Bleecker Street Comedy ‘Together, Together’ Debut Led Specialty Box Office On Oscar Weekend

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Spiral: From The Book of Saw” carved out the top spot at the South Korean box office over the weekend. But it was a thin slice of a painfully quiet weekend.Korea’s aggregate nationwide box office was just $2.60 million, almost unchanged from last week and within a whisker of being the smallest weekend total in three months.

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Refresh for latest…: A significant week is ahead at the international box office as Universal’s F9 starts its engines in a handful of major markets including China, Russia and Korea — and as the UK and France will reopen cinemas after a roughly seven-month shutdown. In the meantime, Fast & Furious franchise alum Jason Statham’s Wrath Of Man was the main overseas Hollywood title this session, lifting its offshore cume to $41.4M for $56M global.

Spiral: From the Book of Saw is on top at the box office.

"Saturday Night Live" took on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the recent ousting of Rep. Liz Cheney by House Republicans during its latest "Weekend Update" segment.  Comedic duo Colin Jost and Michael Che took to the "SNL" stage once again this week to recap the most-talked-about headlines as of late.

Zack Snyder poses for a photo while attending an opening night screening of his new movie Army of the Dead on Friday night (May 14) at the Landmark Theatre in Westwood, Calif.

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Rebecca Davis editorZhang Yimou’s spy thriller “Cliff Walkers” strode into first place this weekend at the China box office with a $24.3 million score, bringing its cumulative total up to $118 million, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway.It more than tripled the gross of “My Love,” the melodramatic rom-com that had outpaced it last week for first place, in what was the opening weekend for both films.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefNewly released “The Croods: A New Age” jostled with two previously-released titles to form a triumvirate at the top of the South Korean box office over the weekend of May 7-9, 2021.But after a sprightly Wednesday, which was a national holiday, the weekend numbers were weak. Aggregate takings between Friday and Sunday were a lowly $2.57 million.Box office charts in Korea are typically ranked in order of ticket sales.

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Refresh for latest…: Yet another international box office frame was led by Chinese movies in their home market as local May Day holdovers continued play coming off a record holiday session. While a handful of studio titles are doing business in other pockets of the world, we are in something of a holding pattern until majors like the UK and France begin opening in the coming weeks, and as Universal’s F9 is expected to rev up overseas turnstiles for Hollywood starting on May 19.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“Wrath of Man,” a heist thriller starring Jason Statham, is leading box office charts with its $8.1 million debut.It’s hardly the start to summer movie season, which typically kicks off the first weekend in May, that many theater owners were hoping would ignite with Marvel’s “Black Widow.” (Disney recently moved the release of its superhero tentpole starring Scarlet Johansson from May 7 to July 9).

Bleecker Street has acquired U.S. rights to Fran Kranz’ Mass, which made its world premiere at Sundance back in January. A fourth quarter theatrical release is currently planned.

Zhang Yimou's spy thriller Cliff Walkers was the best reviewed new release to open over China's lucrative May Day holiday weekend, but it was far from the biggest earner. Youth romance My Love, from Beijing Enlight Pictures, overcame withering reviews to dominate the start of the long holiday frame, earning $65.1 million from Friday to Sunday.

Rebecca Davis editorZhang Yimou’s snowy period spy thriller “Cliff Walkers” debuted in China this Labor Day holiday weekend with $37.7 million. But it was outrun by local rom-com “My Love,” which took a comfortable box office victory.That tale of young love starring Taiwan’s Greg Hsu and Zhang Ruonan of the popular TV show “Cry Me A Sad River” opened Friday to earn $65.1 million over three days, according to data from Artisan Gateway.

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Refresh for latest…: After a couple of relatively slow sessions, China turned up the heat again this weekend as the five-day May Day/Labor Day holiday dawned. At least 10 new local titles released across Friday and Saturday with romance drama My Love in the lead through Sunday at an estimated RMB 424M ($65M).

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: Though the numbers aren’t as big as their opening weekends, an interesting tale continues at the weekend box office during the pandemic with New Line’s Mortal Kombat and Funimation/Aniplex’s Demon Slayer bound for a photo-finish of $6.1M each in their second weekends. Really, it’s too close to call No. 1 right now.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaKristen Stewart and Viggo Mortensen will star in David Cronenberg’s upcoming sci-fi film, titled “Crimes of the Future, about a popular performance artist whose schtick involves growing new organs in his body.The sci-fi thriller sounds extremely Cronenberg-ian.