International Insider: BBC & Channel 4 Futures; Chinese Box Office Record; International Emmys

Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home grossed an estimated $5.28M in Korea on its first day today. This is significant for a number of reasons: Korea has been extremely soft of late, yet the launch day is 11% over the first day of 2019’s pre-pandemic Spider-Man: Far From Home and is the biggest day-one figure for any title of the pandemic era.

Taking an early look at 2022, Gower Street Analytics is projecting global box office to reach $33.2B next year. That would rep a 58% increase on 2021 if the current year stays on track for the London-based firm’s projected approximate $21B (this is a slightly revised number from its October prediction for the year, in part owing to some Hollywood films not securing China dates through December).

The original “Avatar” was a massive hit for 20th Century Fox (pre-Disney merger) and most recently recovered its all-time global box office record from “Avengers: Endgame” thanks to a re-release in China. It’s still unknown if the four, yes four, “Avatar” sequels will replicate that landmark success at the box office, given that the current box office climate makes it seem unlikely we’ll see films being able to reach $2.73 billion again anytime soon.

Rebecca Davis editorChinese action-adventure title “Schemes in Antiques” conspired to hold its own at the top of the China box office with a $14.7 million second weekend, having opened first last week with a solid $25.6 million three-day debut.Originally set to premiere in April, the tale of intrigue around real and counterfeit artifacts from Hong Kong director Derek Kwok Chi-kin (“Wukong”) has now grossed $52 million (RMB331 million) of a projected $66.6 million, according to data from Maoyan.

Vasyl Lomachenko is back in action this weekend when he takes on Richard Commey from Ghana.

There’s plenty of action for boxing fans to enjoy this December as the year ends with some huge matchups.

After a year’s delay due to the pandemic, Steven Spielberg’s remake of the Broadway classic and 10x Oscar-winning 1961 movie, West Side Story, finally tunes up this weekend as the sole wide major studio theatrical release in 2,800 U.S./Canada theaters and offshore debuts in France, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, Russia and UK. All in, the global outlook is $22M-$31M, with $12M-$17M coming from domestic and $10M-$14M from abroad. The 20th Century Studios-Amblin production is being released by Disney.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefAction-adventure film, “Schemes in Antiques” grabbed the top spot at the mainland China box office with a solid $25.6 million debut.It deposed crime comedy “Be Somebody” which had topped the chart for the past three weekends and earned $13.3 million in its fourth weekend, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway.

Afternoon International Insiders, Max Goldbart here. Another busy week but we’ve got you covered with all the international headlines and analysis you need. To get this sent to your inbox every Friday, sign up here.

UPDATE: Notably on the menu this weekend overseas were new openers Disney’s Encanto and MGM/Universal’s House Of Gucci. The former came in lower than hoped at the international box office, with $29.3M in 47 material markets, though it did make the low end of its global projection at $69.6M (including domestic‘s 5-day frame).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefCrime comedy film “Be Somebody” held up strongly at the top of the mainland Chinese box office, in a weekend where the top four places remained unchanged.“Be Somebody” scored $21.9 million on its third weekend of release, just 8% down on its second weekend figure, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. That give it a cumulative gross of $94.4 million, since releasing on Nov.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“The Battle at Lake Changjin” has become the highest grossing film of all time in China, after nearly two months of release. Co-directed by a trio of major helmers, Dante Lam, Chen Kaige and Tsui Hark, it is also the top earning film in the world this year.The Chinese record was achieved on Wednesday evening local time when the film passed the RMB5.69 billion total achieved in 2017 by “Wolf Warrior II,” another patriotic war film.

The French comedy Call My Agent and Israeli drama Tehran took the top prizes at the 49th annual International Emmys, which here handed out Monday night during an in-person ceremony in New York. See the full list of winners below.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefCrime comedy film “Be Somebody” expanded its box office take by 20% in its second weekend of release in China and joined in a 49% surge in nationwide gross revenues.Nationwide box office climbed from $43.1 million in the previous weekend to $64.3 million between Friday and Sunday.

Rebecca Davis editorJust after China’s long National Day holiday on Oct. 10, Chinese social media was plastered in red-and-gold memes and posts celebrating the annual box office to date hitting the $6.26 billion (RMB40 billion) mark.

Good afternoon International Insiders, Max Goldbart here with the headlines and major talking points of the week. To get this sent to your inbox every Friday, sign up here.