Hong Kong Disneyland Closure Seen by Analysts as Temporary Setback

Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar Wai (“In The Mood For Love”) moves secretly and at his own pace, often taking several years between projects. And per usual, the road to his latest film has been circuitous and perhaps filled with twists and turns and misinformation—perhaps some of it lost in translation or some of it warped from the notoriously controlling Chinese government, who knows.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefIconic auteur director, Wong Kar-wai has finally confirmed “Blossoms Shanghai” will be his first dive into dramatic TV series production.An adaptation of Jin Yucheng’s multi-award-winning Shanghai-set novel, “Blossoms,” the series also marks a return for Wong to his birthplace.

Tom Grater International Film ReporterIMAX China has issued a profit warning to the Hong Kong stock exchange with the company having taken a beating from the COVID-19 shutdown this year.The large-format exhibitor said it was forecasting a net loss of $34M-36M for the six months to Jun 30, 2020, in contrast with a net profit of $24M for the same period in 2019.The contributing factors will be no surprise to anyone – the operator was forced to shutdown all of its 700 IMAX theaters in China from

Rebecca Davis editorImax China, the Hong Kong-listed subsidiary of Imax, has warned that it expects a net loss between $34 and $36 million for the first half of the year, as cinema closures in the country due to COVID-19 have slammed exhibition firms. The 2020 figures stand in contrast to a net profit of $24 million in the same period last year.

Hong Kong cinemas, along with the Walt Disney Co.'s Hong Kong theme park, have shut their doors again amid a local flareup of novel coronavirus infections. Across the border in the vastly larger mainland Chinese market, rumors that movie theaters would get the official green light to reopen in late July have yet to materialize.

Hong Kong’s controversial new national security law taking force on July 1, scenes once unimaginable in the financial hub have nightmarishly come true: a 15-year-old girl arrested for waving an independence flag; books potentially offensive to China’s Communist Party removed from public libraries; protesters, fearing life imprisonment for wielding slogans, holding up blank sheets of paper — but getting detained anyway.By imposing the law, Beijing is forcibly and abruptly moving its Great

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentThe British government has banned mobile providers from purchasing Huawei 5G equipment after Dec. 31.

multiple reports.Disney's Hong Kong park initially closed its doors on Jan. 26 as COVID-19 cases began to surge in Asia, and reopened on June 18.

The Walt Disney Co. said Monday it would close its Hong Kong theme park again amid a rising number of novel coronavirus cases in China.

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

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefHong Kong’s new National Security Law gives the city’s police enhanced powers and greater reach into cyberspace.The Special Administrative Region’s government put into effect Article 43 of the new law on Monday night when it gazetted a range of new measures.

Tom Grater International Film ReporterPopular social media platform TikTok will exit Hong Kong imminently following the introduction of China’s new national security law in the semi-autonomous territory.Though the platform was founded in China by developer ByteDance, the app, which is now run by former Disney exec Kevin Mayer, is only available outside of the Middle Kingdom.

said in a statement provided to Axios.The new law, enacted last week an hour before the 23rd anniversary of the city’s handover from British to Chinese control, effectively ends the special legal status the city has enjoyed since 1997 under the “one country, two systems” policy. Among other things, it criminalizes activities broadly defined as secessionist, subversive or terrorism that include advocating for democracy or criticizing the authoritarian government in Bejing.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefMassively popular video sharing app TikTok may pull out of Hong Kong within a matter of days.“In light of recent events, we’ve decided to stop operations of the TikTok app in Hong Kong,” a company spokesman told the Reuters news agency.

Bradley Whitford is holding the NBA accountable amid the continuing civil unrest in Hong Kong. Last fall, Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey expressed support for protesters in Hong Kong who were demonstrating opposition to a proposed law that could see citizens extradited to mainland China despite maintaining a degree of autonomy from the country at large.

Hong Kong director Derek Tsang'sBetter Dayswon the top prizes at the first—and perhaps only—virtual edition of Italy's Far East Film Festival (FEFF). Tsang's romantic crime drama, starringZhou Dongyu and Jackson Yee, took the overall audience award, the Golden Mulberry, as well as the Black Mulberry, voted on by the Shogun pass holders.