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The fourth installment in China’s wildly popular Detective Chinatown action comedy franchise has locked down day-and-date theatrical release plans in North America, Europe and Southeast Asia. The highly anticipated feature will open around the world on Jan. 29, the same date it unfurls at home in China on the first day of the lucrative Lunar New Year holiday.

The previous three films in the franchise — spanning 2015-2021 and all directed by Chen Sicheng — collectively earned over $1.3 billion in cinemas, with the vast majority coming from the domestic Chinese market.

The new title, Detective Chinatown 1900, is co-directed by Chen and Dai Mo. Detective Chinatown favorites Wang Baoqiang and Liu Haoran both return to star, along with franchise newcomer Chow Yun Fat. The film is a prequel that takes audiences back to turn-of-the-century San Francisco. The supporting cast includes Hollywood actor John Cusack, Yue Yunpeng (Full River Red), Steven Zhang (Endless Journey...

"You may leave now. I'll figure it out on my own." Cmc Pictures has revealed a new international trailer for a Chinese crime thriller titled Octopus with Broken Arms, directed by Jacky Gan. The film is originally titled Wu Sha 3, so it's the third in a series of crime films about crime and vengeance and child trafficking. The wealthy businessman Zheng Bingrui invited his daughter Tingting's teacher Li Huiping and classmates' parents to a party at his home. Unexpectedly, Tingting was kidnapped. Police officer Zhang Jingxian led the team to investigate. A kidnapping case uncovers the depths of child trafficking. To save their children, the parents become demons. Yet another unoriginal story. Starring Chen Sicheng, Jacky Gan, Xiao Yang, Tong Liya, Duan Yihong. The film is will be released internationally (in the US & UK) starting in January 2025 after it debuts in China this week. Not much to see here...

Back in 2010, Chinese actress Chen Zhixi was performing in a supporting role alongside Xu Zheng, one of China’s biggest comedy stars, in the popular period drama series Li Wei the Magistrate. The show was a hit and a significant role for her, but Chen already had grown restless with her acting work and was pondering other paths through the industry.

“Being an actor requires you to be a bit passive because you always have to just hope that you’ll get that callback,” she tells THR during a Zoom interview conducted with an interpreter. “I’m not the kind of person who likes to wait to be selected. I’d much prefer to be the one who makes the rules rather than follows them.”

In Zheng, she says she recognized a comedic visionary of still untapped potential. She suggested that they make a pact: One day, he would not...

After going dark last year due to the war in Gaza, the Cairo Film Festival now returns with a super-sized program and a more humanist remit. Running Nov. 13 – 22, this bulked out edition aims for wider international visibility and greater attendance, all while keeping the projectors running longer than ever before.

“We have to compensate,” says incoming artistic director Essam Zakarea. “We have to make a bigger edition with an unprecedented number of films.”

For this 45th edition, the Cairo Film Festival will screen 194 titles spread across 15 sections, including a number of competitive sections devoted to Palestinian stories and cinema.

This too was born of the similar instinct that the saw the lights dim in 2023.

“If last year was canceled in solidarity with Gaza, [we hold] this edition in that same solidarity,” Zakarea says. “Film festivals are just not for entertainment. They also can play a crucial role in politics, in making people more human,...

The movie “Decoded” tells the story of Rong Jinzhen, a gifted mathematician working in 1940s China. As a young man, Jinzhen demonstrates an uncanny ability to solve complex ciphers and codes. He is recruited by his country’s secret intelligence service to aid the war effort by decrypting intercepted enemy communications.

Jinzhen’s journey takes him from an isolated childhood, raised by guardians with unconventional teachings, to the heights of China’s codebreaking operations. Along the way, we see him develop from a shy but brilliant student to a valued asset racing against time to crack intricate puzzles with geopolitical stakes. His personal rival and one-time mentor, a professor played by John Cusack, begins designing ciphers for America, turning mentor against pupil in an international duel of wits.

Directed by Chen Sicheng and based on a popular novel, the film sets out with ambitions of dramatic tension and character depth.

Du Jie, a seasoned Chinese cinematographer who has shot more than 20 films for directors including Chen Sicheng, Guan Ha, Ning Hao and Pema Tseden, has turned his hand to directing.

Japanese drama The Height Of The Coconut Trees marks his feature directorial debut and is premiering in Busan’s New Currents competition

You’ve been living in Japan since early 2020 and chose to direct a Japanese film there with a local cast and crew. How did it come about?

As a DoP, I got to travel to visit New York, Thailand and Japan to shoot the three Detective Chinatown films...

China’s Blossoms Entertainment will introduce Chen Sicheng-produced thriller Octopus With Broken Arms and Midi Z’s Tokyo competitor The Unseen Sister at Busan’s Acfm.

Octopus With Broken Arms is the third instalment of the hit Manslaughter franchise that includes Sheep Without A Shepherd and Fireflies In The Sun, which have grossed a combined $342m (RMB2.4bn) at the Chinese box office.

Xiao Yang returns in the lead role and the film is directed by Jacky Gan, who previously made kidnapping thriller Vortex. It has an original and unrelated story that continues to explore the themes about the...

The work of British filmmaker Christopher Nolan, past and recent, merits even greater appreciation when compared to Chinese director Chen Sicheng’s ambitious but saccharine and mostly dull “Decoded,” an adaptation of the 2002 novel of the same name by Mai Jia. This cradle-to-grave portrait of fictional character Rong Jinzhen (Liu Haoran), a prodigious orphan turned valuable government asset in the 1940s, chronicles how his unique skillset ultimately helped clear the path for China to establish its own nuclear weapons program.

While the magnitude of his task and its global repercussions might immediately induce comparisons to Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” if one takes “Decoded” as “China’s answer” to the recent best picture Oscar winner, the moniker must come with the caveat that this means it’s a toothless film as it relates to moral ambiguity. It’s not a dissident work of art made to question the pursuit of such armament,...

Liu Haoran and John Cusack are set to engage in a fateful showdown between mentor and prodigy. Join young genius Rong Jinzhen (played by Liu Haoran) as he navigates the realms of dreams and reality in a thrilling journey of extreme decoding.

Directed by Chen Sicheng, “Decoded” features a stellar cast including Liu Haoran, John Cusack, Chen Daoming, Daniel Wu, and Faye Yu. The movie is expected to be rolled out internationally after its premiere in China on August 3, 2024.

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.

China’s movie box office made a roaring start to the year, but sales have waned in the months since. Ticket revenue for the first half of 2024 totaled $3.4 billion (Rmb 23.9 billion), down 9 percent from last year, according to data released Tuesday by consultancy Artisan Gateway. Total admissions for the period reached 550 million, an 8.9 percent year-over-year decrease, as average movie ticket prices in the country — at $6.1 billion (Rmb 43.4 billion) — remained relatively stable compared to the past three years.

China’s theatrical market began the year with enviable strength as ticket sales set a new record during the traditional Lunar New Year holiday in February, racking up a record $1.1 billion (Rmb 8.1 billion). But that eight-day stretch came to represent a whopping 33.9 percent of the full first-half haul.

Sales revenue has gone especially soft in the first month of summer, a period once dominated by imported Hollywood movies (Beijing’s film regulators block U.

Imax Corporation and Wanda Film, China’s largest movie exhibitor, are deepening their longstanding partnership with a new deal to upgrade technology and collaborate on future events and experiences. Wanda Film is already Imax’s biggest exhibition partner in the world, with 381 Imax locations in operation across China — and another 19 already on the way. The deal was announced Tuesday, midway through the Shanghai International Film Festival.

The new deal builds on the relationship by committing Wanda to upgrade 61 of its top-performing locations to the giant screen company’s state-of-the-art “Imax with Laser technology,” including top-grossing locations in China’s tier-one cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. Additionally, Wanda Film will renew up to 37 existing Imax locations for another five years and, subject to mutual understanding between the partners, add up to 25 new Imax locations over the next three years.

The partners additionally agreed to explore “explore opportunities to collaborate...

Wanda Film, China’s largest cinema operator, has expanded its business relationship with Imax Corp. in a huge deal that straddles technology and content.

With 381 Imax installations, Wanda alone operates more Imax venues than most countries. The new agreement will see Imax upgrade 61 of its top performing sites to the latest ‘IMAX with Laser’ technology.

These include top-grossing Imax locations in Tier 1 cities Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. Additionally, Wanda Film will renew up to 37 existing Imax locations for another five years and, subject to mutual understanding, add up to 25 new Imax locations over the next three years.

The agreement was announced on the sidelines of the ongoing Shanghai International Film Festival. Imax China CEO Daniel Manwaring was a speaker at a Siff forum on Sunday.

The two companies will also explore opportunities to collaborate on content and experiences across documentaries, music, gaming, and sports. Production and distribution unit, Wanda Pictures...

Imax and Wanda Film, China’s largest exhibitor, have announced a big expansion of their longtime strategic partnership there spanning technology and content.

The agreement calls for Wanda Film to upgrade 61 of its top performing locations to state-of-the-art Imax with Laser technology including in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Wanda will also renew up to 37 existing Imax locations over five years and could add up to 25 new Imax locations over the next three years. Wanda already has the biggest Imax footprint in China.

Imax with Laser is the company’s most advanced experience in terms of image and precision audio.

The large format exhibitor said it will also work with Wanda Pictures (the conglomerate’s production and distribution arm) to explore content and experiences across documentaries, music, gaming, and sports. Imax’ partnership with Wanda on features includes hit Detective Chinatown 3 (2021).

“For years, based on our core commitment to elevating moviegoers’ viewing experience,...

Chinese distributor Cmc Pictures has taken the worldwide rights — excluding China — to local hitmaker Chen Sicheng’s much-anticipated next feature, Decoded. The company says it will release the film theatrically in North America, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and other major international markets later this year following its Chinese bow, expected in the second half of the year. Cmc is offering the theatrical rights to some additional territories, such as Southeast Asia, along the sidelines of the Shanghai International Film Festival this week.

Decoded is based on author Jia Mai’s bestselling Chinese spy novel of the same name, which was translated and published in English in 2002. The film’s starry cast includes Liu Haoran, Daniel Wu, Chen Daoming and Chen Yusi, among others.

Chen Sicheng is best known for his blockbuster Detective Chinatown franchise, which has grossed over $1.2 billion at China’s box office. The director also co-wrote the screenplay for Decoded.

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...

China’s Alibaba Digital Media & Entertainment Group and Hong Kong’s Media Asia Group announced a slate of new projects today at Filmart.

Among the new projects are Born Evil Seed by Time Still Turns The Pages director Nick Cheuk; crime thriller The Other One by Fung Chih Chiang (A Witness Out Of The Blue); and mystery thriller Behind The Scene, directed by David Lee Kwong Yiu and produced by Andrew Lau.

Alibaba Pictures president Li Jie and Media Asia Group CEO Yip Chai Tuck both attended the joint press conference held in Filmart’s Moonlight Theatre, which saw director Soi Cheang,...

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...

‘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...

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...

A couple visit an island to celebrate their one-year wedding anniversary. The wife’s disappearance sparks a dizzying display of double takes and plot pivots

This mystery drama twist-a-thon from China was a huge hit on home turf recently (far outperforming the latest Indiana Jones feature) and has been picked up for distribution in the UK and the US. Although the 180-degree plot pivots start to get a little ridiculous by the end, the script zips along with such gleeful mischievousness that the ride is too fun to resist. Intriguingly, it is supposedly based on a 1990 Russian film called A Trap for Lonely Man, which was itself an adaptation of a stage play by French writer Robert Thomas for which Alfred Hitchcock once bought the rights. You can see traces of what Hitch might have liked about it, because it’s all about dopplegangers, femmes fatale and paranoia spoiling what...

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,...

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...

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...

A “family” of four unexpectedly begins a truck journey full of laughter and tears. Truck driver Zhou Donghai (Qiao Shan) disapproves of his prospective son-in-law, Wan Yifan (Fan Chengcheng). But the harder Wan Yifan tries to please his future father-in-law, the more he gets himself into trouble. In the meantime, the prospective mother-in-law Huo Meimei (Ma Li) and the daughter Zhou Weiyu (Zhang Jingyi) are racking their brains to mediate between this pair of enemies. Can the hapless Wan Yifan successfully pass the various tests set up by his future father-in-law during this road-trip? (Source: Translated from Douban)

Director Yi Xiaoxing has previously worked as a screenwriter with Chen Sicheng (Detective Chinatown trilogy) in 2022’s Mozart from Space. Godspeed will premiere in China on April 28, 2023.

Beijing-based Tiger Pictures Entertainment has acquired worldwide distribution rights outside of mainland China for hit sci-fi comedy film “Moon Man.“

The film, which has collected some 430 million at the Chinese box office to date, tells the story of “the last human in the universe” as an astronaut finds himself stranded on the moon after an asteroid wipes out life on earth. It is directed by Zhang Chiyu, who previously directed 2017 sports comedy hit “Never Say Die.” It was produced by Mahua FunAge, a consistently successful comedy production firm.

FunAge’s “Goodbye Mr. Loser” and “Never Say Die” starred Shen Teng and Ma Li and “Moon Man” brings together the comedy duo once again.

Tiger Pictures Entertainment previously handled the worldwide release of another comedy hit film “Hi Mom” in all major markets with a prominent Chinese diaspora, including North America, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Cambodia as well Hong Kong and Macau Sar.

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Hong Kong crime thriller Detective vs. Sleuths again topped China’s theatrical box office, taking 14.2 million during what was altogether a downbeat weekend of moviegoing in the country.

The market generated just 40.6 million in total revenue during the frame, a modest total for what’s usually China’s busy summer blockbuster season. Ongoing Covid-19 controls across the country and a dearth of top commercial titles continue to hold the local industry back from a more robust recovery.

Produced by Emperor Motion Pictures, Detective vs. Sleuths has earned 96.3 million to date. Close behind from Friday to Sunday was fellow holdover Lighting Up the Stars, which added 11.6 million for a 230 million cumulative gross. Chen Sicheng’s somewhat disappointing sci-fi comedy Mozart From Space came in third with 6.4 million and a 43.8 million running total.

Universal’s Jurassic World: Dominion, the sole Hollywood heavy-hitter allowed into the market in many weeks,...

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Hong Kong crime thriller Detective vs. Sleuths surged to the top of China’s box office in its second weekend of release, earning 18.4 million. Chinese hitmaker Chen Sicheng’s much anticipated sci-fi comedy Mozart From Space, meanwhile, made a disappointing start in second place, taking 16.6 million.

Slipping just 20 percent from its opening frame, Detective vs. Sleuths has earned 58.8 million since its opening July 8. With the summer holiday now underway, ticketing app Maoyan projects the film to finish with a healthy 110 million haul.

Produced by Emperor Motion Pictures, the film tells the story of a police detective (Sean Lau) pushed into retirement because of a mental breakdown who begins his own investigation into a string of crimes perpetrated by a serial killer known as “The Sleuth.” The film is directed by Ka-Fai Wai, best known as the writer of Johnnie To’s Hong Kong crime classic,...

Hong Kong-produced crime action film “Detective Vs Sleuths” took top honors at the mainland China box office in its second weekend of release. New release title, ‘Mozart From Space” came in a disappointing second.

“Detective Vs Sleuths” earned 18.4 million (RMB123 million) between Friday and Sunday, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. That was only a 20 drop compared with its opening weekend and advances it to a 10-day cumulative of 58.8 million.

The film involves Wai Ka-fai, a writer-director who is also a longtime Johnnie To collaborator, re-team with actor Sean Lau (aka Lau Ching-wan), the star of 2007’s “Mad Detective.” The tale sees Lau as a retired and stressed-out former cop on the trail of a serial killer, who appears to be tidying up loose ends in a series of cold cases.

“Mozart From Space” opened with 16.6 million (RMB111 million). The film is a sci-fi comedy about an alien who...

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After two, brief years of dominance, China is surrendering the global box office crown back to North America in 2022.

During the darkest days of the pandemic for Hollywood, when most major tentpoles were put on hold or shifted to streaming, China swept past the U.S. in total ticket sales for the first time in movie history in 2020. The country repeated the feat last year, notching 7.3 billion in ticket revenue compared to just 4.5 billion in North America.

But the first half of 2022 has delivered a very different picture. Ticket sales in China totaled only 2.6 billion over the past six months, down 38 percent from the same period in 2021, according to data from exhibition industry consultancy Artisan Gateway. China’s strict “Covid-zero” approach to the pandemic continued to weigh on moviegoing in the country, as major population centers like Shenzhen and Shanghai were plunged into...

“Jurassic World Dominion” held on to top spot at the mainland China box office despite a 57 drop and the expected challenge from local newcomer “One Week Friends.”

The dinosaur franchise movie picked up 23.3 million (RMB156 million) in China between Friday and Sunday, giving it a healthy cumulative score of 92.4 million after ten days in theaters, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway.

The film’s performance was a steep decline from its opening weekend, but the competition from new release Chinese youth drama film “One Week Friends” was weaker than had been anticipated.

Released only on Saturday, “One Week Friends” earned 5.8 million (RMB38.9 million) from its first two days in Chinese theaters.

The film, directed by Taiwan’s Gavin Lin and produced by Alibaba Pictures’ Surprise Works unit, is a Chinese adaptation of a Japanese manga “Isshukan Friends,” originally written by Hazuki Matcha. It tells the story of a lonely...

Monday Update, writethru after Sunday 11:12Am post: Big news this weekend out of Japan where anime adaptation Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train shattered all-time opening records. The film, which debuted on Friday October 16, as opposed to the usual Saturday/Sunday session, grossed $44M (4.623B yen) across the three-day. It is the global box office leader this weekend and Japan’s biggest launch in industry history.

This is a stunning debut which we hear commandeered 84% of the market with exits at 4.5 out of 5 stars. Putting the opening into some perspective, Frozen 2 last year launched to a 3-day of $18.2M at historical rates. Demon Slayer also set a new IMAX record, opening 18% bigger in the format than previous champ Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker, to become the top IMAX Japan opener ever with $2.27M (238M yen) from 38 screens. Grosses increased incrementally over the weekend for IMAX.

Such was...

The first major blockbuster of the pandemic era, The Eight Hundred this week became the No. 1-grossing movie of 2020 worldwide, jumping ahead of Bad Boys For Life. The Guan Hu-directed war epic has through Friday amassed $434M at the Chinese box office alone, and is also now the 10th biggest movie ever in the Middle Kingdom.

Since the official release on August 21 (more than a year after its original date was derailed), The Eight Hundred has relinquished the No. 1 slot on only four days, demonstrating its dominance even in the face of major Hollywood movies. The reported $80M production is expected to wind down when the National Holiday releases begin on October 1. One of those titles, Leap — which was originally slated for the Lunar New Year — got a jump on the holiday with previews starting today, and led the day at Rmb 56M ($8.2M), putting The Eight Hundred into second place.

Updated with more detail: Amid the escalating outbreak of the deadly coronavirus — and in an unprecedented move — Chinese producers and distributors have cancelled the local release of all films set for the Lunar New Year period that begins this weekend. There were seven potential blockbusters due to hit Middle Kingdom theaters, kicking off what is annually a highly lucrative session at local turnstiles, but the government has warned people not to congregate in crowded areas and producers are understood to have made the decision to delay releases given the potential risk of spreading the disease. It is estimated that over $77M worth of tickets had already been pre-sold for the coming week.

Chinese health authorities announced today that 571 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the virus had been reported in 25 provincial-level regions, while 17 people have died. This morning, the city of Wuhan, where the outbreak originated, was placed on lockdown...

Detective Chinatown 3, the threequel to the mega-grossing action-comedy franchise, is set to receive a significant North American release with Warner Bros planning to engage 150+ theatres as well as IMAX sites.

The previous two films grossed $660m in China alone, with the second film scoring $540m of that total in 2018, making it the sixth most successful film in China of all time.

Those big-grossing Chinese releases don’t typically break out internationally but the second film did take $2m in North America, also via Warner Bros, opening in around 115 theaters.

Now, the studio is betting it can surpass that total with the new film, and is giving it one of the widest releases of a Mandarin-language film in North America in recent years.

The pic rolls out on January 24, day-and-date with the film’s release in China via Wanda Pictures, which is timed to coincide with Chinese New Year, typically...

Exclusive: Detective Chinatown 3, the latest installment in the hugely successful Chinese action-comedy franchise, has scored UK and Ireland distribution after producer Wanda Pictures struck a deal with Brit outfit Trinity Cineasia.

The film is set to be released in China by Wanda on January 25, which is Chinese New Year, typically one of the country’s biggest-grossing days at the box office. In 2019, the holiday set a single-day record for box office in the territory, with China’s cinemas collecting $216m in grosses.

Warner Bros is releasing the film in China on the same date, and Trinity will now day-and-date release the film in the UK concurrently.

Between them, the first two Detective Chinatown films grossed more than $660m in China alone, with the second film responsible for more than $540m of that total in 2018. Results abroad have been less remarkable, though Detective Chinatown 2 did take close to $2m...

Exclusive: Writer-director Chen Sicheng’s Detective Chinatown 2, the sequel to his 2016 hit, has nearly quadrupled that film’s box office to become the No. 3 movie ever in China. With $464M through Thursday, the movie has surpassed The Fate Of The Furious to fall in line behind Wolf Warrior 2 ($854M) and The Mermaid ($527M). The buddy pic that shot largely in New York, is produced by Wanda, Shine Asia and China Film Group. I recently spoke with Chen about the film’s success, his future projects and the Middle Kingdom-Hollywood relationship.

He is planning a third film in the franchise, moving the action to Tokyo, which will release during Chinese New Year in 2020. On the phone from Shanghai, he laughs that there’s “a lot of pressure to try to make a release date,” but with the Lunar New Year period such a lucrative time, it’s ultimately worth it.

Shanghai International Film Festival unveils 2016 line-up.Scroll down for full list of awards

Longman Leung and Sunny Luk’s Cold War 2 [pictured], the sequel to Edko Films’ hit 2012 action thriller, will open this year’s Shanghai International Film Festival (June 11-19).

Meanwhile, Werner Herzog’s Salt And Fire, Bruce Beresford’s Mr Church and Cao Baoping’s Coke And Bull are among the films selected for the Golden Goblet Awards (see full list below).

As previously announced the competition jury is headed by Emir Kusturica and also includes Atom Egoyan, Daniele Luchetti, African filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako (Timbuktu), Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden (Tharlo), Hong Kong actress Karena Lam and Chinese writer Yan Geling.

Japanese filmmaker Kazuo Hara will oversee a separate jury for documentaries, while Swiss animation director George Schwizgebel heads the jury for animated films.

Siff also unveiled nominations in six categories for the Asian New Talent Awards, which has a jury headed by Hong Kong filmmaker...

Werner Herzog’s thriller Salt And Fire will have its world premiere at the festival.

Longman Leung and Sunny Luk’s Cold War 2 [pictured], the sequel to Edko Films’ hit 2012 action thriller, will open this year’s Shanghai International Film Festival (June 11-19).

Meanwhile, Werner Herzog’s Salt And Fire, Bruce Beresford’s Mr Church and Cao Baoping’s Coke And Bull are among the films selected for the Golden Goblet Awards (see full list below).

As previously announced the competition jury is headed by Emir Kusturica and also includes Atom Egoyan, Daniele Luchetti, African filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako (Timbuktu), Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden (Tharlo), Hong Kong actress Karena Lam and Chinese writer Yan Geling.

Japanese filmmaker Kazuo Hara will oversee a separate jury for documentaries, while Swiss animation director George Schwizgebel heads the jury for animated films.

Siff also unveiled nominations in six categories for the Asian New Talent Awards, which has a jury...