BBC Journalist “Beaten & Kicked By Police” In China As Protests Rage Amidst Accusations Of World Cup Crowd Censorship

Welcome back, Insiders. Jesse Whittock here. Christmas is just around the corner now but the news doesn’t let up. Let’s begin.

Taking a look ahead to 2023, Gower Street Analytics is projecting global box office to hit $29B, repping a 12% gain on 2022 should this year remain on track for approximately $25.8B. The London-based firm estimates 2022 receipts stood at $23.6B as of December 10. 

Grant Wahl‘s death is no longer being suspected of foul play according to his brother Eric.

England’s heartbreaking defeat to France on Saturday became the most-viewed UK TV broadcast of the year so far, peaking with 21.3M viewers on ITV1.

IMAX China Holding, Inc and IMAX Corporation have named CAA China veteran Daniel Manwaring as Chief Executive Officer of IMAX China. He succeeds interim CEO Jiande Chen, who will return to his full-time role as Vice Chairman of IMAX China. Manwaring takes over the post from January 9, 2023.

Jackie Chan made a rare on-stage appearance at the Red Sea Film Festival Thursday, where he told fans that he is currently in talks to make a fourth Rush Hour movie.

Antonio Banderas’s latest film, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, screened at the Red Sea Film Festival this week, and the actor told the festival audience that he believes his animated feline is likely to return to the big screen in a fifth Shrek movie.

England’s comfortable second round victory over Senegal last night was watched by a peak of nearly 20M viewers on ITV, becoming the most-viewed of the Qatar World Cup 2022 tournament so far in the UK.

Moonage Daydream is returning to the really big screen.

England’s emphatic 3-0 victory over local rival Wales in the Qatar World Cup was seen by a peak UK audience of 18.7M.

Apple stock fell 3% today as it was hit by two headwinds — protests in China threatening iPhone production and claims of “censorship” lodged by new Twitter owner Elon Musk.

In its third weekend, Disney/Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever continued to reign at the global and international box office. With a $32.1M offshore frame (-53%), the sequel has an overseas total of $308M for $675.6M worldwide through Sunday.

Canadian singer Kris Wu was sentenced by a Beijing court today to 13 years in jail after being convicted on rape and other related charges.

, hosted by Qatar, has spawned countless controversies already, many of which have nothing to do with and everything to do with Qatar's human rights record. But despite protests and performance boycotts from the likes of , the tournament has continued on. And with the World Cup, comes a World Cup anthem.This year's song is a collaboration between Nicki Minaj, Colombian singer Maluma (who starred in ), and the Lebanese actor and singer Myriam Fares.

England’s fiery World Cup opener against Iran, which ended 6-2, was watched by a peak of 8M viewers yesterday lunchtime in the UK. The peak was similar to that of host Qatar’s opener with Ecuador.

Call it a holiday tradition as common as sweet potatoes on the Thanksgiving table, but Disney is going to rule the five-day holiday stretch again after wins in 2016 (Moana), 2017 (Coco), 2018 (Ralph Breaks the Internet), 2019 (Frozen 2) and last year (Encanto), as Black Panther: Wakanda Forever‘s third weekend looks to do $40M over Wednesday-Sunday and Disney Animation’s Strange World hopes to squeeze out $30M+. All of this occurs as Bob Iger is re-installed as the CEO of Disney and the studio’s distribution czar Kareem Daniel exits.