CNN Fires Three Staffers Who Came Into Office Unvaccinated

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefHollywood film franchises such as “xXx,” “Warcraft” and “Resident Evil” used to be largely sustained by their box office performance in China, which significantly exceeded their North American hauls and drove global grosses. Frequently, Hollywood titles would dominate the Chinese box office charts during most weeks.But in recent years, that tide has been turning.

Music Business Worldwide (MBW), the country’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism has announced that from October 1 any music that breaches a fresh set of government rules will be scrapped from karaoke bars.Among the contraventions include music that “violates the state’s religious policies or promotes cults and superstitions,” “insults or defames others” or “endangers national security or harms national honour or interests”.A Reddit user posted a direct translation of the new government rules in

Rebecca Davis editorDisney’s “Luca” is the first Hollywood picture to get a release in China in weeks, but its opening figures didn’t make that big of a splash — at least, not close to enough to douse the continued reign of Donnie Yen action film “Raging Fire.”The animation directed and co-written by Enrico Casarosa swam to a $5.1 million China opening weekend, according to consultancy Artisan Gateway.

Disney’s 20th Century Studios’ Ryan Reynolds movie Free Guy is getting a China release date of Aug. 27.

BBC News), £65.7 million was spent in the four weeks following “freedom day” on July 19. In the same set of weeks for 2019, there was £129 million in box office takings.The results were similar in the US, with the last four weeks generating 51 cent of the corresponding 2019 figures.The sales boost comes from releases like Marvel’s Black Widow and Fast & Furious 9, although both films achieved lower takings than previously expected due to the pandemic.

Rebecca Davis editorMarvel Studios president Kevin Feige addressed Chinese fans’ most pressing concerns about the upcoming “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” in a recent interview.Feige held an exclusive 14-minute-long interview in English with the well-regarded veteran Chinese film critic Raymond Zhou on the day of the film’s U.S. red carpet premiere (it’s out widely on Sept.

Rebecca Davis editorThe toppling of powerful men by #MeToo accusations in Hollywood and beyond has be­­come a familiar phenomenon to Americans in the post-Harvey Weinstein era, but in China, such reckonings remain rare.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefMartin Lau, president and executive director of China’s tech and entertainment industry leader Tencent, on Wednesday explained the positive outcome from the maelstrom of new regulation that the Chinese government is currently imposing on the internet.In less than a year, regulators from multiple departments and ministries have besieged the country’s leading private sector companies.

Rebecca Davis editorThe Chinese government has taken a stake and one of three board seats in a key subsidiary of TikTok owner ByteDance, reports said Tuesday, reviving debate about whether the popular short-form video app poses a national security threat.Chinese authorities now own a 1% stake in Beijing ByteDance Company, a firm that owns key licenses to operate Chinese platforms Douyin, the country’s version of TikTok, and the popular news app Toutiao.

Last week, it was revealed that The Criterion Collection would add a new disc format to its release schedule, announcing its first batch of 4K UHD titles. And in November, the first wave of those titles, as well as a highly-anticipated box set, aim to lighten your wallets.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorAnyone who has interviewed CNN anchor Chris Cuomo knows he can talk his way out of trouble, and sometimes talk himself into it.On TV, his 10 p.m. handoffs to Don Lemon sometimes go on long enough that producers must worry about having to push back a commercial break.

Rebecca Davis editorThe list of major Hollywood tentpoles that have released in the U.S. in the past month but not yet fixed a China release date is growing ever longer — an issue of significant concern to industry players on both sides of the Pacific.“Black Widow,” “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” “Jungle Cruise” and now “The Suicide Squad” have all rolled out Stateside but given no formal indication of when and whether they will debut in the world’s largest film market.

Rebecca Davis editorChinese director Lu Chuan will be the lead director of the opening ceremony for the upcoming 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou city, an international sports spectacle taking place months after the Beijing Winter Olympics.Held every four years, the games will occur from Sept. 10 to 25 in the verdant capital of Zhejiang province, coinciding with the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday.

vaccines were mandatory if they report to the office or out in the field where they come into contact with other employees.“Let me be clear — we have a zero tolerance policy on this,” wrote Zucker, chairman of news and sports for WarnerMedia.The memo was obtained by The Associated Press after its contents were first tweeted by CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy.

CNN head Jeff Zucker said that the network has fired three employees for going into the office without being vaccinated against Covid-19, and that parent WarnerMedia may ultimately require proof of the shots.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorCNN cut back on coverage of one of the biggest news stories of the day during its primetime schedule due to a very unorthodox situation: The anchor not telling the story is the brother of the public official at the center of it.The WarnerMedia-backed outlet kept anchor Chris Cuomo on the air Tuesday night even as it worked to cover a state investigation that found Cuomo’s older brother, New York Gov.

Rebecca Davis editorChinese director Chen Kaige’s U.S.-born son Arthur Chen Feiyu has swapped his American citizenship out for a Chinese one, a change widely viewed locally as a savvy move to boost his burgeoning career in the mainland.The move comes as Chinese public opinion about celebrities has hinged upon questions of nationality.

Rebecca Davis editorDonnie Yen-starring action thriller “Raging Fire” roared to the top this weekend in China with a $37.2 million opening, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway, but its sales were far from enough to revive China’s slumping ticket sales.Yen was last seen on Chinese screens last year in Disney’s “Mulan,” which performed worse than expected.