China Box Office: Local Drama ‘Moments We Shared’ Crushes ‘Inside Out 2’ and ‘Bad Boys: Ride or Die’ Debuts

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief France’s film and TV sales agencies are expanding their efforts to do business with companies in China and Southeast Asia. That requires travelling to the region and, for some, a tweak to established mindsets. This month has seen a delegation of sales firms set up stall in specially-organized rights markets in Beijing, China, and another in Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh City) in Vietnam.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Expanding its Japanese content, Netflix has set up “Soul Mate,” a live-action series that charts the ten-year romance between a Korean man and a Japanese man. Traversing Berlin, Germany, Seoul, South Korea and Tokyo, Japan, “Soul Mate” starts when a man who left everything behind in Japan (portrayed by Isomura Hayato), is saved by a boxer named Johan (portrayed by Ok Taec-yeon) in a foreign land.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Malaysia International Film Festival (Miffest), which runs July 21-28, will open with horror film “Indera” by local director Woo Ming Jin and starring Shaheizy Sam and Azira Shafinaz. The festival will conclude with the double feature of “Love Lies” by Ho Miu Ki and “Peg O’ My Heart” by Nick Cheung.

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter Will audiences care about the world of “A Quiet Place” without John Krasinski or Emily Blunt? That’ll be the presiding question as “A Quiet Place: Day One,” a prequel story in Paramount’s post-apocalyptic horror series, hits theaters on Friday. The film, which takes place a while before the Abbotts (the family at the center of the prior two movies) were forced into hiding from terrifying, sound-hunting creatures, is expected to collect a solid $40 million to $50 million in its opening weekend. The prequel cost $67 million to produce.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Caught by the Tides,” the contemporary Chinese epic film directed by Jia Zhangke, has been acquired for U.S. release by Sidehow and Janus Films. The film appeared in main competition in Cannes in May and is on one an extended look at the romantic destiny of his perennial heroine, Qiaoqiao (Zhao Tao) over a period of 21 years.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Inside Out 2” enjoyed a stellar second weekend at the South Korean box office, comfortably beating local thriller “Hijack 1971.” The Pixar animation recorded a week-on-week drop of only 15% to score $10.3 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis the box office tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). Its market share through the weekend was a powerful 70%. Those performances give the film a $28 million cumulative after 12 days in Korean cinemas.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The 17th edition of the SIFF Project Market, held on the margins of the Shanghai International Film Festival, wrapped this week with the awarding of various prizes and an early evening party. In the juried section prizes were determined by a panel including Lu Chuan, Luca Liang and Yao Chen.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Steve W. Chung, a former executive at Fox and Korea’s CJ ENM, has been appointed as the inaugural COO of Azuki, an anime community platform and digital art collection.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief France’s Canal+ Group has increased its stake in multi-territory Asian video streamer Viu to 36.8%. It says that the move is in accordance with the terms of the strategic partnership with Viu owner PCCW Group announced a year ago and follows the satisfaction of key business milestones.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese industry executives will get a first taste of “Coolie,” a big-budget historical miniseries that focuses on the enslaved Chinese workers in Cuba in the 1860s. MM2 Entertainment is handling China rights to the production on behalf of I.E. Entertainment.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Extinction,” the Malaysian-produced animation that is playing at the Shanghai International Film Festival, has struck its first international rights sales deals. The film was recently picked up by All Rights Entertainment, the Paris, Hong Kong and Los Angeles-based sales agency. All Rights has subsequently licensed the title to Magic Film for the CIS region, to Dazzler Media for the U.K., to Red Cape Distribution for Israel and to Bir Film for Turkey.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Wanda Film, China’s largest cinema operator, has expanded its business relationship with Imax Corp. in a huge deal that straddles technology and content. With 381 Imax installations, Wanda alone operates more Imax venues than most countries.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Coralie Fargeat’s Demi Moore-starring feminist body horror film “The Substance” has been set as the closing night title for the New Zealand International Film Festival. The picture is one of 16 which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last month selected for the NZIFF which is now under the artistic leadership of Paolo Bertolin.

Theatrical giant AMC Entertainment posted its highest attendance and admissions revenue of any weekend in 2024 this past Fri-Sun. at locations in the U.S. and globally with the one-two punch of Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out 2 debut, and Sony’s Bad Boys: Ride Or Die.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Zhang Yimou, director of many of China’s most spectacular and successful movies, is to try his hand at sci-fi. He will direct a film adaptation of “The Three-Body Problem.” The project was announced Sunday by Wang Changtian, founder and CEO of Enlight Media, one of China’s top three studios, at a forum organized within the Shanghai International Film Festival. Wang said that Zhang is in the early stages of preparations for the film.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Japanese animation film “Haikyuu!! The Dumpster Battle” took a clear lead at the mainland China weekend box office – despite only being available for two of three days. Data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway showed the film scoring $9.8 million (RMB69.4 million) in China, more than double that of second placed film “Be My Friend.” The win came despite “Haikyu!!” only being released on Saturday and measuring up against other tiles available throughout the whole of the Friday-Sunday period. “Haikyu!!” is the third Japanese film so far this year to lead the mainland Chinese box office, following “The Boy and the Heron” and “Doraemon the Movie: Nobita’s Earth Symphony.” It was produced by Production IG, Toho Animation and Sony Music Entertainment Japan and released by Crunchyroll in multiple territories.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Deadpool & Wolverine” will enjoy a release in mainland Chinese cinemas on July 26, simultaneous with its North American outing. And, despite hailing from what is arguably Marvel’s most adult franchise, the film will incur only “minimal cuts” for its China release. All foreign films entering China require permission to be imported, to clear censorship and must be allocated a release date by local authorities.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Parallax China, one of China’s leading independent film sales companies, has picked up rights to a pair of titles that debut this week at the Shanghai International Film Festival. It is handling world sales on “Qian Tang River,” directed by Wan Bo, and “Another Day of Hope,” by Liu Taifeng. Both are directorial debuts and both appear in the non-competitive Refreshing Chinese Cinema section.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Along with a red-carpet opening ceremony, a press conference with the members of the main competition jury is a staple event of major film festivals and the 26th edition of the Shanghai International Film Festival kicked off in traditional form on Friday. Along with Vietnam-French director Tran Anh Hung, previously revealed as jury president, the other members of the decisive committee this year are: Australian director and screenwriter Rolf de Heer; German director Matthias Glasner; Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Ka Fai; Argentinian director Santiago Mitre; Chinese director Sonthar Gyal; and, the jury’s only woman, star actor Zhou Xun. A packed audience lobbed familiar questions about the criteria they jurors would employ to decide the Golden Goblet prize winners, and what informs those views.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief All Rights Entertainment, the Paris, Hong Kong and Los Angeles-based international film agency has picked up international sales duties on animated children and family feature “Out of the Nest.” The film had its world premiere this week at the Annecy International Animation Festival. In the Kingdom of Castilia, days from the coronation of the new Emperor and Empress, their seven royal fledglings are taken and it’s up to one hero to return them safely; a teenage delivery boy, Arthur the Goat. His dreams of becoming a world-class barber are put on hold when he becomes the unwitting guardian of the royal heirs.