China’s Wanda Seeks Buyers for Australia’s Hoyts Cinema Chain

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Argentina-Chile coproduction “The Punishment,” directed by Matias Bize, was named best feature over the weekend at the close of the Beijing International Film Festival. Mexico’s Lila Avilés won the Tiantan Award for best director for her film “Totem.” Antonia Zegers and Line Renaud shared the best actress award for “The Punishment” and “Driving Madeleine,” respectively. The best actor award went to Xin Baiqing for Chinese movie “The Shadowless Tower.” The film, which premiered in February in Berlin, was the numerical winner. With the best screenplay, music, cinematography and artistic contribution awards, it won a total of five prizes.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Jock Zonfrillo, a Scottish TV presenter and former chef, known for his recent role as a judge on “MasterChef Australia,” has died suddenly. He was 46. Zonfrillo died on April 30 in Melbourne, TV broadcaster Network Ten said in a statement on Monday. No cause of death was disclosed. “With completely shattered hearts and without knowing how we can possibly move through life without him, we are devastated to share that Jock passed away yesterday,” said Zonfrillo’s family carried as part of the Network Ten new release. “So many words can describe him, so many stories can be told, but at this time we’re too overwhelmed to put them into words. For those who crossed his path, became his mate, or were lucky enough to be his family, keep this proud Scot in your hearts when you have your next whisky.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Born to Fly,” an action movie about the prowess of the Chinese air force and the bravery of its aviators, topped the China box office chart over a weekend that led into the nearly week-long May Day holiday. Data from consultancy Artisan Gateway shows the film earned $44 million (RMB279 million) between Friday and Sunday. The weekend as a whole brought in $121 million of turnstile revenue, the fourth highest weekend of the year and weaker only than the three “revenge spending” weekends that drove the Chinese New Year period in January and early February.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Director Stanley Tong (“Rumble in the Bronx”) is to team up with Jackie Chan for the tenth time on “The Legend.” State media in China report that Chan, who recently reached the top spot in the mainland Chinese box office with aged stuntman comedy “Ride On,” will play an archaeologist on a quest through time and space. With production by Bona Film Group, “The Legend” is pitched as being in the same vein as Tong and Chan’s 2005 effort “The Myth,” which was a fantasy love story. Tong and Chan have worked together on other titles including “Police Story 3,” “Supercop” and “Vanguard.” India’s Jio Studios is backing “Khashaba,” a Marathi-language film on the life of India’s first Olympic medalist Khasaba Dadasaheb. After delivering the sleeper hit Sairat and Fandry, the new film will be directed by Nagraj Manjule. The title is considered as part of Jio Studio’s ambition to deliver more than 100 stories this year. With production to begin shortly, the film will be mounted on a large scale. “Along with entertaining the audience, this film will also introduce the audience to a brave and exceptional athlete who made India proud all over the world,” said Manjule. “Khashaba” will be presented by JioStudios and produced by Aatpat Production, Jyoti Deshpande and Manjule.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The highly-anticipated Japanese animated feature film “The First Slam Dunk” dominated the mainland China cinema box office in its opening weekend. It broke multiple records as it did so. The film scored $38.5 million (RMB266 million) over the Friday to Sunday weekend, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. However, it opened on Thursday, a day earlier than is the norm in China, and has accumulated $55.2 million over the opening four-day frame. The film is based on IP that is well-known to a generation of comic book fans and TV audiences in China (early middle-aged men were reported to have been particularly interested) and has already proved a hit in other parts of Asia. (Comscore estimates that the film has grossed $211 million worldwide.)

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Global cinema box office recovered strongly in the first three months of the year, driven by the performance of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” in many territories and a bumper Chinese New Year season in mainland China. The upbeat news was delivered on the eve of CinemaCon Las Vegas by specialist research firm Gower Street Analytics, which has now increased its forecast of the cinema industry’s full year. The firm now projects that 2023 gross revenues will reach $32 billion, a 10% increase on its earlier estimate of $29 billion. “A $32 billion global box office in 2023 would represent an approximate +23% improvement on 2022. It remains 20% behind an average of the last three pre-pandemic years (2017-2019), but it shows how post-pandemic recovery of our business continues to improve,” said Gower Street.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Rights to ‘Man in Black,” one of two documentary films by China’s Wang Bing to appear in Official Selection at Cannes this year, have been picked up by specialty sales agency Asian Shadows. The 60-minute film, which will debut as a special screening, is a portrait of 86-year-old Wang Xilin, one of China’s most important modern classical composers and is now lives in exile in Germany. It was made in close collaboration with French cinematographer Caroline Champetier, whose credits include Leos Carax’s “Holy Motors,” Amos Gitai’s “Promised Land” and Andre Techine’s “Alice and Martin.” During the 1960s, when China’s Cultural Revolution forced intellectuals into the fields and stripped the middle classes of their wealth, Wang Xilin was the was the target of severe persecution, including beatings, imprisonment and torture. The film examines the body and soul of a man scarred by a life of suffering, who is yet still capable of deep and sincere compassion.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Trinity CineAsia has acquired rights to Chinese tentpole action movie “Born to Fly,” and will release the film in cinemas in the U.K. and Ireland.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Japanese animated film “The First Slam Dunk” has taken a strong early lead at the mainland China box office, picking up $13.8 million on its Thursday opening day. Films mostly release in China on Fridays, but the Japanese hit was given previews on Wednesday and a full court release on Thursday, starting with widespread midnight screenings. Data from local firm Ent Group reveals that the film earned $3.16 million from some 14,000 preview screenings on Wednesday, followed by $13.8 million on Thursday from 184,000 screening sessions. That gives it a $17 million cumulative and positions it at the top of the box office chart even before the conventional Friday to Sunday weekend begins.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Sydney Film Festival will present ‘Jane Campion – Her Way,’ a retrospective of films by the pioneering director. Campion herself will appear in conversation with David Stratton on June 10 at the 2023 edition of the festival, its 70th anniversary presentation (June 7-18). Held in association with ACMI and the National Film and Sound Archive, ‘Jane Campion – Her Way’ will encompass screenings of all nine of Campion’s feature films, as well as a selection of her short films. The selection will go on to tour the ACMI in Melbourne (June 15 – July 2) and at NFSA in Canberra (July 20-30). “For our 70th edition, we wanted to present a retrospective commensurate with the milestone, reflecting the audacious and boundary pushing filmmaking synonymous with our festival and region. Campion is a ground-breaking filmmaker who has made a profound impact on cinema with her daring and unforgettable films,” said Sydney Film Festival director Nashen Moodley.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Television Broadcasts, Hong Kong’s leading free-to-air broadcaster, has said that it is considering legal action against a group of shareholder activists. The shareholder group, seemingly led by Chow Ngai Keung and publishing its critiques on Facebook, has made a series of complaints about TVB. These include the allegation that TVB is operating a streaming app Maiduidui in Mainland China without the proper authorization and that TVB has misled shareholders over the official name of the company that ultimately holds executive control. The minority shareholders have also criticized TVB for investments in Mainland Chinese firm SMI and State Reserve Energy Bonds, which have cost the company HK$1 billion ($128 million) of losses, and for its 2021 acquisition of e-commerce platform Ztore.

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 A new study published Friday by Screen Australia shows that the country’s on-screen television diversity has increased significantly in the past six years, but there remains more to be done. “Seeing Ourselves 2: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Australian TV Drama” examined the diversity of the main characters in 361 scripted Australian TV and online dramas broadcast between 2016 and 2021. It compared that data with the Australian population and a previous report “Seeing Ourselves” published in 2016. The new report shows that there is higher representation for First Nations people (7.2% of characters, compared with 4.8% in 2016), disabled people (6.6% from 3.6%), LGBTQI+ people (7.4% from 4.5%), and non-European people (16% from 6.9%).

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 A growing range of Thai, Japanese and Chinese-language films and TV shows are reaching global audiences – joining the by-now well-established international viewership for South Korean shows.Netflix’s Global Top 10 for the week April 3-10, sees made-for-streaming Korean title “Kill Boksoon” on top of the non-English-language films list, with 27.5 million hours watched in its second week of release. It is immediately followed by Thai film “Hunger,” about a young woman apprentice in an upmarket restaurant working under a tough boss. The film is directed by Sitisiri Mongkolsiri and stars “Bad Genius” breakout Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying.

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.