China’s Short-Form Video Market Soars Amidst Pandemic Year, Study Shows (EXCLUSIVE)

Rebecca Davis editorThe tear-jerking, patriotic pandemic film “Chinese Doctors” locked down a $53.5 million China opening weekend, according to Maoyan, setting itself up to become the most commercially successful political tribute film so far this year.Such films have been helped along by a line-up cleared of competitors.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Nocturna,” an Argentinian-made fantasy film that played last month in the Shanghai International Film Festival’s midnight fantasy section, has been picked up by Chinese company Naropean.Naropean, which shares executives with HGC Entertainment, one of the more prominent Chinese IP groups, has taken rights for China, Asia and Oceania, as well as remake rights.

Tim Dams One of the biggest conundrums for many working in the fledgling XR sector is how to make money in the medium.As part this week’s Cannes XR program, Jingshu Chen, co-founder of VR entertainment platform VeeR will deliver a keynote that seeks to address the issue.Beijing-based VeeR distributes, produces and invests in narrative VR content, and also operates the ZeroSpace VR cinema chain in China.Chen’s July 9 keynote, titled “Cinematic VR content distribution and monetization,” comes at

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefNa Jiazuo, one of the few Chinese directors to make it to the Cannes Film Festival this year, says he learned from the best in the business. His “Streetwise” (aka “Gaey Wa’r”) unspools in Un Certain Regard and is eligible for the Camera d’Or, reflecting Na’s status as a rookie feature director.The picture is a gritty, largely nocturnal, portrait of a group of young adults in an unfashionable town as they come to terms with life’s uneasy lot.

Ashton Kutcher has a strong opinion about China's influence via social media. The 43-year-old actor recently appeared on the American Optimist YouTube channel and spoke about protecting children from various crimes on the internet.

Konami has sacked Barcelona striker Antoine Griezmann as a brand ambassador less than a month after signing the footballer to represent the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise.As reported in South China Morning Post, the decision came following the emergence of controversial videos of the French footballer and his team mate Ousmane Dembele from a club tour to Japan in 2019.In the video, Griezmann and Dembele, who both played for France in Euro 2020, are shown appearing to mock Asian workers fixing a television

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefFortissimo Films, the Amsterdam- and Beijing-based film rights sales company, is launching a talent agency that will represent international talent in the growing Chinese film industry.As the Chinese film industry expands and matures, Chinese directors and producers are keen to work with overseas talents.

Refresh for latest…: Universal’s F9 is gearing up to hit the $500M mark globally, a milestone it will cross on Monday as it becomes the first Hollywood movie to do so during the pandemic era, and the first since any studio film originally released during 2019. The Justin Lin-helmed title will also join China’s Hi, Mom and Detective Chinatown 3 as only the third film of any provenance to get there in 2020 and 2021. The worldwide cume through Sunday is $491.5M.

Rebecca Davis editorTwenty-four years ago, on the evening that the U.K.

Rebecca Davis editorGuangzhou, the capital of China’s top movie-going province Guangdong, announced Friday that cinemas there can now reopen after nearly a month of closures due to a rise in COVID-19 cases.Theaters were shuttered in a number of districts in the city of more than 15 million on June 7 after an outbreak that authorities worried could be tied to new, more transmissible coronavirus variants.Cinemas were closed for 25 days before local authorities declared that the outbreak has now

Vertical Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Rushed, an indie thriller directed by Vibeke Muasya that stars Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Robert Patrick, Jake Weary and Peri Gilpin. A theatrical release is planned.

John Cena is revealing the tactics he used to keep the identity of his “F9” character under wraps.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefFrance- and Dubai-based sales agency Cercamon has picked up international rights to Chinese crime drama “Streetwise,” which will have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, in the Un Certain Regard section. Before that, Cercamon has released a trailer.The film (aka “Gaey Wa’r”) is the debut feature effort of Na Jiazuo, who is a graduate of the Beijing Film Academy and had previously directed shorts.

Rebecca Davis editor“Moneyboys,” the China-set first feature from up-and-coming helmer C.B. Yi, dropped its first trailer Wednesday.

Billie Eilish is breaking her silence after being accused of mocking Asian people in a recently resurfaced video on TikTok.   User @lcxvy posted undated videos of Eilish in which the "Bad Guy" singer allegedly mocked an Asian accent. In another clip, Eilish appears to say the ethnic slur "c---k," referring to someone of Chinese descent.

Scottish Government is spending almost £6million a year on a network of overseas offices in seven countries. Foreign policy is not devolved to ­Holyrood and the UK Government runs embassies around the world.