China imposes strict Covid lockdown for 13 million people in city of Xi'an

Disney/20th Century Studios’ Death On The Nile has been confirmed for a China release, slated to go out on February 19. The date falls just after the Chinese New Year period ends, and is the day before the culmination of the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Organizers of next month’s Beijing Olympics said Monday that only select “groups of spectators” will be invited to watch the Winter Games in person, a move that further restricts attendance at the event.

With the 2020 Winter Olympics in Beijing just 18 days away and U.S. diplomats boycotting the games over what a spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing recently called China’s “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, and other human rights abuses,” one of the most outspoken owners of one of the NBA’s flagship franchises weighed in.

Can you imagine?!

EXCLUSIVE: Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight) has been set to lead Renny Harlin (Cliffhanger) action-thriller movie The Bricklayer, which is due to get underway in March in Europe.

French film exports generated 91.4M euros ($103.6M) in 2021, a 5.5% increase on the previous year’s provisional figures, while admissions were up 8% to 14.8M. Comparatively, French films within France sold 39.2M tickets during the year. The figures were announced during the annual Unifrance Rendez-Vous with French Cinema which is taking place in Paris this week — one of the rare international gatherings in the current landscape that’s being held as a physical event.

Young Scots are being asked to speak out about how fake news and online misinformation has affected them by a senior SNP MP.

As we get rolling into the new year, optimism and caution are part of the outlook for 2022 at the international box office. The issue of China also remains top of mind as the territory — which maintained its status as the top global market in 2021 — has been even more ornery to navigate than usual, notably not approving a single movie with a Marvel character last year, from Disney’s Black Widow straight through to Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Given the ongoing pandemic with regard to global box office, it’s tempting to say “The more things change, the more things stay the same.” To wit: Disney still leads all studios worldwide, piracy remains a major concern, and many markets are still in Covid-induced flux. But when looking back over 2021 versus 2020, there are some key differences and highlights. Thank heavens, or at least, thank the Toretto family, Godzilla and Kong, James Bond and phenom Spider-Man to name a few headliners who proved that when product is available in cinemas, audiences will embrace the communal experience.

China will be the world’s largest box office market for the second year running, overturning the decade-long rankings and staying ahead of the North American market as it did in for the first time in 2020.And, even if “Spider-Man: No Way Home” avoids becoming caught in a web of omicron-related shutdowns to become the highest grossing film of 2021, Chinese movies “The Battle at Lake Changjin” and “Hi, Mom” are certain to account for at least two of the year’s top five.Such a new world order has

Vivienne Chow Viya, China’s queen of live streaming, has been fined RMB1.34 billion ($210 million) and had her social media account suspended as punishment for tax evasion.

The National Hockey League has confirmed its players will not take part in the Beijing Olympics in February, but the league expects a return to the Games in 2026.

Rebecca Davis editorTaiwanese American pop star and actor Wang Leehom has apologized to his family and fans and said he will take a break from his career after a high-profile social media dispute with his ex-wife, who accused him of infidelity and hiring prostitutes.But a break may not be enough to satisfy mainland Chinese authorities, who have recently been championing the need for celebrities to act as proper role models in society.U.S.-born Wang is one of the Chinese-speaking world’s top pop

Variety, a dozen producers, studio executives and industry org representatives have said that 2022 will be a chapter marked not only by bilateral friction between the two superpowers, but by the Chinese film industry’s decoupling from the broader global film industry as a whole, as the country turns inward under President Xi Jinping.Under the veil of COVID-19 isolationism, the past two years have seen Beijing unwinding the Deng Xiaoping-era policies of reform, opening up its economy and shifting