China Box Office: $5.1 Million ‘Luca’ Debut Can’t Douse ‘Raging Fire’

Rebecca Davis editor“Free Guy” retained its lead of the China box office for the third weekend in a row, and has now surpassed “Tenet” in local sales.It brought in $12.4 million on a rare weekend with three non-Chinese language titles in the top five, according to Maoyan figures.China’s box office has been dismal all summer and the slump continued this week with, once again, only five films that made over $1 million.

Refresh for latest…: Disney/Marvel’s Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings handily crossed the $250M mark globally this weekend, seeing a very good 34% drop at the international box office and maintaining No. 1s in such key markets as Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Korea, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain and the UK.

Vivienne Chow Nicholas Tse, star of the recent hit film “Raging Fire,” says he has applied to renounce his Canadian citizenship and will embrace the People’s Republic of China instead. The move comes as Chinese authorities mount crackdowns on the entertainment industry and on dual citizenship.The singer-actor-celebrity chef made the announcement during an interview on Sunday on CCTV, China’s state broadcaster.

BEIJING -- Chinese social media platform Weibo banned a fan club of popular South Korean K-pop band BTS from posting for 60 days, saying it had raised funds illegally, days after photographs of a customized airplane funded by the fan club were posted online.The fan club account, which had over 1.1 million followers on Weibo, was centered around BTS member Jimin.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Free Guy” held on strongly to grab a second weekend at the top of the mainland China box office. It beat an unusual theatrical release for “The Tomorrow War,” which has gone straight to streaming in other territories.“Free Guy” earned $18.3 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from consultancy, Artisan Gateway.

That 3-day total is second only to the $80 million opening for “Black Widow” on the list of highest post-shutdown domestic opening weekend totals and just tops the $70 million opening for “F9” earlier this summer. The 4-day total is also nearly triple the previous record for the highest Labor Day opening weekend record of $30.5 million set by “Halloween” in 2007.

(continued below)These are just a handful of the strict regulations President Xi Jinping has ordered in the name of "national rejuvenation". He's also clamping down on the video game and internet industry, having launched anti-monopoly, data security and other enforcement actions against companies.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe Chinese government’s crackdown on the tech and entertainment sectors has now turned to “sissy idols,” “effeminate men” and all things “overly entertaining.”The measures were sketched out in an eight-point plan on Thursday by the National Radio and Television Administration.

The Chinese government has issued new orders to its broadcasters in its continuing crackdown on culture, business and social mores. This time, it called for a ban on what it termed “effeminate men,” asking instead that “revolutionary culture” be touted.

Reuters has reported.Their message included criticism that the industry supports an “effeminate” male image, to the detriment of Chinese men, they said. The National Radio and Television Administration of China also intends to put the squeeze on stars’ outsized salaries while encouraging such entertainment tycoons to volunteer to aid public welfare programs.

BEIJING -- China’s government banned effeminate men on TV and told broadcasters Thursday to promote “revolutionary culture,” broadening a campaign to tighten control over business and society and enforce official morality.President Xi Jinping has called for a “national rejuvenation,” with tighter Communist Party control of business, education, culture and religion.

Netflix asked him to change the location of his new film Hustle from China to Majorca.Sandler, who signed a new deal with Netflix at the start of 2020 to make four more original films, explained that the streaming giant changed his original concept for the new film about a basketball recruiter who travels overseas.“It was written originally that I find a player in China and somehow, Netflix is not in China,” Sandler said on The Dan Patrick Show.“So they were like, ‘Would you guys please make it

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.

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. 

Disney’s 20th Century Studios’ Ryan Reynolds movie Free Guy is getting a China release date of Aug. 27.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefDisney’s Asia-Pacific president Luke Kang and Greg Silverman, CEO & founder of Stampede Ventures are among the top executives who are confirmed as speakers at the September edition of APOS.

Mónica Marie Zorrilla “Better Days” director Derek Tsang has been tapped to direct and co-executive produce Netflix’s adaptation of “Three-Body-Problem” for David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.