Korean Cinemas Try to Adapt as Box Office Recovery Weakens

Typically, we’ve avoided weekend box office previews during the pandemic as there’s been nothing to pump up from a potential ticket sales outlook, however, Warner Bros.’ release of $200M tentpole sequel Wonder Woman 1984 merits a line, particularly with its unorthodox theatrical day and date HBO Max streaming plan on Christmas Day.

“Wonder Woman 1984” — Warner Bros.’s much-anticipated sequel to its superhero franchise starring Gal Gadot — suffered a weak weekend debut in China, where it earned a mere $19 million in ticket sales, or less than half of what Hollywood had expected. Media watchers had pegged the follow-up film to 2017’s “Wonder Woman” to reel in at least $40 million in the Middle Kingdom.

While we may be talking about the unfortunate death of movie theaters in the US, considering they have yet to fully bounce back from being closed most of the year and 2021 isn’t looking as promising as we hoped, Chinese cinemas are not only open but thriving.

China's box office was the scene of disappointment over the weekend, as Warner Bros.' Wonder Woman 1984 got trounced by local action flick The Rescue. The Rescue, directed by Dante Lam, opened to $36.3 million, nearly double Wonder Woman 1984's meagre $18.8 million start, according to data from Artisan Gateway.

Wonder Woman 1984 opened to an underwhelming $18.8 million in China, behind expectations and a less-than-wondrous start for WarnerMedia as it embarks on a bold plan to release its films both in theaters and on HBO Max. The Warner Bros./DC superhero pic placed No.

Controversial South Korean director Kim Ki-duk died in a hospital in Latvia where he was being treated for COVID-19. He was 59.

The documentary Assassins, opening in theaters today, is part legal thriller, part spy thriller, and part true crime story, “on literally the largest geopolitical scale,” as director Ryan White puts it.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefAward-winning and deeply divisive South Korean film director Kim Ki-duk has died of COVID-19-related complications while on a visit to Latvia, local media in Latvia has reported. His death has not been confirmed in Korea.Latvian news portal Delfi said Kim arrived in the country a month ago with the intention of buying a house and applying for alien residency status.

Also Read: 'Let Them All Talk' Film Review: Meryl Streep Contemplates Life, Love and Literature on Transatlantic VoyageImmaculately crafted to the most minuscule production design detail, “Minari” mines significance from the plot’s built-in wisdom, such as the water and the lack thereof standing as a metaphor for the necessary components for growth, for both the crops and the people tending to them.

Partner Content Last February, “Parasite” surprised the world, winning four Academy Awards: best original screenplay, best international feature film, best director, and the most coveted statuette, best picture.It was a historic moment, as “Parasite” was the first international film to take home the Academy’s top prize — and the first Korean film to win Academy Awards in the country’s 101-year cinematic history.While “Parasite’s” wins are one of the biggest film-industry stories of 2020,

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefLarge parts of South Korea’s entertainment industry are reeling as the national government put capital city Seoul on the country’s second highest virus response footing.

It was a drama-filled weekend at the Chinese multiplex. Tencent's big-budget video game adaptation Monster Hunter was yanked from cinemas one day into its release over a scene local audiences decried as derogatory.

Christmas do.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentItalian cinemas are set to stay closed over the holidays after Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte extended Italy’s soft lockdown until early January. The widely expected move comes as the country contends with a flare up of the pandemic.

BTS. It will be welcome news for the seven-member pop group's legions of diehard fans around the world, who were celebrating the band's unprecedented position at the top of the Billboard chart on Tuesday.

Thanks to a new Korean law, BTS’ Jin will defer his military service by two years. Jin, the eldest member of BTS, will turn 28 on Friday, December 4, which meant that he had 20 months to enlist in the military under the previous South Korean law.