English Soccer Becomes Political Football in Growing China-U.K. Dispute (Report)

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorCould a Twitter-TikTok tie-up transpire?The social network and TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, have engaged in “preliminary” discussions about merging TikTok’s U.S. operations with Twitter, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous individuals.Twitter declined to comment.

Rebecca Rubin News Editor, OnlineChristopher Nolan’s sci-fi epic “Tenet” will launch in Chinese theaters on Sept. 4.The movie, starring John David Washington and Robert Pattinson, is expected to be the first major Hollywood release since the pandemic forced cinemas to close in the country starting in January.The studio got approval last week to debut “Tenet” in China, signaling a reversal in reopening guideline from the National Film Bureau.

It has been a long wait for Christoper Nolan but it seems like TENET is finally going to debut on the big screen. The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has delayed the release of TENET across the world but the film is going ahead with international releases in countries that are safe for theatres to reopen.

Hollywood is guilty of censoring its films to placate China and avoid losing access to the country’s hugely lucrative box office market, a report has claimed.

Dominic Patten, Ted Johnson A day that Attorney General William Barr, Sen.

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorWith some of China’s cinemas reopened this week in low-risk areas, and as tomorrow sees Beijing get partially back to business as well, box office has continued to rise. As of 11:30PM tonight local time, Thursday’s takings hit $940K, according to ticketing service Maoyan.

Andreas Wiseman International EditorChinese state television is removing English Premier League soccer matches from their schedule amid the growing political feud between Beijing and the UK government.CCTV, which has the rights in China, won’t be showing the remainder of the current season, per a Bloomberg report.

Jill Goldsmith Co-Business EditorSnap founder and CEO Evan Spiegel said it’s been really “interesting to watch the U.S.

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorAs Chinese cinemas began the reopening process today, box office crossed $472K by 8PM local. Maoyan’s real-time ticketing platform reports that play is led by new entry A First Farewell at around $184K.

China's largest cinema chain operator Wanda Film said it expects to lose $214 to $228 million (RMB 1.5 to 1.6 billion) in the first half of 2020 thanks to over five months on continual cinema shutdowns in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The decline represents a stark reversal of fortunes from the $75 million profit the Chinese exhibition giant reported during the same period in 2019.

Rebecca Davis editorChinese production firm Aim Media has sold the North American rights of director Yang Lina’s “Spring Tide” to distributor China Lion. Smart Cinema, the new venture by former Wanda executive Jack Gao, has also bought the rights to screen the film on its platform in South Korea.

Tom Grater International Film ReporterEXCLUSIVE: Leading Russian animation outfit Riki Group has signed a deal with Beijing-based producer and distributor Joy Culture and Chinese platform Tencent Video to partner on season four of animated series The Fixies.Following its acquisition of the show’s third season, Tencent will now invest in the production of 52 new episodes of the series, which follows the comical misadventures of Tom Thomas and his secret friendship with Simka and Nolik, two young

Tom Grater International Film ReporterEXCLUSIVE: Chinese crime drama Sheep Without A Shepherd, one of the last big box office hits in China before cinemas were forced to shutdown, grossing $167M, has been set for a UK theatrical release by distributor Trinity CineAsia.Theaters have started re-opening in the UK and multiplexes including Cineworld and Vue are set to following in the coming weeks.

China has reported a case of deadly dengue fever after it detected a man suffering from bubonic plague. Officials say a person was taken ill with the infection - which is spread by mosquitos - in the eastern city of Guangde on Sunday.

Rebecca Davis editorHong Kong “Mulan” star Donnie Yen this week reiterated his political loyalty to mainland China as he teased work on the upcoming theatrical adaptation of popular video game “Sleeping Dogs” and announced “Golden Empire,” a new China-backed crime thriller.His hometown is currently roiling under the impact of a controversial new national security law imposed by Beijing that strips Hong Kong of many of its former freedoms, which came into effect July 1 — the anniversary of