Former Netflix Exec Brian Wright Joins Riot Games As Chief Content Officer Of Entertainment

Rebecca Davis editorFollowing a dismal summer, China’s box office over this year’s three-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday hit its lowest point since 2014.Chinese citizens had to work on Saturday, Sept. 18, but enjoyed a three-day vacation for the holiday from Sept.

Rebecca Davis editorA battalion of producers and stars worked the opening night red carpet of the Beijiing Intl. Film Festival Tuesday for the world premiere of their mammoth Chinese war film “The Battle of Changjin Lake,” which is expected to rank amongst China’s highest grossing films of the year.The nearly three-hour-long historical epic is a grind through the blood, sweat and tears of the real-life People’s Volunteer Army as they fight against all odds to defeat the U.S.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefTransparent Arts, an Asian-American talent management firm, has come on board as producer of Korean drama series “Idol: The Coup.”In South Korea, the show will premiere on JTBC this winter. International rights are held by iQiyi, the Chinese streaming platform.The series is a 12-episode drama about a failing K-pop girl group called Cotton Candy.

ENTER GIVEAWAYRaducanu was also spotted posing for photos on the red carpet with film star Kristen Stewart and model Lily-Rose Depp. Since then, the British sensation has spoken to almost every major UK broadcaster, including the BBC, ITV and Sky, where she has further endeared herself to the public.

Stocks retreated sharply Monday in the worst opening in weeks on jitters prompted by a potential crisis in the Chinese real estate sector, fear over Fed policy changes and negotiations over the U.S. debt ceiling in Washington, D.C.

Rebecca Davis editor“Free Guy” has retained enough charm to stay at second in China in its fourth weekend in theaters, but it slid in just a mere hair ahead of Chinese titles setting themselves up for box office success over the current Mid-Autumn Festival holiday.The 20th Century Studios film starring Ryan Reynolds grossed $4.8 million in the three days of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, bringing its China cumulative so far up to $85.1 million, according to data from  consultancy Artisan

Emiliano De Pablos Mexico’s Sin Sitio Cine is joining forces with Brazilian company Desvia Produções and Canada’s Notable Content to co-produce Johnny Ma’s project “Chin-Gone.”A major up and coming Chinese-Canadian helmer, Ma’s directorial debut, “Old Stone,” world-premiered at the 2016 Berlin Film Festival and won the Canadian First Feature Award at the Toronto Film Festival.

Marvel movie ever.“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” Marvel's first Asian superhero movie, has earned an estimated $320.6 million worldwide. The only trouble for “Shang-Chi” thus far is a lack of a release date in China, which hasn't cleared the film for release in the country, the world's largest but highly censored film market.While “Shang-Chi” is playing only in theaters, Warner Bros.

Critical and audience acclaim, combined with its status as a theatrically exclusive film, has turned “Shang-Chi” into a film that has not only been the biggest boost to theaters in months but has also convinced Disney to commit to theatrical exclusivity for the remainder of the year. It is also now on track to become the first film since the shutdown to gross $200 million in North America.

a new study from London-based data firm Gower Street Analytics.The study said as of Aug. 31, the worldwide box office has already matched 2020’s haul of $12.8 billion.

Rebecca Davis editor“Free Guy” retained its lead of the China box office for the third weekend in a row, and has now surpassed “Tenet” in local sales.It brought in $12.4 million on a rare weekend with three non-Chinese language titles in the top five, according to Maoyan figures.China’s box office has been dismal all summer and the slump continued this week with, once again, only five films that made over $1 million.

Refresh for latest…: Disney/Marvel’s Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings handily crossed the $250M mark globally this weekend, seeing a very good 34% drop at the international box office and maintaining No. 1s in such key markets as Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Korea, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain and the UK.

That 3-day total is second only to the $80 million opening for “Black Widow” on the list of highest post-shutdown domestic opening weekend totals and just tops the $70 million opening for “F9” earlier this summer. The 4-day total is also nearly triple the previous record for the highest Labor Day opening weekend record of $30.5 million set by “Halloween” in 2007.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe Chinese government’s crackdown on the tech and entertainment sectors has now turned to “sissy idols,” “effeminate men” and all things “overly entertaining.”The measures were sketched out in an eight-point plan on Thursday by the National Radio and Television Administration.

Reuters has reported.Their message included criticism that the industry supports an “effeminate” male image, to the detriment of Chinese men, they said. The National Radio and Television Administration of China also intends to put the squeeze on stars’ outsized salaries while encouraging such entertainment tycoons to volunteer to aid public welfare programs.

Netflix asked him to change the location of his new film Hustle from China to Majorca.Sandler, who signed a new deal with Netflix at the start of 2020 to make four more original films, explained that the streaming giant changed his original concept for the new film about a basketball recruiter who travels overseas.“It was written originally that I find a player in China and somehow, Netflix is not in China,” Sandler said on The Dan Patrick Show.“So they were like, ‘Would you guys please make it

Thursday appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show,” in which he discussed his new sports comedy “Hustle.” In the flick, which is currently in the post-production phase, Sandler plays a washed-up basketball agent who attempts to save his flatlining career by recruiting a talented overseas player to the NBA.“It was written originally that I find a player in China and somehow, Netflix is not in China,” the “Happy Gilmore” star told Patrick.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefFrank Zhu, former head of Chinese animation studio Pearl Studio, has joined Tencent-owned Riot Games as MD for Riot Games’ China Entertainment.

Pearl Studio alum Frank Zhu has joined Riot Games as the League of Legends and Valorant publisher’s  Managing Director of China Entertainment.