A posthumous Chynna album is set to drop next week

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Free Guy” grabbed a convincing win at the top of the China box office, marking the end of a Hollywood drought and was earned despite difficult conditions.The family-friendly comedy earned $23.8 million in three days, according to data from Artisan Gateway. That was fully 56% of the nationwide theatrical haul between Friday and Sunday.It earned $3.77 million of its total from Imax screens.

Chris Willman Music Writer“God’s not finished,” Kanye West sings repeatedly at the end of one of his new songs, “24.” Being made in God’s image, West very much relates to that; he doesn’t like being done with things, either. Yet here we have the miracle, a true, blue spectacle, of a finished “Donda,” the album that until this weekend seemed poised to challenge Guns N’ Roses’ “Chinese Democracy” as the most mythologically delayed major music release ever.

Refresh for latest…: One of the only Hollywood titles to recently be granted a China release date, Disney/20th Century Studios’ Free Guy flew into the market with a $23.9M start. This is a solid launch in the Middle Kingdom, particularly in the current climate, and helped push the Ryan Reynolds-starrer past $100M at the international box office. The full offshore weekend was $37.3M in 47 markets, a slight 23% drop from last session, and the total overseas cume is now $100.3M for $179.6M global.

After a two-month blackout period in China for Hollywood movies, Disney/20th Century Studios’ Free Guy is looking to lead all pics in the country at the weekend B.O. with a $18M+, possibly $20M take. That’s a promising start for one of the first big movies from Hollywood after a long-hiatus, besting the $15M opening weekend of A Quiet Place Part II, and the $7.8M first weekend of Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway. 

Belly has some new music to share.

Saturday Night, Sunday Morning (★★★☆☆) is Bugg’s first album since embarking on a sort of career relaunch after the tepid reception of his last album, and it is readily apparent from the first few tracks that with his pivot, he has found the sharpness he was looking for, and recaptured some of the rawness of his early work.Aside from his singularly strange name-checking of ABBA as an influence on the album’s sound, there is definitely more of a radio-ready pop sensibility to it, bolstered by the

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefChina announced further steps to control celebrity fan culture, which regulators say has become “chaotic.” The moves came as one of China’s most prominent stars Vicki Zhao Wei was scrubbed from the internet and another star, female actor Zheng Shuang was embroiled in a tax scandal.The Cyberspace Administration of China on Friday issued a pair of connected notices.

Belly has released his third studio album, ‘See You Next Wednesday’, and has spoken to NME about the John Landis-inspired project and what it’s like writing hits with The Weeknd.The Palestinian-born, Canadian-raised rapper’s latest effort follows the release of 2018’s ‘Immigrant’, which saw him collaborate with the likes of Meek Mill, Yo Gotti and French Montana.

Jordan Rose Sometimes the best movies often are the ones where the protagonist is seemingly defeated, gets a second lease on life, and returns in the final act to settle the score.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefHollywood film franchises such as “xXx,” “Warcraft” and “Resident Evil” used to be largely sustained by their box office performance in China, which significantly exceeded their North American hauls and drove global grosses. Frequently, Hollywood titles would dominate the Chinese box office charts during most weeks.But in recent years, that tide has been turning.

Nicky Byrne has delighted Westlife fans as he has confirmed that they have finished recording their brand new album.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorKanye West will hold a third public listening session for his still-unreleased “Donda” album at the 60,000-plus-capacity Soldier Field stadium in his hometown of Chicago on Thursday, August 26 at 10 p.m. ET/ 9 p.m.

Last week, it was revealed that The Criterion Collection would add a new disc format to its release schedule, announcing its first batch of 4K UHD titles. And in November, the first wave of those titles, as well as a highly-anticipated box set, aim to lighten your wallets.

Common and Stevie Wonder are set to duet at the seventh Stand Up to Cancer telethon later this month.The ‘I Used to Love HER’ rapper and music icon will take to the stage at the televised charity event that raises money for cancer research.

Rebecca Davis editorChinese censors have approved the next feature from Tibetan director Pema Tseden, a Venice International Film Festival regular and one of the most influential filmmakers working in the Tibetan language.The film’s Chinese name translates to “Stranger.” It is an adaptation of a short story he wrote of the same name, which he has publicly said as far back as 2013 that he hoped one day to adapt into a film.Authorities have approved the script Tseden wrote for the project,

As the fall festivals Venice, Telluride and Toronto, as well as New York and London continue to evolve in the surging Covid environment, AFI Fest has announced it is moving full speed ahead.