News

San Sebastian – “Bound in Heaven,” the directorial debut of experienced screenwriter Xin Huo, best known for “Kung Fu Hustle,” is the sole Chinese production in the Official Selection at San Sebastián, following its world premiere in Toronto’s Centrepiece section. The film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Li Xiuwen, a Huading Award winner as part of the writing team for “Medal of the Republic.”

The story turns on Xia You (NiNi), a successful but emotionally drained woman trapped in a violently abusive relationship with her fiancé, played by Liao Fan, who won a Berlin Silver Bear for “Black Coal, Thin Ice.” In a harrowing early scene, Xia You defies her abuser, uttering the chilling and foreboding line, “Don’t smudge my makeup, the guests are still here,” a reflection of the fragile facade she is forced to uphold.

“The theme of domestic violence against women,...

Specialty sales and finance firm Rediance has picked up international sales rights to “Bound in Heaven,” the directorial debut feature of experienced Chinese screenwriter Huo Xin.

The tragic love story will have its world premiere this week in the Centerpiece section of the Toronto International Film Festival. It will subsequently travel to San Sebastian for its European debut.

Adapted from the novel of the same title by Li Xiuwen, the drama centers around a successful young woman who lives in the city with her abusive fiance and a lonely terminally ill man running a noodle shop in Wuhan. A chance encounter sparks an immediate attraction and their connection provides light and lightness in their emotional and dark journeys.

The film stars Ni Ni, who appeared in Zhang Yimou’s “The Flowers of War” and 2022 smash hit “Lost in the Stars.” Zhou You, who also appeared in Jia Zhangke’s Cannes...

China-based sales agent Rediance has picked up international rights to Chinese director Huo Xin’s feature debut Bound In Heaven, which is set to premiere at Toronto before heading to San Sebastian.

Director Huo is a veteran scriptwriter whose credits include acclaimed and hit films such as Shower, Kung Fu Hustle, Sunflower and The Monkey King.

She has assembled a strong cast for her feature debut including Ni Ni of box office hit Lost In The Stars and Zhang Yimou’s The Flowers of War; Zhou You of Jia Zhang-ke’s Caught By The Tides, which also plays at Toronto...

Cmc Pictures, the Chinese studio behind “The Meg” shark action franchise, has set plans for the global release of its John Cusack-starring cryptography thriller “Decoded.”

The film will release in Chinese theaters on Saturday and is headed for an international rollout at the end of August. Cmc Pictures will operate as the direct distributor in a limited number of territories and as the sales agent handling the rights in others.

The film has a strong pedigree and is on course to make a splash.

Directed by Chen Sicheng, one of China’s most consistently successful writer-director-producers, the film has a screenplay by Chen and Christopher MacBride that is adapted from a novel by the Mao Dun Literature Prize-winning novelist Mai Jia.

Set in the volatile era of the 1940s, “Decoded” chronicles the journey of Rong Jinzhen (played by Liu Haoran), an autistic young man with an exceptional talent for mathematics.

Bill Cobbs, the convincing character actor who had pivotal turns in such films as The Hudsucker Proxy, Sunshine State and Night at the Museum, has died. He was 90.

Cobbs died Tuesday night at his home in Riverside, his publicist, Chuck I. Jones, told TMZ.

A native of Cleveland who excelled at comedy as well as drama, Cobbs portrayed Whitney Houston’s manager in The Bodyguard (1992), the older brother of Medgar Evers in Rob Reiner’s Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), a jazz pianist in Tom Hanks’ That Thing You Do! (1996) and the Master Tinker, builder of the Tin Woodsman, in Sam Raimi’s Oz the Great and Powerful (2013).

He also played the wise coach who put a basketball-playing dog into the Timberwolves lineup in Air Bud (1997).

On television, Cobbs stood out as the sardonic bartender The Dutchman on the Dabney Coleman-starring The Slap Maxwell Story, the bus driver Tony on The Drew Carey Show,...

Foreign visitors were in short supply at Saturday’s opening ceremony of the 26th Shanghai International Film Festival, but that did little to diminish the festive atmosphere.

The ceremony was held at the Shanghai Grand Theater in the downtown area on an evening that was warm and spring-like and without the “plum rain” or summer downpours that the city is known for at this time of year.

Arguably the biggest names in attendance were Hong Kong actor and “Westworld” star Daniel Wu, Hong Kong director Dante Lam, Chinese star actor-director-producer Xu Zheng and Japanese actor Yakusho Koji, who won the best actor award a year ago at Cannes for his leading role in Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days.” Marco Mueller, a celebrated festival director and artistic consultant, was also on hand in his adopted home town.

Wu was representing new film “Decoded,” directed by Chen Sicheng, whose “Lost in the Stars...

Adapted from Alexey Korenev's 1990 Soviet comedy film “A Trap for Lonely Man” and French playwright Robert Thomas' 1960 play “Trap for a Lonely Man” (Piege Pour un Homme Seul), “Lost in the Stars” is a truly delirious title which implements a story filled with twists in a visually impressive package. The film premiered at the Hainan International Film Festival on 25 December 2022 and released theatrically in China on 22 June 2023 to commercial success, amassing more than $485 million internationally.

on Imprint Asia by clicking on the image below

He Fei and his wife Li Muzi are celebrating the first anniversary of their marriage at an island resort in Barlandia, a fictional Southeast Asian country that appears to have Malay and Thai as their official languages. However, at some point, Li Muzi disappears, and this is where the movie actually begins, with He Fei in the local police precinct trying to convince...

The 44th edition of genre film festival Fantasporto, which runs in Portugal’s second city Porto from March 1-10, has bestowed its best film award on Japanese sci-fi fantasy pic “From the End of the World,” directed by Kaz I Kiriya.

The movie follows 10-year-old Hana, whose dreams transport her across various eras in Japanese history, and have the ability to save humanity.

The jury’s special award went to “The Complex Forms,” Italian director Fabio D’Orta’s debut feature. The sci-fi horror centers on a man who has sold his body so it can be possessed by a creature of unknown nature.

The prize for best direction was nabbed by Spanish filmmaker Gonzalo López-Gallego for horror movie “The Shadow of the Shark” (La Sombra del Tiburon). In the film, a young woman, Alma, is undergoing therapy as she is unable to sleep. With the help of surveillance cameras, she...

The country recorded its highest cinema admissions in four years.

China took $7.7bn (RMB54.9b) at the box office in 2023, representing an 83% year-on-year increase and the highest cinema admissions in four years, but still 14.5% behind pre-pandemic 2019.

Local audiences continued to show their unwavering support for local productions, which claimed all the top 10 slots in the annual chart. The biggest among them were two Chinese New Year releases, historical mystery Full River Red and sci-fi The Wandering Earth 2, which both surpassed the landmark RMB4bn ($562m) mark.

Half of the top 10 were local summer hits, including crime drama No More Bets,...

Canadian filmmaker Denys Arcand’s satire “Testament” will open the 44th edition of Fantasporto, which runs March 1-10 in Portugal’s second city, Porto. Chinese fantasy epic “Creation of Gods I: Kingdom of Storms,” directed by Wuershan, closes the eclectic event.

The festival, which was named by MovieMaker magazine this year as one of the “25 coolest festivals in the world,” is headed by film critics Beatriz Pacheco Pereira and Mário Dorminsky. Around 600 feature films were submitted this year and 1,200 shorts.

Pacheco Pereira says they select films that have a “special touch but still a universal language.” Dorminsky adds: “We try to discover new directors.” These directors – having established a relationship with the festival – often return with their subsequent films, he says.

“Testament” epitomizes one trend that Pacheco Pereira identifies, which is “old people asking: ‘Where is the world going?'” She adds: “‘Testament’ is a wonderful film in which an...

The crime drama will be released on December 30.

Trinity CineAsia has acquired Hong Kong tentpole The Goldfinger for the UK and Ireland after striking a deal with Emperor Motion Pictures.

The crime drama will reunite Hong Kong superstars Andy Lau and Tony Leung with writer/director Felix Chong for the first time since 2002’s Infernal Affairs. That film, co-written by Chong and directed by Lau and Alan Mak, spawned a trilogy of films and inspired Martin Scorsese’s 2006 Oscar-winning crime thriller The Departed.

UK-based Trinity CineAsia will theatrically release The Goldfinger in UK and Irish cinemas on December 30, co-ordinated with...

Imax swung to a profit and saw revenue revenue jump in the Septembers quarter, buoyed by Oppenheimer and other content from Hollywood to local language films, concert films, docs and live events.

The big screen exhibitor and tech company posted a net profit of $12 million versus a loss of $9 million the year earlier on revenue of $104 million, up 51%. It was the second highest grossing quarter of all time at the global Imax box office, the company said. Oppenheimer led with $180 million in Imax gross box office (20% of the total), followed by Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Local language titles were led by China’s Creation of the Gods: Kingdom of Storms ($32.3 million), with strong contributions coming from No More Bets, Lost in the Stars, and Jawan. The remasterd and rereleased Talking Heads’ concert film Stop Making Sense, which premiered at TIFF, was...

It is abundantly clear that the noir genre is making a huge comeback in the Asian market. Just last week, we saw Lost in the Stars, the Chinese film, come to Netflix with a similar influence. The action genre itself has had a renaissance this year, with John Wick coming back and a remake of the classic South Korean revenge thriller Oldboy. It’s always fantastic to see a female-driven action film, especially when she defies all laws of physics and is absolutely badass. In this oversaturated world of revenge thrillers, Ballerina sticks out like a radiant gem. We can’t go without comparing the beauty of this film to an actual ballet, with scenes of pastel colors and dream-like sequences that make everything look a little less deranged and much more peachy. It is a jarring contrast with the commitment the film has to violence and the race against evil.

When you look at Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night, there is an illusion it creates that is undeniably petrifying and sensational at the same time. Watching Lost in the Stars somehow feels the same way. Behind many facades, there is a story of heart that unravels in the most neo-noir kind of form, reminiscent of old Hong Kong thrillers married with the presentation of new Asian action cinema. Released originally in 2022, Lost in the Stars comes to Netflix almost a whole year later with a bang. The 2-hour film is nail-biting from start to finish, and if you’re someone who likes the twisted tales of Park Chan-Wook-style thrillers, there is a lot to enjoy here. I don’t mean to be all praise for the film; there are some minute flaws, but the viewing experience is exactly what is expected from it.

Recently, a lot of Asian...

Strong summer season performances by movies across the world have sped up the movie industry’s global recovery.

And for the second time this year, analysis firm Gower Street Analytics has revised its forecast for the 2023 cinema year upwards.

The London-based firm is now forecasting that the full-year global gross box office will weigh in at $34.5 billion, a $2.5 billion increase on its April forecast. The upgrade reflects a strong July-August period globally, but with the majority of the increase due to the summer movie season boom in China.

If the new projection holds good, it would see global box office finish 33% ahead of 2022 (35% at current exchange rates). It would also come in just 12% behind the average of the last three pre-pandemic years, 2017-2019, the firm said.

The forecast is based on the currently known release calendar for the remaining four months of the year. This could change significantly if studios...

Awards

The European Film Academy has revealed the nominations for Lux – The European Audience Film Award. The award is presented by the European Parliament and the European Film Academy in partnership with the European Commission and Europa Cinemas.

The nominated films are: “20,000 Species of Bees” by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (Spain); “The Teacher’s Lounge” by İlker Çatak (Germany); “Fallen Leaves” by Aki Kaurismäki; “On the Adamant” by Nicolas Philibert; and “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood” by Anna Hints.

The five nominated films will now be subtitled in all 24 EU languages. The winner will be determined by the general public and the members of the European Parliament (each holding 50% of the vote) and announced during an awards ceremony in March 2024.

European Film Academy chair and president of the Lux jury Mike Downey said: “We know that cinema not only enhances the imagination but also shows our entire world in multiple perspectives and...

“Oppenheimer” landed on top of the mainland China cinema box office with an impressive score for a Hollywood movie in the current climate. More typically, gaming adaptation “Gran Turismo” failed to get far off the start line.

While most films open in China on Fridays, Christopher Nolan’s nuclear opus was given a wide release from Wednesday.

It scored $21.3 million (RMB154 million) over the conventional Friday to Sunday weekend and $30.7 million (RMB221 million) over its opening five days, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. Local data providers show that the film topped the charts on all five days of its run.

Universal Pictures reports that the film opened on 35,000 screens at 11,000 locations in China, including 761 Imax venues.

Local data providers estimate that, in contrast, “Gran Turismo” made just $1.2 million over its more conventional three-day getaway.

Universal claimed that “Oppenheimer” enjoyed the third biggest Hollywood opening this year behind...

China’s summer box office has crossed the RMB20bn ($2.75bn) threshold for the first time, taking the country’s year-to-date gross to nearly $6bn.

According to official data published by government agency China Film Administration, $2.87bn (RMB20.62bn) box office sales were generated from 505 million cinema admission from June 1 – August 31. The star performers were all local productions, which occupied the top six spots at the box office and accounted for 87.6% of the market share.

According to ticketing platform Maoyan, the runaway champion was No More Bets, directed by Shen Ao and produced by Ning Hao. The crime drama, which...

Festival For All

The third edition of Fragments Festival (Sept. 28-Oct. 1) – set up as a platform for underrepresented filmmakers and as a showcase of films featuring unique individuals and minority groups – returns to London’s Genesis cinema and will open with Ken Loach‘s “The Old Oak.” The film centers on struggling pub The Old Oak, where tensions mount following the sudden arrival of Syrian refugees who have been housed in the area. The festival closes with Anna Hints‘ “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood,” the Estonian entry for the 2024 Oscars that documents a space where women can share their innermost secrets and intimate experiences.

This year’s festival comprises eight features, 26 shorts and 11 events highlighting stories by and of women, non-binary people and other members of the Lgbtqia+ community, disabled people, working class individuals, and Black, Asian and Arab communities.

Genesis owner Tyrone Walker-Hebborn said: “With the world increasingly opening up to diversity,...

The box office in mainland China reached an all-time high in the summer season, according to figures from ticketing agency Maoyan Entertainment. The record was achieved with minimal input from Hollywood.

Maoyan, which defines China’s cinematic summer as running from the beginning of June to the end of August, says that the previous record of RMB17.8 billion, set in 2018, was beaten on Thursday evening (local time) – some two weeks before the end of the current season.

China’s cinema-going rebound started with a jolt after mainland authorities abruptly dropped anti-covid restrictions in mid-December 2022 allowing “Avatar: The Way of Water” to profit from a wave of revenge consumption. The late January to early February Chinese New Year period also delivered a record box office of about $1 billion, before the gravitational pull of China’s slowing economy flattened the recovery.

The summer season has witnessed a succession of locally-produced films across...

Theatrical cinema in July enjoyed its highest revenues since pre-pandemic times, with global box office hitting $4.54 billion during the month.

“This is the single highest-grossing month since before the pandemic began. The result sees July 2023 track 17% ahead of the July average of the last three pre-pandemic years (2017-2019),” said research and advisory firm Gower Street Analytics.

“July 2023 also marked the first month since the pandemic began in 2020 that all three key component markets that make up the global picture — North America, China and international (excluding China) — tracked ahead of their pre-pandemic averages.”

The July box office in North America stacked up to $1.36 billion, 11% better than the 2017-2019 three-year average; $1.98 billion in international (excluding China), 7% ahead of the same three-year average; and $1.2 billion in China, some 53% better than its three-year average.

The July surge has most notably been propelled by the “Barbenheimer” duo of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” ($226 million international cumulative and...

‘Lost In The Stars’ and ‘Never Say Never’ among local hits that have propelled takings.

China’s box office continued to heat up in the summer months as July closed with $1.2bn (RMB8.7bn), the second biggest month this year, according to the latest data provided by Artisan Gateway.

Four local films ruled the market, each of which crossed the RMB1bn mark. Directed by and starring Wang Baoqiang, Happy Pictures’ Never Say Never has taken $287.7m (RMB2.04bn) as of July 30. The drama opened on July 6 and is based on a true story of a man who turned orphans into martial arts fighters.

Mystery drama has proved a massive hit at the China box office.

China’s Blossoms Entertainment has secured a pan-Asian and Cis release for sleeper box office hit Lost In The Stars as the Chinese film industry gets back on its feet in a dynamic summer season post-Covid.

The Chinese mystery drama is dated to open in Malaysia and Brunei on July 27, Singapore (August 3), Cambodia (August 18), all through Purple Plan, and Indonesia (August 31) through Encore Films.

In August, it is also set to open in Hong Kong and Macau (Intercontinental Films), Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Philippines (all through Encore Films...

The film’s opening including previews is also a record, at £10.4m.

Rank Film (distributor) Three-day gross (July 14-16) Total gross to date Week 1. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (Paramount) £6.3m £10.4m 1 2. Elemental (Disney) £2.5m £6.6m 2 3. Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny (Disney) £1.8m £16.3m 3 4. Insidious: The Red Door (Sony) £1.5m £5.1m 2 5. Spider-Man: Across The Spiderverse (Sony) £697,000 £28.9m 7

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.31

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One has topped the UK-Ireland box office, setting franchise records for both three-day and total openings.

The Paramount action blockbuster started with £6.3m from Friday to Sunday. It opened for previews last Monday,...

China’s box office weekend was marked more by the tussle for top spot between “Never Say Never” and “Chang An” than the entry of “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.” The Tom Cruise-starring U.S. blockbuster was the highest new release title, but landed in third place with an opening score of $25.9 million.

The weekend’s top-ranked film was “Never Say Never,” a holdover title that scored $46.1 million. Lightchaser Animation-produced “Chang An San Wan Li” earned a shade less, at $43.9 million, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway.

After 11 days of official release (plus substantial previews), “Never Say Never,” written and directed by actor Wang Baoqiang has already become one of the biggest hits of the year. Its cumulative stands at $212 million. “Chang An” has accumulated $96.1 million in nine days.

Local data providers’ daily charts showed that “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” never rose above...

Annecy animation ‘The Tunnel To Summer…’ has 100+ location release.

Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One heads into its first weekend at the UK-Ireland box office, as the first of several summer blockbusters that will compete for audiences in the coming weeks.

Having started previews on Monday, July 10, Dead Reckoning Part One already has almost £4.1m in the bank. It will play in 717 locations this weekend – Paramount’s second-widest UK-Ireland release of all time, after the 741 of 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, also starring Tom Cruise. 52 of those sites will be Imax, with Paramount looking to make the most...

‘Lost’ Is Found

Specialty distributor, Trinity CineAsia is releasing China’s summer blockbuster “Lost in the Stars” in the U.K and Ireland on some 30 screens from Friday.

“I was fortunate to watch the film when it opened in China and once I saw it I just knew we had to have it,” said Cedric Behrel of Trinity CineAsia. “‘Lost In The Stars’ is a very clever, uncanny thrill of a ride that harks back to classic Hitchcock and any noteworthy thriller since – the master himself had in fact once optioned the rights to the same story. We organized the fastest turnaround premiere known to man and we’ve been delighted by the reactions to the early previews. It epitomizes the best of what new Chinese cinema can bring to audiences.”

The film – a suspense drama about a man who believes that his wife is an imposter – has been the...

Imax announced Wednesday that it plans to spend $124 million to get full ownership of Imax China. The subsidiary is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange and was established in 2011 by Imax to oversee its business in Greater China, which has become a key market for the exhibition company.

Imax creates wide-screen technology that enables theater owners to charge premium prices — it is also a favorite with big-budget filmmakers such as Christopher Nolan and Michael Bay, who use the company’s proprietary cameras to produce their movies.

Since Covid, Hollywood films have struggled to attract the same level of business as they did pre-pandemic, but local-language titles such as “The Wandering Earth 2” and “Lost in the Stars” have been huge hits when they have screened in Imax.

As part of the proposal, Imax will buy the outstanding 96.3 million shares in Imax China. The offer represents an approximate 49% premium to...

Actor, director and screenwriter Chen Sicheng is one of the giants of contemporary Chinese cinema.

His three “Detective Chinatown” films have earned more than $1.2 billion of box office revenue, and Chen is the producing force behind another major franchise, “Sheep Without a Shepherd,” adapted from the Indian “Drishyam” films.

“Lost in the Stars,” Chen’s latest effort, this time as producer and screenwriter, is another megahit. Co-directed by Cui Rui and Liu Xiang, “Lost in the Stars” has grossed $430 million (RMB3.08 billion) in China – enough to make it the seventh-biggest film worldwide this year and the 14th biggest film of all time in China – all in the span of just 17 days.

The movie is a mystery drama, adapted from the ’90s Russian film “A Trap for the Lonely Man,” which itself was adapted from a Robert Thomas stage play. It sees a woman disappear while on holiday with her husband...

Disney releases “Elemental” and “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” were locked in a near dead heat at the U.K. and Ireland box office, with the animated elements edging out the veteran archaeologist.

“Elemental” debuted with £3.049 million ($3.876 million), according to numbers from Comscore. In its second weekend, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” whipped up £3.046 million ($3.873 million) for a close second and now has a total of £13.1 million.

If looking at weekend numbers alone, Harrison Ford’s last adventure as the man in the hat won the race as the “Elemental” numbers include “limited secret sneak previews from across the market,” according to Disney.

Sony’s “Insidious: The Red Door” scared up £2.2 million in a third place debut. In its sixth weekend, Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” swung to £964,566 in fourth position for a total of £27.7 million.

Rounding off the top five was Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,...

Local titles dominated at the mainland Chinese cinema box office over the latest weekend. “Never Say Never” overtook the previous sensation “Lost in the Stars” to lead another strong summer session.

“Never Say Never” (aka “Octagonal”) released officially on Thursday, ahead of China’s more normal Friday system. It earned $55.3 million (RMB384 million) between Friday and Sunday, according to verified data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. To that can be added some $9.6 million from Thursday and over $60 million previews and the film finished Sunday with a cumulative of $121 million.

Co-written and directed by actor Wang Baoqiang, the film tells a tale of a man who tries to teach orphans about martial arts. But he is publicly shamed after his efforts are misinterpreted.

According to local sources, however, “Lost in the Stars” was the top-scoring film on both Thursday and Friday, before “Never Say Never” dominated with Saturday and Sunday crowd.

“Lost in the Stars...

Update: Busy weekend at the international box office with a strong scary new entry, some unexpected spark in holds and a milestone for a long-running franchise.

Out of the gate this frame, Sony/Screen Gems/Stage 6 Films/Blumhouse’s Insidious: The Red Door knocked out the biggest overseas horror debut since 2019. With $31.4M from 52 markets; this is also the best for the franchise in like-for-like markets. Including domestic, the global bow is $64M.

Offshore, the Patrick Wilson-directed and starring fifth in the series, which is a direct continuation of the first two movies, is tracking 27% ahead of Insidious: The Last Key at current exchange rates, and bigger than recent horror franchise releases Evil Dead Rise (+58%) and Scream VI (+30%).

Horror-leaning Mexico led play with a No. 1 $5.8M, marking Sony’s biggest ever horror opening in the territory. The scarer also scored a record in the Philippines as the highest horror...

The global box office has reached $8.6bn for Q2.

For the second quarter (Q2) of 2023, the global box office has reached $8.6bn – the best quarterly result since 2019, according to film data and insights company Gower Street Analytics.

It outperformed this year’s first quarter (Q1) by 10%. In June alone, the global box office generated $2.9bn, outperforming the strong levels of the two prior months.

According to Gower Street, “the gap to pre-pandemic results has closed significantly”.

Q2 was only 10% down on the same period pre-pandemic, compared to Q1, which was down 23%.

The two highest-grossing quarters since 2019 combined delivered a global...

China’s first blockbuster of the summer of 2023, Lost in the Stars, is readying for release in North America, Australia and New Zealand later this week.

The film will launch on July 7 in approximately 60 locations across 30 cities in the U.S. and Canada, courtesy of China’s international distributor Cmc Pictures. The release in Australia and New Zealand, on July 6 and July 13, respectively, will be of a similar scale.

Lost in the Stars launched in China on June 22 and already has earned about $360 million there — more than what recent Hollywood hits like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ($343.4 million) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ($355 million) grossed at home in North America.

Chinese commercial blockbusters tend to play more like specialty releases in the West, however, primarily appealing to the Chinese diaspora market, while racking up earnings more in line with what breakthrough Asian arthouse titles earn. Well Go USA released...

‘Lost In The Stars’ proved the top grossing film in June.

China’s box office jumped 52.9% in the first six months of 2023 with ticket sales of $3.7bn (RMB26.3bn), marking the first such year-on-year increase since the Covid-19 pandemic.

It does not mark a complete recovery as the figures remain 15.7% down on the same period in pre-pandemic 2019. But robust growth was seen in June with takings of $581.8m (Rmb 4.13bn), up 115% on 2022 and down a mere 0.8% on 2019. The results almost equalled pre-pandemic levels for the first time, according to data provided by Artisan Gateway.

The top grossing film in June was Lost In The Stars,...

‘Lost In The Stars’ proved the top grossing film in June.

China’s box office jumped 52.9% in the first six months of 2023 with ticket sales of $3.7bn (RMB26.3bn), marking the first such year-on-year increase since the Covid-19 pandemic.

It does not mark a complete recovery as the figures remain 15.7% down on the same period in pre-pandemic 2019. But robust growth was seen in June with takings of $581.8m (Rmb 4.13bn), up 115% on 2022 and down a mere 0.8% on 2019. The results almost equalled pre-pandemic levels for the first time, according to data provided by Artisan Gateway.

The top grossing film in June was Lost In The Stars,...

“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” is the latest big Hollywood movie to bomb in China, earning just $2.3 million over its opening weekend. It comes on the heels of “The Flash” earning just $25 million since opening three weekends ago as well as “The Little Mermaid” earning just $3.7 million after a month in theaters.

Like “Solo: A Star Wars Story” in 2018, it would appear that “Indiana Jones 5” was a domestic-skewing IP sell, especially with the brand mostly dormant since “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” in 2008, with a less-than-hoped overseas appeal. None of the previous “Indiana Jones” films played in China, which means there’s no generational nostalgia for the brand or Harrison Ford’s marquee character.

It’s one more costly example of how Chinese audiences are showing a preference for homegrown movies over Hollywood tentpoles, a conundrum for studios that spent the 2010s counting on China as a growth market.

‘The Dial Of Destiny’ failed to match the franchise’s previous instalment with its debut weekend box office.

Rank Film (distributor) 3-day (world) Cume (world) 3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Indiana Jones & The Dial Of Destiny (Disney) $130m $130m $70m $70m 53 2. Lost In The Stars (Various) $117.3m $319.9m $117.3m $319.9m 1 3. Elemental (Disney) $41.1m $186.8m $29.8m $98m 41 4. Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (Sony) $25.3m $607.3m $13.8m $267.4m 64 5. Never Say Never (various) $25.2m $38.5m $25.2m $38.5m 1 6. Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts (Paramount) $21.9m $381.3m $14.9m $245.2m 66 7. The Flash (Warner Bros) $16.4m $245.4m $11.4m $146.1m 79 8. No Hard Feelings (Sony) $14m $49.3m...

Chinese mystery drama “Lost in the Stars” expanded in its second week on release and gave China its third biggest box office weekend of the year. That local success came as Hollywood tentpole “Indiana Jones: The Dial of Destiny” failed to land a top five place in the Middle Kingdom on its debut weekend.

“Indiana Jones” earned just $2.4 million in China, according to estimates from local data providers. It played some 25,000 screenings per day on Friday but earned less than $900,000. Exhibitors then slashed the number of sessions by half on Saturday. They further trimmed the number of playdates on Sunday when it slipped to seventh place. Consultancy, Artisan Gateway did not provide confirmed data for “Indiana Jones” in China.

“Lost in the Stars” earned $117 million, according to Artisan Gateway. That was significantly up from its opening weekend of $70.7 million (RMB502 million) a week earlier and enough to make it the...

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny may have opened soft in North America with $60 million, but it outright bombed in China, where filmgoers have little to no emotional connection to the classic adventure franchise.

Expectations for the Disney and Lucasfilm tentpole were always low in China, but the film’s $2.3 million opening from Friday to Sunday is on the far low end of most analysts’ already low forecasts. None of the first four films in the Indiana Jones franchise were distributed in China, so the country’s geriatric millennials — not to mention its Gen Zs and below — harbor no nostalgia for Harrison Ford’s octogenarian hero.

Dial of Destiny has been relatively well liked by those who have seen and rated it in China. It currently has respectable social scores of 8.8 from the ticketing app Maoyan, 8.9 on Alibaba’s Tao Piao Piao and 7.3 on Douban. Nonetheless, Maoyan projects the...

Update: Disney/Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is off to a disappointing start with a $130M global opening. Of that, $70M is from 52 international box office markets as the the fifth installment in the beloved 42-year-old franchise came in below projections.

Anthony has run down the reasons behind the domestic launch hitting the bottom rung of the range, while overseas the picture is essentially as predicted, even if worse than expected. Europe is overall performing well, though France has been affected by early cinema closures as riots engulf the nation. Japan, where older audiences lean into nostalgia, has been good but not phenomenal while Latin America and Asia Pacific are lackluster.

We expected nothing out of China, and that was the correct bet — the market has no history with Harrison Ford’s adventuring archeologist and is heavy on local titles right now. The three-day gross there was a paltry $2.3M.

The top movie at the global box office last weekend was not “The Flash” or “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.” It was China’s latest homegrown blockbuster, “Lost in the Stars,” which earned $70 million from Friday to Sunday, or $98 million over the four-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday weekend in the country. Counting Monday’s $23.3 million gross and $26 million on Tuesday, the mystery romance has $146.5 million thus far. That already puts it above every summer release in China including Hollywood’s “Fast X,” which has earned $138 million in China since its mid-May premiere.

It’s one more example of how Chinese audiences are showing a strong preference for homegrown movies over Hollywood fare, a conundrum for studios that once counted on China as a growth market. With theaters closed for the pandemic and Western streaming services mostly unwelcome in China’s tightly controlled internet market, there’s been little occasion to connect moviegoers with popular franchises,...

’Spider-Man: Across The Spider Verse’ soars past $550m.

World box office June 23-25 Rank Film (distributor) 3-day (world) Cume (world) 3-day (int’l)Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Lost In The Stars (Various) $70.4m $97.6m $70.4m $97.6m 1 2. Elemental (Disney) $49.8m $121.1m $31.3m $55.6m 41 3. The Flash (Warner Bros) $41.9m $210.9m $26.6m $123.3m 79 4. Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (Sony) $41.3m $560.3m $22m $243.2m 64 5. Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts (Paramount) $37.2m $341.2m $25.6m $218.3m 70 6. No Hard Feelings (Sony) $24.6m $24.6m $9.5m $9.5m 49 7. The Little Mermaid (Disney) $18.1m $499.3m $9.4m $229.1m 53 8. Asteroid City (Focus) $12.9m $16.7m $3.9m $6.5m 36 9. Love Never Ends (Various) $11.7m $23.5m $11.7m $23.5m...

Chinese mystery drama “Lost in the Stars” was the top-grossing film on the planet over the latest weekend – despite playing only a single territory.

The film earned $70.7 million (RMB502 million) between Friday and Sunday in mainland China, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. That put it far and away ahead of other Chinese new releases and Hollywood’s holdovers “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” and “The Flash.”

With the Dragon Boat Festival holiday occurring on Thursday, the film was given an unusual one-day advance on the normal releasing pattern in China. Including Thursday takings, the film made a total of $98.3 million (RMB968 million).

Data from Comscore shows “Lost in the Stars” handily beating second-placed “Elemental,” which earned $49.8 million between Friday and Sunday ($31.3 million in 40 international markets and $18.5 million in North America).

“Lost in the Stars” is a Chinese adaptation of a 1990 Russian movie “A Trap for the Lonely Man,...

China’s first big blockbuster of the summer has arrived. Lost in the Stars, a mystery thriller produced by As One Productions, opened to $98.3 million over the four-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday weekend, according to data from regional box office consultancy Artisan Gateway. With advance ticket sales for Monday added to the tally, Lost in the Stars has easily crossed the $100 million mark.

Romantic drama Love Never Ends, from Lian Ray Picutres, came out one day earlier and scored second for the holiday with a $23.7 million five-day opening.

Lost in the Stars is co-written by Chen Sicheng, the hitmaking writer-director behind the Detective Chinatown franchise (the three films in the series have earned over $1.3 billion). Ticketing app Maoyan projects Lost in the Stars to eventually earn over $400 million.

Co-directed by Rui Cui and Xiang Liu, the film stars Zhu Yilong as a man whose wife (played by Janice Man) mysteriously...

Update: After two major studio movies bowed last weekend, this session was one of holdovers for Hollywood with mixed results.

Last weekend’s leader, The Flash, which had initially come in lower than projections, added $26.6M in 78 offshore markets this weekend, dropping by 59%.The Warner Bros/DC deep universe title now counts an international running cume of $123.3M for $211M worldwide.

The Top 5 markets are China ($23.6M), Mexico ($14.4M), UK ($8.5M), Brazil ($5.4M) and Korea ($4.7M).

Disney/Pixar’s Elemental, meanwhile, had better holds in its second frame, sliding by just 18% (-7% when excluding China). Korea is particularly notable with strong social scores, and this frame was up 18% there, becoming the first movie to overtake local juggernaut The Roundup: No Way Out at No. 1, as well as leading over new entry Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

In Korea, Elemental had the 3rd highest sophomore weekend for Pixar titles after Inside Out...