China Box Office: ‘The Farewell,’ ‘Richard Jewell’ Fail To Unseat Local Holdovers

GÖTEBORG, Sweden — Home to the most dynamic streaming markets in Western Europe, the Nordic region still posted solid box office returns in 2019, especially from Hollywood tentpoles “The Lion King,” “Avengers: Endgame” and “Joker,” which ruled on all top ten charts, except in Denmark. Local fare, however, lost ground in all five territories.

By Antonia Blyth

Locally-made action comedy “The Grand Grandmaster” emerged on top of the Hong Kong box office during the Lunar New Year holiday. But, hit by the aftermath of political protest and growing precautions against the coronavirus threat, the theatrical business took a steep tumble.

Ticket sales could grind to a halt over Super Bowl weekend, a notoriously quiet time of year at the box office.

The Japanese box office leaped by 17% in 2019 to set a record $2.4 billion score, according to figures announced Tuesday by the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan, locally known as Eirin. The previous high was the $2.2 billion recorded in 2016.

The Japanese box office jumped more than 17 percent to a record $2.39 billion (261 billion yen) in 2019, with admissions up more than 15 percent to 194,910, the highest attendance since 1971.Despite a slowly shrinking population and the rise of streaming platforms, astrong lineup of films, rising wages for the young, low unemployment and a rise in leisure timedue to government work reforms all helped drive the record box office numbers.Hollywood's share rose slightly to 45.6 percent, its

By Greg Evans

Measures to limit travel and the closure of most cinemas almost completely eliminated box office takings in China on what should have been the country’s busiest movie-going weekend of the year. The pain is set to continue.

By Dino-Ray Ramos

By Nancy Tartaglione

Cinema box office in Australia dipped by 2% in 2019 to an annual total of A$1.23 billion, or $841 million, according to data from the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia. That was the country’s third highest figure in local currency terms, but it also shows the theatrical industry to be rangebound since 2015.

In the more than six months that protest movements have rocked Hong Kong, a whole range of business sectors have become color-coded, as both Beijing-loyal blue elements and yellow pro-democracy forces have weaponized the economy.

Opening on Wednesday (Jan. 15), Korean-made comedy “Secret Zoo” landed on top of the South Korean box office. The Son Jae-gon (“My Scary Girl”) film earned $5.95 million from 813,000 admissions over its opening five days, including $4.3 million earned over the weekend. That was enough for a 38% share of the country’s total weekend box office. Distributed by Acemaker Movieworks, “Secret Zoo” sees the story of a couple who try to save a zoo from being shut down.

Universal Pictures’ sci-fi thriller “Extinction” starring Lizzy Caplan and Michael Pena was critically panned, yanked from its planned 2018 U.S. theatrical debut, and offloaded to Netflix. But it has found a new life on the big screen two years later in China, where it came in fifth at the box office over the weekend with a $1.4 million debut.

LOS ANGELES, (Variety.com) — Universal’s Dolittle and 1917 found out what Bad Boys will do when they come for you at the box office. Sony’s Bad Boys for Life, the third entry in the Will Smith and Martin Lawrence-led series, beat expectations and towered over the competition during the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend.

“Bad Boys for Life” is showing plenty of power at the North American box office with an impressive  launch of around $66 million at 3,740 venues over the four-day holiday weekend.

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence starrer Bad Boys for Life's box office collection report is here. The movie may become the second-best or the best MLK weekend opening of all-time at the box office. As per Deadline's report, the estimated collection of four-day gross could be around USD 63 million to 67 million. And as per the same reports, the movie has already minted around USD 23 million on its opening day.

Bad Boys for Life made quite an impression at the Thursday box office, earning a January-best $6.4 million in previews.The threequel, reteaming Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, opens 17 years after the last installment in Sony's action comedy franchise. The R-rated pic is tracking to earn $38 million to $50 million over the long Martin Luther King Jr.

A trio of Oscar best picture contenders will hit the China market shortly after the Academy Awards ceremony on Feb.