Film Review: Chen Sicheng’s Action Comedy ‘Detective Chinatown 3’

“Avatar” has reclaimed its crown, and is once again the film with the biggest box office in Hollywood history.

You know it’s a good week on Real Time when the two stories that have consumed the week’s news — the accusations against Andrew Cuomo and the accusations against the Royal Family — take a backseat to weightier topics such as crony capitalism and the hegemony of China.

Richard Kuipers The mega-successful Chinese franchise about a mismatched detective duo tackling baffling crimes in foreign destinations continues with a wildly uneven caper set in Tokyo.

Rebecca Davis editorChina’s top law-making body will consider this week a popular proposition to ban actors who have used drugs from entertainment industry for life at its annual weeklong meeting, which kicked off Friday.The National People’s Congress, the country’s rubber stamp parliament, counts some 3,000 professionals from across the country as delegates, including directors Jia Zhangke, Feng Xiaogang and Chen Kaige, as well as Jackie Chan and Yao Ming.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefImax China, the supplier of giant screen cinema facilities and services in Greater China, is one of the purest plays on the mainland Chinese movie exhibition market available to investors.

Pierre Morel’s upcoming action thrillerThe Blacksmith, which recently lost its star Nick Jonas due to a scheduling conflict, has a deal in place for the important China market. Beijing-based distributor Infotainment China Media picked up rights to the film ahead of Berlin's European Film Market and plans to stick with the project despite the casting change-up.

Rebecca Davis editorChina’s $1.2 billion Lunar New Year box office broke world records earlier this month, but Chinese film buyers and sales agents are not jumping to interpret that as a sign of lasting market recovery, particularly for arthouse productions and indie firms.Despite astonishing ticket sales, some 80% of the six-day holiday box office went to just the top two out of seven titles — “Detective Chinatown 3″ and ‘Hi, Mom” (pictured) — causing the others to underperform.This, coupled

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.

Chinese New Year movies continued to drive the global and international box office this weekend, after their astonishing Covid-era debuts last frame. Leaders last session, Detective Chinatown 3 and Hi Mom, both crossed the RMB 4B mark locally, with each at an estimated RMB 4.02B ($621M) cume through Sunday. This is after just 10 days of play for each film, and boosts both up the all-time charts

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 editorTony Leung Chiu-Wai and Andy Lau will team up in a new major action movie titled “Goldfinger,” local reports said Friday.The two beloved Hong Kong-born A-listers haven’t worked together since the end of the “Internal Affairs” trilogy 18 years ago.The reunion will be written and directed by Felix Chong, the screenwriter for the “Internal Affairs” series.

In the span of six days, the Chinese box office roared to a $1.2B Lunar New Year record, with Wanda Pictures’ Detective Chinatown 3 setting global benchmarks for the biggest opening day and weekend in a single market.

Rebecca Davis editorChina’s Lunar New Year holiday brought in a record $1.2 billion (RMB7.8 billion) in ticket sales, making a tenth of the global 2020 box office in just six days.It marked the first time in Chinese film history that the country’s single-day box office exceeded RMB1 billion ($155 million) for five consecutive days.

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.

Detective Chinatown 3 has broken Avengers: Endgame‘s record for the highest grossing opening weekend at the box office in a single market.The 2019 Marvel film made $357million (£256m) on its first weekend in the US, but it has now been eclipsed in China.Despite cinemas being closed in many parts of the world, Chinese film fans are now able to see new releases in theatres, and the third film in the Detective Chinatown franchise – released at the weekend in line with the Chinese New Year – has

What a difference a year makes. After a 12-month postponement caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Wanda Pictures' much anticipated comedy tentpole Detective Chinatown 3 finally opened in China Friday for the first day of the week-long Lunar New Year holiday.

Refresh for latest…: Chinese moviegoers ushered in the Year of the Ox with the colossal three-day debut of Detective Chinatown 3 grossing an estimated RMB 2.56B ($397M). This tops Avengers: Endgame’s 2019 five-day China bow of RMB 2.22B to make DC3 not only the biggest opener in Chinese history, but also giving it bragging rights to the biggest opening weekend ever in a single market — overtaking Endgame’s North American launch of $357M from April 2019.

Rebecca Davis editorChina made history this weekend with record sales of nearly $775 million (RMB50 billion) within the first three days of the Chinese New Year holiday, led by an incredible $424 million (RMB2.74 billion) debut from “Detective Chinatown 3.”This marked the first time the country’s national box office has ever broken RMB1 billion ($155 million) a day for three consecutive days, a feat achieved despite caps on max theater capacity at 75% in most of the country and 50% in areas