China’s Alibaba Unveils Corporate Restructuring

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Jackie Chan-starring nostalgic stuntman comedy film “Ride On” trotted to a second weekend atop the mainland Chinese box office. “The Super Mario” Bros. Movie” remained in fourth place. “Ride On” earned $6.0 million (RMB41.5 million) between Friday and Sunday, a 48% week-on week drop, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. That took it to a $22.6 million total since release on April 7. Below it, Japanese animation “Suzume” and Chinese shaggy dog story “Hachiko” swapped places. “Hachiko,” on its third weekend outing, earned $4.9 million, for a cumulative of $35.1 million. “Suzume” earned $4.5 million in its fourth weekend on release in China, giving it a $109 million cumulative.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Japanese electronics giant, Sony has opened a virtual production studio in Shanghai, China, that it says can be used for shooting film, TV and commercials. The studio opened last month and is jointly operated with Gwantsi, one of China’s largest commercials production companies. Virtual production involves the use of high-resolution screens that create a backdrop in front of which actors perform. This can reduce the need for location travel, cut set-up times, shorten post-production and provide a more life-like environment for performers than traditional green-screen environments. VP studios are also well adapted to motion capture production.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Michelle Yeoh, who made history by winning the best actress Oscar for her performance in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” last month, made an emotional return trip to her native Malaysia last week. She visited her mother in time for the traditional Qingming Festival, or Tomb Sweeping Day, and stopped by the grave of her father who died in 2014. In an Instagram post on Wednesday she said, “Brought Mr. O home. Without my parents’ love and trust and support, I wouldn’t be here today.”A post shared by Michelle Yeoh 楊紫瓊 (@michelleyeoh_official) Her trip home represented a promise that Yeoh made during her Oscars acceptance speech.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Competition reality TV format “Lego Masters” has been picked up by Tokyo Broadcasting System for adaptation in Japan. The deal is the 19th for the Banijay Rights-represented format and the third in Asia. Production is currently underway for the show, which will see pairs compete against each other to wow judges with inspiring designs and brick builds. “I am looking forward to working with Banijay Rights and not only learn about the production of the show, but also to closely examine the essence of creation behind it,” said Aso Kunihiro, producer, contents solution department at TBS in a prepared statement.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Wanda, the Chinese conglomerate that once threatened to take over Hollywood, has put up for sale the Hoyts cinema chain in Australia that it bought in 2015. Hoyts is Australia’s second largest movie theater operator with 46 multiplexes housing 412 screens, according to 2022 data from Screen Australia. It also owns Val Morgan, Australia’s biggest cinema advertising firm.Wanda Cinema Line, itself China’s biggest theater operator, has appointed Credit Suisse and Nomura to handle the sale. Bidders are understood to have access to a “stapled debt” package (a line of agreed financing arranged by the banks) if the potential buyer cannot arrange sufficient finance of their own. A first deadline for bids is set at the beginning of May, with final offers to be submitted by the end of June.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief U.K.-based sales agent Mister Smith Entertainment has picked up international rights to “Grafted,” a New Zealand-set horror film which marks the feature directing debut of Sasha Rainbow. The film is now in production. Mister Smith will launch sales next month in Cannes. The film tells story of a Chinese student who travels to New Zealand to complete the scientific work of her deceased father only to find a new way of achieving popularity, one body at a time.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Huang Ji and Otsuka Ryuji’s “Stonewalling” won the Chinese-language section of the Hong Kong International Film Festival’s Firebird Young Cinema competition. Lila Aviles’s “Totem” won the equivalent Firebird Award for international films. The festival began on March 30 and concluded on Sunday evening with a world premier screening of “Vital Sign” at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre’s Grand Theatre. The screening was accompanied by cast and crew including Louis Koo, director Cheuk Wan-chi, producer Jacqueline Liu and performers Neo Yao, Angela Yuen, Ng Wing-sze, Tony Wu and So Yuet-yin. In total, “Stonewalling” picked up three awards. In addition to the best film prize, it also collected the best actress prize for leads Huang Xiaoxiong and Yao Honggui and the FIPRESCI Award. The tale of an unwanted pregnancy, the film premiered at Venice and Toronto last year. The HKIFF jury said it “[reminds] us of the confusion, difficulty and suffering women face nowadays and the inescapable responsibilities they have to shoulder.  It inspires the audience to reflect on this important issue in modern society.  It is an invaluable film replete with empathy.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Jackie Chan-starring stunt-man comedy drama “Ride On” pratfalled its way to first place at the mainland Chinese box office with a lowball $11.7 million opening. Still, that was enough to beat another new release, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which ranked fourth over the latest weekend. Chan is an enduring, but fading, star in China and in the past his new release titles were often scheduled for the three biggest holiday seasons. “Ride On,” which sees Chan in an ode to the stunt players he has worked with, was released two days after the Ching Ming (Wednesday 5 April) holiday, when many folks honor their ancestors. Its opening three days were enough to depose “Suzume” from the top spot, where “Suzume” had ranked for the previous two weekends. “Suzume” earned $8.0 million over the latest weekend in China, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. That gives it a $103 million cumulative after 17 days in mainland theaters, a China record for a Japanese animation film.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Far East Film Festival in Italy’s Udine will open with a double bill of He Shuming’s “Ajoomma” and Kai Ko’s “Bad Education.” It will close with Zhang Yimou’s blockbuster period epic “Full River Red.” In between, the festival will showcase a stunning 78-title array of commercial and art-house films from across East Asia. Operating according to a motto of diversity –implying cultural asymmetries and artistic multiplicities – the 25th edition of the festival will run April 21-29. Organizers say that their selection “shows in real time how the cinemas of East and Southeast Asia have re-emerged from the gruelling period of the pandemic, not all in the same way and not all with the same results.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Beijing 2022,” the official documentary about the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, has been set as the opening film of the revived Beijing International Film Festival. It is directed by noted narrative and documentary film maker Lu Chuan (“Kekexili,” “City of Life and Death” and Disney’s “Born in China”) and will have its world premiere at the festival. The festival will run April 22-29 and be based in the Huairou district which has become an out of town hub for the film industry, as well as other venues in the Chinese capital. For the past three editions the BJIFF has been held online due to disruptions caused by China’s strict anti-COVID measures.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Shanghai International Film Festival has unveiled plans for its return to an in-person event that will mark its 25th edition and its 30th anniversary. The festival was canceled last year, due to the severe restrictions imposed on the city in reaction to a Spring flare-up in the COVID outbreak. The 2023 edition will run June 9-18, 2023, organizers confirmed on Tuesday. They said it would, “open a two-way journey between Chinese films and world films.” The Jinjue (Golden Goblet) Awards competition will this year operate across five categories: main feature film competition, Asian newcomers, documentaries, animation and short films.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” opened in fourth place at the mainland China box office with a muted $5 million haul. Top honors belonged to Japanese animation film “Suzume” for the second weekend. “Suzume” incurred a 55% week-on-week drop, falling from $49.6 million in its opening weekend, to $22.1 million in is second, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. After ten days in Chinese theaters, “Suzume” now has a cumulative total of $80.6 million. Nevertheless, its lead at the top of the box office chart was unassailable. The weekend’s best-placed new release title was “Hachiko,” a Chinese retelling of the Japanese tale of a dog which faithfully waited at a station for its master years after his death. (The story was previously given a U.S. version with Richard Gere in the lead human role.) It earned $8.9 million (RMB61.2 million) in its opening weekend.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief American rap musician Cardi B has joined the voice cast of upcoming animation film “Baby Shark’s Big Movie!” The film is the first feature-length spin-off from “Baby Shark’s Big Show!,” a pre-school series which began in 2021 on Nickelodeon-branded channels and platforms and is now in its second season. The show is co-produced by Nickelodeon Animation and Seoul, Korea-based The Pinkfong Company and directed by Alan Foreman (“The Casagrandes,” “Welcome to the Wayne”). Its narrative follows Baby Shark and his family as they move to Chomp City, the big city of sharks.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “The Bad Kids,” a hit series from Chinese streamer iQiyi, is to be remade as a Japanese feature film “Gold Boy.” The 12-episode gritty crime thriller depicts the troubles that arise after three children accidentally film a murder. The series was previously licensed to Japanese pay-TV group Wowow.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Japanese animation film “Suzume” made just shy of $50 million on its opening weekend in mainland Chinese theaters. Data from consultancy Artisan Gateway, shows “Suzume” grabbing the top spot at the box office with $49.6 million (RMB342 million) between Friday and Sunday. That is the biggest opening score by any film this year outside of the Chinese New Year holiday week in late January. The next best is “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” which opened with $19.4 million in mid-February. Directed by Shinkai Makoto, “Suzume” was a hit in Japan where it was released late last year and has remained on screens for a $105 million total. It played in February at the Berlin Film Festival, where it came away largely empty-handed, but has subsequently performed strongly in the Asian territories where it has released. (In South Korea, where it is now the second highest grossing film released in 2023, its third weekend is its strongest to date.)

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Taiwan has become a go-to destination for Chinese language series production over the past few years, as international streamers have taken the initiative and as the local content trend has become entrenched in Asia. While some of Taiwan’s advantage may have been handed to it as a result of regional political factors, the movement has led to greater interest in Taiwan stories, both historical and modern.Five Taiwan TV projects are being pitched at Series Mania, that are deemed to have international appeal according to Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA), a government-backed agency that has become noticeably proactive over roughly the same period.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief It is becoming harder not to perceive Tencent, China’s tech and entertainment giant and the world’s largest games firm by revenue, as a utility. It is now too big to be a growth stock darling and too widely-spread to escape the gravity of China’s underlying economic trends. Revenues in calendar 2022 flatlined at RMB554 billion, while net profits dropped 16% to RMB188.2 billion ($27.0 billion). The decrease reflected China’s economic reversal that began in the second quarter of the year with the arrival of a new COVID strain and stricter government measures to combat it. Tencent’s advertising revenues fell slightly, costs rose somewhat, and subscriber number were mixed – rising in music, but falling in video.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The theatrical release of low-budget slasher movie “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” in Hong Kong has been abruptly canceled just two days before its scheduled outing. No explanation has been offered, but suspicions that the film may have crossed one of Hong Kong’s increasingly complicated political red lines are certain to be raised. That is because the Winnie the Pooh character is unflatteringly perceived to have a physical resemblance to China’s president, Xi Jinping. Online search for Winnie the Pooh is heavily censored within mainland China and Winnie the Pooh products are not distributed. China did not permit the import and release of Disney’s 2018 Winnie the Pooh film “Christopher Robin.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Tencent Music Entertainment grew its 2022 profits by 21% to $533 million (RMB3.68 billion), helped by cost cutting and a growing subscription base. It achieved this despite a 9% decrease in revenues to $4.1 billion (RMB28.3 billion). The group, which is backed by Chinese tech and entertainment giant Tencent and has stock market listings on the New York Stock Exchange and in Hong Kong, is China’s largest digital music outfit and controls large equity stakes in Spotify and (in a consortium with Tencent) Universal Music Group. Tencent Music’s own operations divide loosely into two clusters: mass market music streaming, with paid-for and free tiers; and “social entertainment,” including karaoke and other derivative products.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Like & Share” from Indonesia’s Gina S. Noer was named the best picture and collected the Grand Prix on Sunday at the Osaka Asian Film Festival. “All of us on the jury were struck by the film’s clear and powerful message, which affirms young women’s sexual curiosity and desire while clearly saying no to sexual violence. The style of the film is also original. The sweet, poppy feeling that fascinates the audience in the first half of the film becomes darker as the story progresses, making us shudder. “Like & Share,” with its strong message and brilliant direction, is a film that needs to be seen now more than ever,” said the jury in a statement.