last human in the universe after witnessing an asteroid collide with earth. In truth, earth’s many survivors, including his dream girl (Ma Li), are watching his every move via a live-stream.

Disney/Pixar’s “Soul” has now outperformed “Wonder Woman 1984” in China by more than $10 million despite debuting a week later than the latter. By the end of its third weekend in local cinemas, “Soul” had grossed $36.1 million, according to data from the Maoyan platform — far more than the Warner Brothers title’s China earnings of $25.5 million, and more, even, than its North American cume of $32.6 million.

“Soul” was once again the highest performing foreign title between Friday and Sunday, coming in fourth with weekend sales of $6.4 million. Though its slow burn of continuous sales spurred on by strong word of mouth is expected to continue, Maoyan has dialed down its projected cume by about $5 million to under $49 million. This would knock “Soul” out of contention to become Pixar’s second-highest grossing film in the country, leaving 2018’s “The Incredibles 2” the holder of that title thanks to a $51.5 million cume.

Headed by A Little Red Flower, China’s New Year’s Day box office hit $92m, while the three-day weekend came in at $199m.

Three local titles boosted the China box office to a record-breaking total of $92m (RMB600m) on New Year’s Day 2021, beating the previous record of $55m set on January 1, 2018.

Box office for the rest of the weekend was also healthy. With Han Yan’s A Little Red Flower leading the charge, takings over the three days (January 1-3) reached an impressive $199.2m, according to figures from theatrical consultancy Artisan Gateway. The previous weekend (December 25-...

Universal Music Group’s China division on Thursday announced the launch of “Magic Muses,” its first local label in over a decade.

It will be focused solely on soundtracks and scores, seeking to work with local artists and composers to create tracks for Chinese film and TV projects.

Veteran film marketing executive Kelvin Hou will be the Beijing-based label’s CEO. Hou is the founder and former CEO of Chinese film website Mtime. Magic Muses will “bring together local talent from music and the film and TV, help them share ideas, exchange resources, and produce quality works,” he explained.

Prior to the new label, Umgc previously worked with the local blockbuster “The Eight Hundred” on its original soundtrack, which consists of 20 tracks created by composers Rupert Gregson-Williams (“Hacksaw Ridge”) and Andrew Kawczynski (“Dunkirk”) and producer Yu Fei. The closing track “Remember” is a take on the old Irish “Londonderry Air...

Chinese production firm Aim Media has licensed the North American rights of director Yang Lina’s “Spring Tide” to distributor China Lion. Smart Cinema, the digital venture by former Wanda executive Jack Gao, has also bought the rights to screen the film on its platform in South Korea.

Yang is an independent documentary maker turned feature film director who is making a trilogy of films about women. “Spring Tide” is the second in that series. It tells a story of family dysfunction in which a woman must deal with the competing demands of her daughter and mother as they all live together in a small apartment. Featuring an all-female cast and starring Hao Lei, it debuted in competition at the Shanghai International Film Festival last year.

Aim Media had intended for the film to screen theatrically sometime between March and May, but when the coronavirus shuttered cinemas, it moved the title straight to streaming.

With production in China suffering a coronavirus-imposed slowdown, “The Italian Recipe” is one co-production between Europe and China that is poised to potentially capitalize on the resulting dearth of Chinese content. It is positioned to advance European cinema’s efforts to make inroads in China.

“The Italian Recipe,” in which a famous Chinese pop singer travels to Rome for a trashy reality show and cavorts there with a Chinese Cinderella who dreams of becoming a chef, was spawned by the Bridging the Dragon (Btd) association. Btd will hold its annual panel next week on the sidelines of the Berlin Film Festival.

The romantic comedy is mostly set in Rome. The small portions located in Beijing were shot before the virus caused a China-wide production slowdown. Those portions being shot in the Italian capital are set to wrap soon.

Producer Cristiano Bortone, who is also the Btd lab’s founder, told...

Chinese animation “Nezha” has proven itself China’s surprise hit of the summer, and is on track outstrip “Avengers: Endgame” to become China’s third highest-ever grossing film.

It continued to smash records as the most successful animated title in Chinese film history – surpassing Disney’s 2016 “Zootopia” – during its second weekend, leading the box office with a staggering $127 million, according to figures from consultancy Artisan Gateway. It was also the second highest-grossing film in the world, trailing only “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw.”

As of early Monday evening, the dark horse 3-D title from an unknown new director who goes by the name of Jiaozi, or “dumpling,” has already grossed $348 million (RMB2.45 billion), cracking the top 10 of the mainland’s highest-grossing films of all time, just behind 2017’s “The Fate of the Furious” (in eighth place with RMB2.67 billion) and last summer’s “Hello Mr. Billionaire” (in ninth with...

China’s total box office revenue grew 9% in 2018 to $8.87 billion (RMB60.98 billion). But the rate of expansion was slower rate than the year before, when it rose 13.5%, state media and government reports said. Nevertheless, the country met its government-set 2018 box office target of RMB60 billion yuan in ticket sales on December 29.

Chinese-language films brought in $5.53 billion (RMB37.8 billion) in 2018, making up 62% of the total box office, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing data from the country’s State Film Administration as saying. In 2017, Chinese films accounted for 54% of the box office. China produced 1,082 films in 2018, up from 970 the year before, though not all received theatrical releases.

China is the world’s second-largest theatrical movie market, and is widely expected to surpass the North American sector in coming years. However, the uneven growth of recent years has undone numerous past forecasts of when that might happen.

China now boasts the...

Local productions grossed $5.5bn (RMB37.9bn) for a 62.2% market share.

China’s box office reached $8.86bn (RMB60.98bn) in 2018, an increase of 9% compared to the RMB55.91bn taken the previous year, according to figures released today by the National Film Bureau.

Admissions increased by 6% to 1.72 billion over the course of the year, while the total number of screens grew by 9,033 to reach 60,079.

Local productions grossed $5.5bn (RMB37.88bn) for a 62.15% market share, an increase of 8.3% on the previous year. Among these, nine films grossed more than the $145m (RMB1bn) benchmark, while a further 20 titles took more than $73m (RMB...

Newly-launched sales outfit, Autumn Sun Company has closed sales on “Wushu Orphan” ahead of the film’s world premier this week at the Tokyo International Film Festival. It will play in the festival’s Asian Future section.

The film is a high school martial arts drama directed by Huang Huang, and produced by China’s Alibaba Pictures and Dadi Century. It was licensed to MovieCloud for Taiwan and to Viswass films for India.

Autumn Sun, which is headed by veteran seller and producer Elliot Tong, also closed a sale on India’s “The Man Who Feels No Pain” to Japan’s Hakuhodo Dy Music and Pictures, ahead of the film’s India release. The film was directed by Vasan Bala and recently won the People’s Choice Award at Toronto’s Midnight Madness strand. It was produced by Ronnie Screwvala’s Indian outfit RSVP.

“There is a huge buzz now for Indian films in Asia,...

Newly-launched Hong Kong sales outfit, Autumn Sun Company has picked up international rights to animated film “The Legend of Erlang” from Chinese studio Starry Entertainment (“Hello Mr. Billionaire”). The film, which is in production, is based on a Chinese legend and is being directed by vfx veteran Sing-Chong Foo (“Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale”), alongside Jun Cheng and Lingfei Zhang

Autumn Sun has also taken Asian rights, excluding India, for Vasan Bala’s martial arts film “The Man Who Feels No Pain,” which recently won the People’s Choice Award at Toronto’s Midnight Madness strand. It was produced by Ronnie Screwvala’s Indian outfit RSVP. In addition, Autumn Sun has picked up Huang Huang’s high school martial arts drama “Wushu Orphan” from China’s Alibaba Pictures and Dadi Century. The film has its world premiere at the Tokyo film festival later this month.

“It’s been a...

China Literature, an e-book publishing division of Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings, has paid $2.25 billion for the film and TV studio New Classics Media.

The deal was announced Monday in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

New Classics Media has emerged as one of the top studios in China and is regarded as one of the leading production outfits in the country, producing homegrown blockbusters like “Hello Mr. Billionaire,” which has grossed at least $344 million.

Also Read: China's Tencent Snaps Up 10 Percent Stake in Snapchat Parent

According to the filing, China Literature — which was spun off last November as a separate publicly traded company — will fund the transaction with $740 million in cash and $1.51 billion in stock.

The leadership team of Classic Media is expected to remain in place, with incentives in place for performance benchmarks.

The deal expands Tencent’s holdings in entertainment...

Paramount action thriller overcomes China’s Hello Mr. Billionaire to rule weekend session.

Scoring a string of opening weekend records, Mission: Impossible Falloutsurged past $200m at the international box office to ensure Tom Cruise stayed top of the pile to beat the $64.5m haul by Hello Mr. Billionaire in the Chinese comedy’s second weekend.

Paramount Pictures International

Now on $205m, the action spy thriller is tracking roughly 53% ahead of Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation for the same group of markets at the same stage. The global tally stands at $329.5m.

In a string of number one debuts, the film...

Six films in, and Ethan Hunt shows no signs of slowing down.

Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” scaled the international box office yet again, amassing $76 million from 56 markets abroad for an overseas total of $205 million. It pocketed $35 million in North America, bringing its domestic earnings to $124.5 million.

Following close behind is China’s “Hello Mr. Billionaire,” which generated a massive $64.5 million. To date, the comedy has made $289.9 million.

Among new offerings, Disney’s “Christopher Robin” opened with $4.8 million in 18 international territories. The live-action adaptation starring Ewan McGregor debuted in North America with $25 million for a global start of $29.8 million. Mexico had the best launch with a four-day total of $1.4 million, followed by Russia with $1.2 million. “Christopher Robin” bows next in Belgium, Netherlands, and Thailand. It will not open in China.

Another Disney title, Pixar’s “Incredibles 2,” picked up another $19 million in 42 overseas markets for an international tally of $463.9 million.

By far the biggest film of the weekend outside North America, China’s “Hello Mr. Billionaire” opened with $131 million in its home territory.

The comedy was far ahead of “Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” which earned $92 million in international markets, plus a further $61.5 million in North America, for a global total of $153.5 million.

“Billionaire” is the latest product from the team – director Yan Fei and writer Peng Damo – behind 2015 surprise hit “Goodbye My Loser.” It sees a failing soccer player challenged to spend $147 million (RMB1 billion) in a single month.

The film was released in competition with the fourth installment in one of Chinese film’s most beloved franchises, “Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings.” That scored $42.5 million over the same three-day period. On any other weekend, figures for “Detective Dee” might have been considered a triumph. But exhibitors quickly moved to support the runaway success of “Billionaire” over the fantasy adventure.

Chinese comedy Hello Mr. Billionaire top’s international box office on estimated $129.5m.

Update: Tom Cruise is Hollywood’s box office king once more as Mission: Impossible – Fallout ruled global box office for the weekend on a confirmed $155.8m, grossing $94.6m in its international launch in 36 markets to leave a trail of studio, star and franchise opening weekend records in its wake.

Chinese comedy Hello Mr. Billionaire – inspired by the Richard Pryor comedy Brewster’s Millions – was top of the international box office chart courtesy of a $129.5m launch, while Incredibles 2 is expected to cross $1bn worldwide on Monday.

Chinese comedy Hello Mr. Billionaire top’s international box office on estimated $129.5m.

Tom Cruise is Hollywood’s box office king once more as Mission: Impossible – Fallout ruled global box office for the weekend on an estimated $153.5m, grossing $92m in its international launch in 36 markets to leave a trail of studio, star and franchise opening weekend records in its wake.

Chinese comedy Hello Mr. Billionaire – inspired by the Richard Pryor comedy Brewster’s Millions – was top of the international box office chart courtesy of a $129.5m launch, while Incredibles 2 is expected to cross $1bn worldwide on Monday.

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