Disney’s ‘Jungle Cruise’ Sails Astray With $3.3 Million China Opening Weekend

After having been cleared by authorities in late November for an eventual China release, the market has now given Warner Bros/Village Roadshow’s highly-anticipated The Matrix Resurrections an official date — on January 14, 2022.

UPDATE:  China has responded to the Women’s Tennis Association announcement on Wednesday that it is suspending all of its tournaments in that country. The WTA said it was taken the action because of  concerns about the treatment of tennis star Peng Shuai.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefChinese video streaming company iQiyi is poised to impose massive job just on its workforce Chinese and financial sector media reported on Wednesday and Thursday. The layoffs could affect 20-40% of its workforce, the reports said.Contacted by Variety, iQiyi acknowledged the existence of the media reports, but offered no further response.On Wednesday the company announced a significant crop of original content at its Singapore-based international platform.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefBruce Willis-starring sci-fi action film “Breach” is to receive an online release next week in China across five major streaming platforms.Leeding Media, which has offices in Los Angeles and Beijing, has finally secured Dec.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefCrime comedy film “Be Somebody” held up strongly at the top of the mainland Chinese box office, in a weekend where the top four places remained unchanged.“Be Somebody” scored $21.9 million on its third weekend of release, just 8% down on its second weekend figure, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. That give it a cumulative gross of $94.4 million, since releasing on Nov.

“The Battle at Lake Changjin,” has made a whopping $892 million in the communist country since it was released there on Sept.

official notice uploaded by the association, the blacklist was created to “strengthen industry self-discipline.”The notice also mentions the need to prevent “celebrities who violated the law or ethical standards from rebranding themselves on other platforms” and to “purify the environment of the online entertainment industry,” per RADII.This list includes singer Kris Wu, who was previously a member of South Korean boyband EXO.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“The Battle at Lake Changjin” has become the highest grossing film of all time in China, after nearly two months of release. Co-directed by a trio of major helmers, Dante Lam, Chen Kaige and Tsui Hark, it is also the top earning film in the world this year.The Chinese record was achieved on Wednesday evening local time when the film passed the RMB5.69 billion total achieved in 2017 by “Wolf Warrior II,” another patriotic war film.

Already the top film of 2021 globally, Chinese war epic The Battle At Lake Changjin is taking over the title of highest grossing movie ever in China, edging the previous leader, 2017’s Wolf Warrior 2. Through Wednesday evening local time, Lake Changjin had reached an estimated RMB 5.693B ($890M) after 56 days in release.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefCrime comedy film “Be Somebody” expanded its box office take by 20% in its second weekend of release in China and joined in a 49% surge in nationwide gross revenues.Nationwide box office climbed from $43.1 million in the previous weekend to $64.3 million between Friday and Sunday.

Simu Liu tonight made his hosting debut on SNL, kicking off his opening monologue with reference to Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, the history-making comic book film released back in September, in which he stars.

Rebecca Davis editorChinese real estate giant Evergrande has sold its entire remaining stake in the film and TV streaming company HengTen Networks Group for $273 million, part of efforts to avoid defaulting on its massive debts.The world’s most indebted developer, some $300 billion in the red, is struggling to meet interest payments on its loans, and has been selling off shares to raise funds.At the beginning of the year, Evergrande owned a majority stake in Netflix-like HengTen.

A children’s hospital in Shanghai is the new home for China’s first ever clinic for transgender kids.The Children’s Hospital of Fudan University announced earlier this month that they would create a clinic to help trans children  “reduce the negative emotions” they may feel and also help “improve their family relationships”.The clinic officially opened last week, and is China’s first of its kind facility to support trans children with their gender identity. Chinese tabloid Global Times had