Jia Zhangke Announces Surprise Departure From China’s Pingyao International Film Festival

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefChina’s Kuaishou, one of the world’s most popular video sharing and live streaming apps, has filed for a share listing in Hong Kong.The company which is a direct rival to the Bytedance-owned Douyin and TikTok, claims 776 million monthly active users, in a regulatory filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Paramount Pictures chairman Jim Gianopulos delivered a keynote address to Tokyo's TIFFCOM content market Wednesday, offering a detailed recap of how COVID-19 has reshaped the movie business in 2020. The veteran studio head's assessment, delivered via video, was sober-minded but also optimistic.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefChinese state media gently trolled the U.S. on Wednesday as the presidential election ground its way into an inconclusive second day.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefPatriotic and gritty war film “The Sacrifice” topped the mainland Chinese box office for the second week. It earned $28.6 million over the weekend, lifting its ten-day cumulative score to $106 million, according to data from Artisan Gateway.Of that weekend score, some $1.6 million was earned from 670 Imax screens.

statement, Chu said: ‘Growing up in the 80s, Willow has had a profound effect on me.‘The story of the bravest heroes in the least likely places allowed me, an Asian-American kid growing up in a Chinese restaurant looking to go to Hollywood, to believe in the power of our own will, determination and of course, inner magic.‘So the fact that I get to work with my heroes from Kathleen Kennedy to Ron Howard is bigger than a dream come-true.

media reports). Artisan Gateway did not immediately respond to a request for comment.This time last year, the North American box office had brought in just about $9 billion of what would wind up being an $11.4 billion 2019, with China reaching $9.2 billion.

China is officially home to the world's biggest movie box office. Movie ticket sales in China for 2020 climbed to $1.988 billion on Sunday, surpassing North America's total of $1.937 billion, according to data from Artisan Gateway.

Vivienne Chow Chinese director Jia Zhangke has quit the Pingyao International Film Festival that he co-founded four years ago. The festival will be handed over to the Pingyao city government, sparking speculation and concerns over how the reputable young festival will next develop.The internationally-renown auteur dropped the bombshell at Sunday’s press conference that concluded the fourth edition of the festival.

Rebecca Davis editorThe competition section of China’s Pingyao Intl. Film Festival on Friday awarded top prizes to Russia’s Philipp Yuryev, Serbia’s Ivan Ilkic, and Chinese directors Li Dongmei and Wang Jing.

Kaleem Aftab The Lumiere Film Festival paid homage to Greek actress, singer and politician Melina Mercouri this week with a mini-retrospective on what would have been the centenary of her birth.The centerpiece event was a screening Thursday of “Never on Sunday,” the 1960 musical drama directed by and co-starring her regular collaborator, husband Jules Dassin, who was put on the Hollywood Blacklist for being a member of the Communist Party, and moved to Europe.Mercouri and Dassin met at the

Jake Kanter International TV EditorEXCLUSIVE: Oscar-nominated 12 Years A Slave actor Chiwetel Ejiofor is to narrate a film about the world’s water shortage crisis, which is funded by an executive from Chinese tech giant Tencent and co-directed by Emmy-winner Kevin Sim.Housed at Keo Films and OoS Pictures, Day Zero is the brainchild of Tencent’s chief exploration officer David Wallerstein, who personally financed the production after becoming fascinated by the status of Earth’s water

Mike Fleming Jr Co-Editor-in-Chief, FilmEXCLUSIVE: MTV Documentary Films has acquired North American rights to 76 Days, a raw and emotional look at the struggles of the people of Wuhan, China, in the earliest days of the COVID-19 outbreak. Directed by New York filmmaker Hao Wu (People’s Republic of Desire) and China-based journalists, Weixi Chen and “Anonymous,” 76 DAYS made its world premiere at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival.

coronavirus pandemic, featuring musicians from the outbreak's initial epicenter in an attempt to aid in the psychological and emotional healing process.Zou Ye, a composer from Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the virus was first detected late last year, said that Saturday night’s concert is part of an effort to work through frustration and helplessness on the way toward love and tolerance and, hopefully, some meaning to what he calls “nature’s tremendous revenge.”Musicians from the Wuhan

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorRefresh for latest…: China’s National Day holiday officially ended last Thursday, with takings for the October 1-8 period at an estimated RMB 3.95B ($589M) as the market continues to close the 2020 gap with domestic. This weekend saw continued play for the key titles, led by patriotic pic My People My Homeland which added another $42M (-65% for the FSS) to bring the local cume to about $321M.

The live-action remake of “Mulan” has not been the wide success anyone expected, especially Disney. Not only did the film get a lukewarm critical reception, but the film was met with political controversy nearly as soon as “Mulan” debuted on Disney+ last month, when viewers noticed the end credits included “special thanks” to several government entities in the Xinjiang region in China, which has been the site of several human rights abuses.

Take The Wizard of Oz, add a touch of Up, a splash of Frozen and toss well with the cultural specificity of a Coco and you’ll get a reasonable facsimile of Over the Moon, a CG-animated musical fantasy that still manages to infuse sufficient charm and genuine warmth into the inescapable familiarity.

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorThursday marked the end of the Chinese National Day holiday with the world’s second largest box office market significantly tightening the gap between its turnstiles and those of North America. Takings for the period are estimated at RMB 3.95B ($589M).

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorScreen Media has acquired all North American rights to the Simon West-directed Skyfire.