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2024年12月10日 星期二
China Box Office: ‘Her Story’ Stays on Top as ‘Moana 2’ Drops to Third Place #Entertainment #China #Beauty #Pretty
(Variety) Maxtime Pictures' "Her Story," a comedy-drama film told from a largely female perspective, topped the mainland China box office for the third consecutive weekend. Disney's "Moana 2," which had debuted in second place, dropped to third.
Data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway showed "Her Story" sliding from its previous weekend's showing by earning RMB90.1 million ($12.7 million) between Friday and Sunday. The film now has a cumulative total of $76.3 million in the Middle Kingdom, a number that slightly differs from the $74.8 million figure reported by Comscore.
"Her Story" is directed by Shao Yihui (2021's "B For Busy"). Its fast-paced story focuses on two women – one a recently unemployed single mom, the other a new neighbor who is more troubled than she appears – who become friends. Together they face up to various relationship challenges, including an abusive ex-husband and new romantic possibilities.
Dimension Films' "Burning Stars" debuted in second place with $7 million. Directed by Xu Zhanxiong ("Sea of Stars," Golden Rooster award winner "The Pioneer," Golden Crane award winner "Wild Grass"), the historical fiction action-drama follows a group of young students who embark on a top-secret mission, using themselves as bait to achieve an evacuation operation. The cast includes Roy Wang ("Ray of Light"), Sophie Zhang ("She's Got No Name"), Connor Leong ("Song of Life") and Li Chen ("Bureau 749").
"Moana 2" earned $3.6 million over the weekend in third place and has a cumulative total of $11 million in the territory. In fourth place was Tamil-language Indian film "Maharaja," from The Route. Directed by Nithilan Saminathan, the film stars Vijay Sethupathi, with Indian auteur Anurag Kashyap continuing his acting sojourn in Tamil films, playing the antagonist. The film grossed slightly more than its debut frame, earning $2.8 million over the weekend and now has a cumulative total of $7.6 million.
A highly anticipated film makes it to the top five by dint of advance ticket bookings. Emperor Motion Pictures' "The Last Dance," due to release Dec. 14, has already scored $2 million in ticket sales. Directed by up-and-coming Hong Kong filmmaker Anselm Chan, the film follows a cash-strapped former wedding planner and a stern old Taoist priest who become unlikely partners in the funeral business. It boasts an all-star cast headed by Cantonese comedy icons Dayo Wong ("Table for Six") and Michael Hui ("Security Unlimited," "Where the Wind Blows").
The film has broken records in Hong Kong as the highest-grossing Chinese-language film in the territory. It played recently at the Tokyo International Film Festival.
The nationwide weekend box office was $39.8 million and the year-to-date running total is $5.74 billion. That is still 21% below the same point in 2023.
Source: Variety by Naman Ramachandran Dec 8, 2024 9:44pm PT
2024年12月9日 星期一
Transcending barriers at film festival #Entertainment #China #Beauty #Pretty
(Xinhua) Chinese cinephiles can take a time-erasing trip down memory lane as 30 years after Forrest Gump, Tom Hanks and Robin Wright reunite with director Robert Zemeckis in his new movie made using technology that allows them to "magically "appear as their younger selves on-screen.
The director debuted the film Here in the coastal city of Xiamen, Fujian province, on Nov 15. While it is not a sequel to the Oscar-winning Forrest Gump, it tells a touching tale of love, loss, laughter and life.
The premiere was part of the recently concluded 2024 China Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival, and provided the audience with a nostalgic mix of the past with cutting-edge technology, while also highlighting the long-standing tradition of cinematic exchange between China and the United States.
Masterful conversation
"We will always remember that line, 'Run, Forrest, run,' in Forrest Gump. I think it's fair to say the director created an epic of the era," said acclaimed filmmaker Chen Kaige, who won this year's Golden Rooster Best Director award. Chen made the remarks as part of a conversation with Zemeckis during a film festival seminar.
Both films share stories with universal themes that transcend time and location. After attending the premiere on Nov 15, 27-year-old Wang Yanglin, an avid fan of Zemeckis, said, "Forrest's optimism has always inspired me through the tough times in my life, and today's new film touches on a similar theme — chasing dreams fearlessly because time truly flies."
At the seminar, Zemeckis said that one of the most anticipated features of Here is its groundbreaking 'digital makeup', a technique that wasn't possible just five years ago, let alone executed as flawlessly and seamlessly as it is in this film. "We were truly at the perfect place and the perfect time to make this film," he added.
In recent decades, technological advancements have dramatically transformed the film industries in both China and the US, with AI-powered visual effects now a staple of many productions. This evolution has sparked significant discussions and sharing between filmmakers from both countries.
"At the end of the day, all artistic activities revolve around humanity. It is especially the case for filmmaking, as the kind of authenticity that comes from real life and existence is truly invaluable," Chen said, while emphasizing the significant challenge of balancing artistic vision with technological advancements, stressing that the latter should support, not suppress, the former.
Fully recognizing this challenge, Zemeckis believes that cinema has always been a blend of technology and artistry. As the industry transitions into the digital age, he remarked that "everything is going to come back to the basics, which is story and character".
Challenges and chances
Other challenges are also emerging in the global film market as traditional cinema, a real-time cultural experience, is now confronted with fierce competition from the fast-growing popularity of short videos and online entertainment, which have become ever more ubiquitous and tend to dominate leisure time.
The 2024 summer box office in China fell short of expectations, with a 44 percent decline from the previous year — sending ripples through the world's second-largest film market.
On the other side of the ocean, US box-office revenue in 2024 is projected to be 10 percent lower than last year, according to Boxoffice Pro, a global cinema industry publication, and it will struggle to reach the pre-pandemic yearly sales level.
"A common challenge faced by the Chinese and American film industries is that during the pandemic, people gradually developed a dependency on online streaming content. After the pandemic, this shift in consumption habits has posed challenges for the film industries in both countries," says Liang Junjian, associate professor at Tsinghua University.
As they navigate similar challenges, the two film industries are paying closer attention to each other — drawing on each other's insights, and exploring collaborative opportunities.
At the 45th American Film Market earlier this month in Las Vegas, the China Film Joint Pavilion hosted by the China Film Group garnered considerable interest.
Fu Ruoqing, chairman of the China Film Group, says that Hollywood studios, including Warner Bros, Universal, Sony and Disney, have shown interest in distributing Chinese films, and in forming partnerships.
At this year's China Film Golden Rooster Awards ceremony, Oppenheimer, a biopic written and directed by British American filmmaker Christopher Nolan, won the Best Foreign Language Film award. The award was established in 2021 to align with international standards and attract outstanding films from abroad. It chronicles the life of American scientist, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and his pivotal role in the development of the atomic bomb.
"Film festivals and awards represent a real opportunity for cultural exchange and development," Richard Allen, chair professor of the School of Creative Media at the City University of Hong Kong, said while attending a forum on film education and industry at Xiamen University during the festival.
"In principle, both China and the US should be interested in marketing their films in each other's markets, because the profits to be made are potentially much larger if they collaborate, rather than compete against each other," he said.
Inspiration and influence
Since The Fugitive became the first Hollywood film introduced to China on a revenue-sharing basis, followed by Forrest Gump a year later, the exchange of movies between the two countries has flourished.
Many film experts agree that while Hollywood films are not as popular in the Chinese market as they were a decade ago, some films still attract a significant audience. At the same time, the Chinese film market remains open to introducing a broader range of international films from diverse cultures and genres.
Chinese films, meanwhile, have been trying to expand overseas. In the early 2000s, Zhang Yimou's Hero found box-office success in North America. In recent years, the film adaptation of sci-fi author Liu Cixin's novel The Wandering Earth penetrated the North American market and caught the attention of mainstream American media.
Cinema continues to serve as a potent medium for cultural exchange between China and the US, fostering mutual understanding and deepening each nation's appreciation of the other.
"Film plays an indispensable role in facilitating China-US cultural and people-to-people exchange," says Raymond Zhou, a seasoned film critic. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon remains the highest-grossing non-English language film in North America, and its martial arts director Yuen Woo-ping was also invited to contribute to the action sequences in the American film The Matrix."
At the film festival in Xiamen, many young filmmakers demonstrated an extensive understanding of the film histories of both China and the US. Through dialogue and the exchange of ideas, they gained valuable insight that is likely to influence their future creative endeavors.
Attending the festival for the first time, Edward Drake, a young American director, says that he gained a lot of inspiration from the conversation between Chen and Zemeckis.
"It's fascinating to see two incredibly different filmmakers united by their shared commitment to telling great stories about the human condition. They approach their craft from distinct Asian and American perspectives. That's the beauty of film — it can transcend cultural boundaries, bring people together, and is all rooted in our shared humanity," he says.
Source: Xinhua | Updated: 2024-11-25 08:02
2024年12月8日 星期日
‘Kraven the Hunter’ Sets Release in Mainland China Theaters #Entertainment #China #Beauty #Pretty
(Variety) "Kraven the Hunter" has been granted a theatrical release in mainland China that is closely coordinated with its North American and international rollouts."Kraven the Hunter" has been granted a theatrical release in mainland China that is closely coordinated with its North American and international rollouts.
It will open in Chinese theaters on Dec. 14, a Saturday. Its international campaign begins at Saudi Arabia's Red Sea International Film Festival on Dec 11, along with the first commercial outings in Europe. Its U.S. and Canada releases begin on (Friday) Dec. 12.
The film is the sixth in Sony's Spider-Man Universe and is a standalone story of how one of Marvel's most iconic villains came to be.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays Kraven, a man whose complex relationship with his ruthless gangster father, Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe), starts him down a path of vengeance with brutal consequences, motivating him to become not only the greatest hunter in the world, but also one of its most feared.
Other key cast include Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger, Alessandro Nivola and Christopher Abbott.
Directed by J.C. Chandor, with a story by Richard Wenk and a screenplay by Wenk, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway it is produced by Produced by Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach and David Householter.
China has been a difficult market for Hollywood films in recent years as audiences become better served by local titles and as demographics change. But this year's Mainland China box office malaise has caused authorities to be relatively lenient with imported titles – in terms of import volume, release dates and content
In North America, the film has been given an R-rating. China does not have a rating system and all film releases are supposed to be suitable for all audiences. However, some distributors add unofficial content warnings about suitability for young audiences. In other cases, censors may require cuts to be made.
Another import film lining up a wide release in China is India's "Maharaja." A crime actioner with a social message, the film stars Vijay Sethupathi and Anurag Kashyap. It opens in China on (Saturday) Nov. 29, having released in India and multiple international territories in June.
Source: Variety by Patrick Frater Nov 24, 2024 9:49pm PT
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