Hong Kong Box Office Struggled to 25% Gain in 2023, Remains ‘Deeply Unsatisfactory’

EXCLUSIVE: India’s box office revenue reached a record $1.47BN (Rs122.3BN) in 2023, a 15% increase over the previous year, according to a report from Mumbai-based Ormax Media. But growth was partly due to rising ticket prices as admissions have still not recovered to the same level as 2019. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Fish out of water comedy film “Jonny Keep Walking” kept its place at the top of the mainland China box office in its fourth weekend of release. Hong Kong-made action comedy “Rob N Roll” opened in second position. “Jonny,” in which a man from the countryside struggles to hold down a corporate job in a big city, earned $15 million (RMB106 million), according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway.

“Mean Girls” repeated atop the box office with $11.7 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday, while a handful of awards contenders sought to make an impact ahead of Oscar nominations Tuesday.With a dearth of new releases in cinemas, Paramount Pictures’ Tina Fey-scripted musical “Mean Girls” pushed its two-week total past $50 million, along with $16.2 million internationally. So far, it’s outpacing the tally for the 2004 original “Mean Girls.”Only one new film debuted in wide release: “I.S.S.,” a modestly budgeted sci-fi thriller starring Ariana DeBose.

So, here we are in mid-January, and though we’re staring down the barrel of a tough year ahead, it’s not all wintry doom and gloom on an international box office (and combined global) level. 

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter The “Mean Girls” movie musical topped a sleepy box office as “I.S.S.,” a sci-fi thriller that takes place aboard the International Space Station, misfired in its opening weekend. “Mean Girls” added $11.7 million in its second weekend of release, bringing its domestic tally to $50 million. Ticket sales dropped a steep 59% from its debut.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.The reboot, which The Observer called “vapid, tasteless and monumentally stupid,” is based on the Broadway musical of the same name, which was inspired by the 2004 teen comedy starring Lindsay Lohan. “The Beekeeper,” which was in first place last Friday, flew down to second, with $2.445 million in sales.This weekend, the Jason Statham action thriller is projected to enjoy a three-day estimate of $8.4 million in earnings, according to Variety.The rom-com “Anyone But You,” which debuted in December, moved down a notch to third, with $1.74 million in sales.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Leading Asian film directors including Josh Kim, Fukada Koji and Patiparn Boontarig line up to pitch their in-development projects at the March edition of the Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF). Leading directors Wang Xiaoshuai and Zhang Lu will also be on the ground at HAF, operating as producers. So too will established producers Yamamoto Teruhisa (“Drive My Car”) and Michael J.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Fish out of water comedy film “Jonny Keep Walking” kept its place at the top of the mainland China box office in its third week of release. Two newcomers broke into the top five, comedy “Follow Bear for Action” and imported action title “The Beekeeper.” “Jonny,” in which a man from the countryside struggles to hold down a corporate job in a big city, earned $19.7 million (140 million), according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. That was another strong hold after an opening weekend of $26.1 million (on Dec.

the 2004 Tina Fey movie, earned $28 million in its first three days in theaters according to studio estimates Sunday. Not accounting for inflation, that’s more than the $24.4 million the first movie made in its opening weekend.The “Mean Girls” competition over the Martin Luther King Jr.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.The Washington Post said the action thriller, starring Jason Statham, has “more zzzzz than bzzzz.”The rom-com “Anyone But You,” which was in third place last week, moved up a notch to second, with $2.1 million in sales.The film stars Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, who The Hollywood Reporter said “can’t fake the fizz” in the flick, which is based on William Shakespeare’s play “Much Ado About Nothing.”Things soured for “Wonka,” which dropped to third, with earnings of $1.8 million. Its star, Timothée Chalamet, was nominated at Jan.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s “Evil Does Not Exist” and Korean blockbuster “12.12: The Day” dominated the nominations for the 17th edition of the Asian Film Awards. Both picked up six nominations, including those in the best film category. The nominations were announced on Friday afternoon in Hong Kong, ahead of a ceremony on March 10, that will return to the city’s West Kowloon Cultural District and the Qiyu Centre.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief KCON, the Korean pop music and culture convention operated by CJ ENM, will hold five editions in 2024, organizers said on Thursday. The first of the year will be Hong Kong, a new destination for the convention series, before moving on to KCON Japan in May 10-12 and KCON LA July 26-28. Other editions will be held in Saudi Arabia and Europe at unspecified dates in the second half of the year. The Hong Kong edition will be held at March 30-31 at the AsiaWorld Expo, a 10,000 seater venue adjacent to the airport.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Fish out of water comedy film “Jonny Keep Walking” climbed to the top of the mainland China box office in its second weekend on release. Previous winner, “Shining for One Thing” dimmed quickly and tumbled to fifth place. The first weekend of the new year and following a welter of Christmas-New Year releases, the latest weekend represented a reordering of holdover titles, rather than a session with an injection of significant fresh movies. “Jonny,” in which a man from the countryside struggles to hold down a corporate job in a big city, earned $22.4 million (RMB159 million) from Friday to Sunday, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway.

Timothée Chalamet and “Wonka” topped the box office charts for the third time in its four weekends in theaters.Warner Bros.’ family-oriented musical added $14.4 million in ticket sales according to studio estimates Sunday, bringing its total domestic grosses to $164.7 million.“’Wonka’ is following in the tradition of a film like ‘The Greatest Showman,’” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. That Hugh Jackman musical opened under $9 million in Dec.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Night Swim,” a supernatural thriller produced by horror mavens Jason Blum and James Wan, waded to second place in its debut. The film, marking the first nationwide release of the year, collected a moderate $12 million from 3,200 North American theaters. Those ticket sales weren’t enough to topple “Wonka,” which claimed first place again with $15 million in its fourth weekend of release.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.Deadline said the film, which stars Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon and centers around a family’s discovery that their pool is haunted, “falls off the deep end.”“Wonka” moved down a notch to second place, where it enjoyed sales of $4.3 million. This week, the Timothee Chalamet-led musical fantasy set a milestone, reaching $400 million in worldwide sales, Screenrant reported.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “I don’t find the definition of Chinese filmmakers by generation to be a useful tool,” said Marco Mueller, introducing dark satire “The Movie Emperor” as the opening film of the first edition of his Festival of Young Cinema (Asia-Europe) in Macau on Friday. “Much more interesting is the concept of exchange between new and old and between East and West.” “The new forces of Chinese cinema are present and participating.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese-produced movies took all of the top ten chart places at the China box office as theatrical revenues in 2023 rebounded strongly. Gross revenues reached an annual total of RMB54.9 billion or $7.73 billion. That was an 83% improvement on the previous year, according to data from China Film Administration, but still 14.5% adrift of 2019, the last pre-COVID year, when grosses hit RMB64.3 billion.

Naman Ramachandran Warner Bros.’ “Wonka” continued its golden run at the U.K. and Ireland box office with £6.6 million ($8.4 million) over the Dec. 29 weekend.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The French box office jumped 19% in 2023 with an estimated €1.3 billion ($1.4 billion) grossed from 181.2 million tickets, according to Comscore France. Unlike in 2022, when the top 10 was exclusively dominated by U.S.