China Box Office: ‘No More Bets’ Beats ‘Barbie’ to World-Leading Weekend Haul

Variety said the receipts were boosted by showtimes in premium large format auditoriums, and the flick is on track for the second-highest Labor Day weekend opening in historyThe Post praised the movie stating that unlike the first two “dark” and “pathologically unpleasant” films, the third “lives up to the ever-deepening talent of its leading man.”The summer’s biggest blockbuster, “Barbie,” continued to pull in audience, netting $2.5 million Friday.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hong Kong-based, Mainland China-born auteur Yonfan has scandalized and enthralled Chinese-speaking parts of Asia in a career that has spanned fine-art photography, filmmaking and journalism. Further afield, he has become a regular on the Lido. His 1995 feature “Bugis Street,” which has been restored and is screening in the Venice Classics section, achieved notoriety at the time of its debut. It is set in the red-light area of Singapore, at a time shortly after the country had achieved independence and before it earned its buttoned-up, conservative reputation. Loosely structured, the film follows a 16-year-old woman (played by Hiep Thi Le), who’s an employee at the appropriately named Sin Sin Hotel.

This summer’s box office is set to hit $4 billion for the 13th time ever, +16% over last summer. Barbie and Oppenheimer, which together rep 22% of that figure created a blast radius, finally bringing infrequent moviegoers back to cinemas after Covid sidelined audiences.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief CAA China has teamed up with the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society to unveil a joint initiative that will foster Chinese-language genre film projects. The HGC initiative will operate an open call for projects from Monday until the end of October.

Oppenheimer has topped the worldwide box office in its sixth week of release, surpassing Barbie for the first time.Since both films were released on July 21, Greta Gerwig’s fantasy comedy has remained ahead of Oppenheimer at the global box office. On the weekend of August 25-27, however, Christopher Nolan’s historical drama topped the chart.As reported by ScreenDaily, Oppenheimer took $38.1million globally within the weekend timeframe, while Barbie trailed behind with $35.3million.The boost is a result of Oppenheimer’s belated release in two new countries: Italy, where it grossed $9.7million over its five-day debut, and Greece, where it racked up $882,000.The film looks set to receive a significant boost this week, with Oppenheimer opening in China on Wednesday (August 30).Despite trailing behind this week, Barbie is still on track to surpass The Super Mario Bros. Movie as the highest-grossing movie of 2023.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The main competition section of the Busan International Film Festival is set to showcase two new features from Bangladeshi directors, the feature debut of Japanese documentary maker Mori Tatsuya and ruminations on Hong Kong by mainland Chinese director Choi Ji. The festival on Wednesday unveiled its New Currents competition section, reserved for films by directors making their first or second works of fiction, as well as its Jiseok section, a showcase for somewhat more established Asian auteurs. In addition to the Bangladesh duo, New Currents includes two films from Japan, two from Korea and one each from China, Thailand, Malaysia and India. From Bangladesh, Iqbal H. Chowdhury’s “The Wrestler” sees an old fisherman challenge a wrestling champion to combat, and in “The Stranger” Biplob Sarkar tells a coming-of-age, gender-identity tale. From Japan, Mori recounts the events of the Great Kanto earthquake in “September 1923,” while Yamamoto Akira delves into profound and shocking love in “After the Fever.” New Currents’ Korean contributions come from Lee Jong-su, whose “Heritage” tracks a man who opts out of military service and his supervisor, and Sohn Hyun-lok, whose “That Summer’s Lie” blurs truth and fiction in memories of a past romance. India’s Rajesh S.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese crime action film “No More Bets” headed the mainland China box office for the fourth consecutive weekend, cementing its place as one of the biggest films in the world this year. Between Friday and Sunday, it earned $33.5 million (RMB241 million), according to data from specialist consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. Global data provider Comscore ranked that as the third highest performance of the weekend anywhere in the world, narrowly behind “Barbie’s” $35.3 million. The latest increment advanced “No More Bets’” cumulative score to $469 million (RMB3.37 billion). “Papa,” a comedy about parental efforts to improve their son’s education, held an unchanged second place in its second week.

Summer may be drawing to a close, but the blockbusters of the season are still basking in box office glory. To wit: Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is poised to become the highest-grossing Warner Bros movie of all time globally on Monday. Through today, the worldwide estimate is $1.34B, meaning just $1M separates it from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 to attain the record.

Refresh for latest…: It’s been another very busy weekend at the international box office with milestones and great holds, as well as a new entry and local-language movies adding to the mix. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The box office in mainland China reached an all-time high in the summer season, according to figures from ticketing agency Maoyan Entertainment. The record was achieved with minimal input from Hollywood.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Tencent, the Chinese games, social media and streaming giant, reported further quarterly profits recovery after a dire 2022. But its revenues for the April-June period missed financial analysts’ expectations and point to continued weakness in the Chinese economy. Group revenues for the period were RMB149 billion ($20.6 billion), representing an 11% year-on-year growth, but a 1% quarter-on-quarter decline.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The number of paying streaming subscribers at China’s Tencent Music Entertainment hit 100 million in the June, the company said Tuesday as it revealed its second quarter financials. Subscriber numbers increased by 20% year on year and by 5 million quarter on quarter, to hit 99.4 million, the company said. That increase helped quarterly revenues from music subscriptions to rise by 37% year-on-year to RMB2.89 billion ($399 million).

Refresh for latest…: It’s still a Barbie world this weekend as the Greta Gerwig-directed charmer reached a global cume of $1.184B. Last session, Margot Robbie’s living doll crossed the $1B threshold, and in this 4th frame added $45.1M in 75 offshore markets (a 47% dip) to bring the international box office cume to $657.6M. 

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.This week, it surpassed the $500 million mark, making its director Greta Gerwig the highest earning female director ever at the domestic box office, beating the record held by “Frozen II‘s” Jennifer Lee.The movie is so popular that searches for the baby name “Barbie” have increased by a staggering 603% since April, when its trailer was released.“Oppenheimer,” which was in fourth place last week, moved back up to the No. 2 spot with $5.1 million in sales.This week, the Christopher Nolan filmbecame the highest grossing ever at Hollywood’s TCL Chinese Theatre in the location’s 97-year history, according to Deadline.

Box Office Mojo. “Barbie” has dominated the box office in the United States and Canada, making over $485.4 million as of Aug. 9.

FRIDAY AM UPDATE, refresh for more…The only new wide release this weekend is Amblin’s period Dracula horror pic The Last Voyage of the Demeter being distributed by Universal. It made $750K last night in previews from showtimes that began at 5PM in 2,350 theaters in what is expected to be an underwhelming 3-day single digit million result for the $45M feature production. The R-rated pic expands to 2,715 theaters today.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Box office hit “Lost in the Stars” was a contributor to the April to June profits recorded by Chinese tech giant Alibaba’s digital media and entertainment division. The division, which spans streaming, ticketing, film production and distribution and web browser, recorded earnings before interest, taxation and amortization (EBITA) of $9 million (RMB63 million). That follows many years of losses, including $126 million (RMB907 million) of EBITA losses in the equivalent quarter last year.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Meg 2: The Trench,” the second instalment in the Chinese-financed giant shark franchise, was the top film worldwide over the weekend. But in its China home market “Meg 2” was beaten by strong previews of “No More Bets.” Nevertheless, the arrival of two popular films at the top of the chart meant that China enjoyed its third highest box office weekend of the year, with a $185 million haul. That score is the strongest weekend of 2023 outside the Chinese New Year holiday season.

Meg 2: The Trench is out now, and the numbers are in!

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Meg 2: The Trench,” the second Jason Statham-led shark thriller, is swimming to $112 million in its international box office debut, bringing its global total to $142 million. It’s a strong start for the $130 million-budgeted film, which was co-financed by Warner Bros. and China Media Capital.