As Local Biz Blossoms, Estonian Producers Take Top Projects to Cannes

Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s fantasy family martial arts movie, Everything Everywhere All at Once, has officially taken over Ari Aster’s Hereditary as the highest grossing movie worldwide ever from A24, $80.9M to $80.2M.

Warner Bros. Discovery has officially laid out its senior EMEA leadership team under President and Managing for the region (excl Poland) Priya Dogra.

Following Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick strutting its stuff and Disney’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness‘ charge toward $1 billion, Universal and Amblin’s Jurassic World Dominion will once again prove that there’s a global appetite for moviegoing close to two years after cinemas reopened.

Rita Ora is getting in on the action.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“My Blue Summer,” a local romance led the Chinese box office higher over the latest weekend with a modestly respectable $7.2 million (RMB48.2 million) opening session. But the trend is hard to discern due to continually changing COVID conditions in China and the country’s uncertain economic direction.The nationwide Friday to Sunday box office total was $26.7 million, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. The total was more than double the $11.5 million achieved the previous weekend.The performance was goosed by the Dragon Boat Holiday weekend, operating June 3-5.

Refresh for latest…: Paramount/Skydance’s Top Gun: Maverick, as projected yesterday, has flown past $500M worldwide, with $548.6M through its first two frames. The offshore weekend is estimated at $81.7M, an incredible hold of -20%, to lift the international box office cume to $257M in 64 markets. This does not include big Tom Cruise hub Korea which rolls out on June 23 (nor are China and Russia in the mix).

Not only is that just a 33% drop from the Tom Cruise film’s $126.7 million 3-day opening, but it is also higher than the opening weekend of every other film in Cruise’s career, including every “Mission: Impossible” film. With this result, “Top Gun: Maverick” will see its domestic total soar to $290 million by the end of the weekend, already making it the top domestic grosser of Cruise’s career before inflation adjustment.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorAudible will immerse listeners in “The Big Lie,” an original drama series based on the FBI’s real-life infiltration of Hollywood during the 1950’s Red Scare.“The Big Lie,” premiering June 16 on Audible, stars Jon Hamm as FBI special agent Jack Bergin, who sets out to shut down production of “Salt of the Earth” — the only movie named to the so-called Hollywood Blacklist — after he becomes convinced that it’s really a recruiting tool for the Communist Party. The seven-episode “The Big Lie” will premiere exclusively on Audible, available at this link.“I don’t want to see somebody get killed over this movie,” Hamm’s FBI agent says threateningly in the series trailer, which was just released by Audible.

One of Marvel’s “hottest new superheroes,” Simu Liu busts a few “fine” dance moves as he’s welcomed to Tuesday’s “Ellen DeGeneres Show” by guest host, “Saturday Night Live” alum Leslie Jones.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterTom Cruise’s star-spangled blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick” capped off Memorial Day weekend with a box office debut for record books. The sequel, which sees Cruise return to the cockpit after 36 years, collected $156 million in its first four days of release.Those ticket sales were enough to overtake Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” which launched with $153 million over the long weekend in 2007, as the biggest Memorial Day debut in history.Paramount and Skydance had originally expected “Top Gun: Maverick” to finish the long weekend with $151 million, but the film had a better-than-expected turnout on Sunday, pushing the three-day haul to $126 million.

Tom Cruise earned the biggest movie launch of his career with "Top Gun: Maverick," bringing in a projected $151 million at the box office during Memorial Day weekend. The Paramount film, which was delayed multiple times due to the coronavirus pandemic, now holds the record for the second-best Memorial Day opening of all time behind Johnny Depp’s "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End," which earned $153 million when it was released in 2007.

Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick is soaring in its overseas debuts, clocking $33M from 47 markets at the international box office through Thursday. The Tom Cruise-starrer officially launched on Wednesday offshore, following paid previews in some hubs, and adds another 15 markets today, bringing the total to 62 in what is the studio’s widest release ever internationally on nearly 24,000 screens.

Everything Everywhere All At Once has broken a US box office record for indie studio A24.The ambitious, multi-dimensional martial arts film, direct by The Daniels (Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), overtook Uncut Gems as the studio’s highest-grossing movie ever, making $52,263,484 (£41,829,079) at the US domestic box office after the weekend.The Michelle Yeoh-starring film could be on course to overtake Ari Aster’s horror movie Hereditary as A24’s highest-grossing movie worldwide ($80million) – especially as it still hasn’t opened in all international markets yet, even after its delayed release in UK and Ireland cinemas on May 13.Yeoh plays Evelyn Wang in the film, a mother thrown into a sci-fi action-adventure – alongside Jamie Lee Curtis, Stephanie Hsu and Ke Huy Quan – after she learns she’s able to access the memory and skills of alternate versions of herself throughout the multiverse.Watch the trailer for Everything Everywhere All At Once below.Earlier this month (May 13), Yeoh said she texted Jackie Chan teasing him about turning down the lead role.The martial arts legend was originally envisioned by Scheinert and Kwan as playing Everything Everywhere All At Once‘s main character. However, when he said he was unavailable, they rewrote the part for Yeoh.“Jackie actually texted me,” she told the Guardian about his response to the film.

There were memorable scenes in Manchester on Monday night as Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City players celebrated their latest Premier League title win in style with an open-top bus parade.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefCinema box office this year in North America is poised to overtake theatrical revenues in China, the country that has been the world’s largest movie market for the past two years.Before the latest weekend, gross revenues in the year to date stood at $2.38 billion for the North American compared with $2.43 billion for China, according to data from ComScore.U.K.-based research firm Gower Street Analytics forecast that the North American figure would overtake China’s revenues over the weekend or early this week. That reflects business growth in North America and the current reversal in China, where anti-COVID measures are causing renewed cinema closures.Gower Street says that some 85% of global cinemas are now open for business, compared with pre-pandemic levels.

Kristen Stewart nailed casual chic as she departed the Hôtel Martinez during the 75th annual Cannes Film Festival on Monday.  The actress, 32, flashed the band of her underwear beneath a white Chanel crop top while exhibiting her legs in a pair of distressed denim shorts. Hitting the streets of the French city, she is currently staying at the five-star hotel, where prices per night reach a staggering €1,251 (£1,060).

Refresh for latest…: Disney/Marvel’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness crossed $800M globally this weekend, now with $803.2M after three frames. Of that $342.1M is from domestic and $461.1M from the international box office. The offshore drop was 53% with $40M from 49 markets.

This means that the MCU now has the top two highest totals for any Hollywood film since theaters reopened, as “Doctor Strange 2” is now only second to the $1.89 billion total of “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” It should also pass the totals of last year’s Chinese blockbuster hits “Hi, Mom” ($822 million) and “The Battle at Lake Changjin” ($902 million) in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Focus Features’ “Downton Abbey: A New Era” has opened to $16 million from 3,820 theaters — a record screen count for Universal’s specialty wing — and earned a global opening of $51.7 million.

The 2022 Cannes Film Festival opened amid concerns around journalistic independence. Now there are concerns regarding jury independence.