Did China's Wanda Cash in During AMC Theatres' Stock Surge?

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefChinese video entertainment platform Bilibili saw its losses deepen in 2020, but they reflected further investment in growth, as Middle Kingdom consumers become increasingly digitally focused.Average monthly active users (MAUs) reached 202 million representing an increase of 55%, compared with 2019.

Rebecca Davis editorMore than 35,300 suspected links to pirated versions of Chinese New Year’s films and major holiday TV programs are available online, despite government directives to crack down on piracy, new data from China shows. Rampant piracy did not stop the seven new year’s blockbusters released on Feb.

Rebecca Davis editorChina has this week imposed its tightest restrictions to date on the publication of original content online via short video and “self-media” accounts, in the latest escalation of its ongoing crackdown on public discourse that strays from the party line.The country’s internet watchdog, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), has issued new regulations requiring bloggers, influencers and content creators on public social media accounts, known as “self-media,” to possess

Chloé Zhao's Oscars favorite Nomadland has been given the green light for a limited theatrical release in China. The neo-Western's pacing and themes would usually make for a challenging fit for China's commercially driven film market, but the director's Chinese origins —and the acclaim her work already has received — have generated excitement among some Chinese film buffs.

Rebecca Davis editorChina’s state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) announced late Monday evening that it has signed a strategic partnership in program development and online video with South Korean public broadcaster KBS.

Rebecca Davis editorChloe Zhao’s awards season frontrunner “Nomadland” has been approved for a limited release in China starting April 23 through the country’s arthouse cinema circuit, according to information published on the government-backed distributor China Film’s website.The date would put its debut just three days ahead of the Academy Awards, where the title is expected to be a top pick.

Chinese blockbusters Hi, Mom and Detective Chinatown 3 both sailed past the $600 million mark during their second weekend in cinemas — an unprecedented feat for two films competing head-to-head in a single market. Heartwarming comedy Hi, Mom, produced by Beijing Culture, has emerged as China's 2021 Lunar New Year champion despite beginning the holiday in distant second behind Wanda Pictures' comedy franchise hit Detective Chinatown 3.

As China's booming Lunar New Year box-office period winds down, Beijing's film regulators are beginning to let Hollywood titles back into the marketplace. Warner Brothers’ live-action/animation hybrid Tom and Jerry has secured a release on Feb.

With presumed Western blockbusters such as Black Widow, No Time to Die, and The Eternals delayed until later this year, the rambunctious Detective Chinatown franchise has leaped into the void in a very, very big way. Few, if any movies have ever raked in so much coin in so little time.

Rebecca Davis editorThe Beijing Culture-backed tear-jerking comedy “Hi, Mom” grossed $134 million this weekend to finally surpass Wanda Film’s record-breaking Chinese New Year holiday frontrunner “Detective Chinatown 3” in overall box office, having led the latter in single-day returns since Monday.It is now only the sixth film to ever have grossed more than RMB400 million ($62 million) in China, a feat achieved by “Detective Chinatown 3,” “Avengers: Endgame” and four other local titles.The

Rebecca Davis editorWarner Brothers’ live action-animation hybrid film “Tom and Jerry” has quietly locked in a Feb. 26 release date in China, which will make it the first foreign film to hit theaters in the wake of the Chinese New Year.The lunar new year public holiday, which this year ran from Feb.

Rebecca Davis editorDisney’s “‘Raya and the Last Dragon” is set to hit theaters in China on March 5, the same day as its release on Disney Plus in other territories.It ranks among the first foreign titles to announce an upcoming release date since the Wednesday conclusion of the Chinese New Year holiday — the country’s top movie-going week of the year, and a period when authorities impose an official blackout on foreign imports.China is one of the few countries where Disney currently has no

Rebecca Davis editorDespite nearly six months of cinema closures due to COVID-19, China actually built nearly 6,000 more new screens in 2020, according to a new report from the country’s film authorities.The data contradicts the disastrous predictions made over the summer about the extent to which the pandemic would devastate the Chinese exhibition sector.China now boasts 75,581 screens nationwide at some 12,700 complexes, having built 5,794 more screens last year, said the National Office for

Shares in Imax surged after China's Lunar New Year holiday propelled tentpoles like Detective Chinatown 3 and Hi, Mom to blowout box office performances. Market analysts and beleaguered North American exhibitors are watching China's holiday opening weekend this year for signs of an eventual full recovery globally from the COVID-19 pandemic.

A comeback story is underway at China's booming theatrical box office. Beijing Culture's time-travel comedy Hi, Mom, which opened the Lunar New Year holiday in distant second place behind Wanda Picture's Detective Chinatown 3, has suddenly surged to the front of the pack.

its ongoing lies and distortion and insisting that their official death toll is underreported by as much as tens of thousands.Called “In The Same Breath,” the HBO film begins hours after a massive New Year’s Eve celebration in Wuhan, China, a city of 11 million and the one-time epicenter of the pandemic.The next day, a slew of robotic news anchors recited a government script, meant to minimize the impending disaster.