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Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Dune,” Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi film of epic proportions, opened solidly in China on Friday and is forecast to attain a gross box office of $35 million (RMB224 million) in the country.The forecast was made by Maoyan, one of China’s leading online ticketing agencies, which also reported that the film had grossed RMB23.8 million ($3.7 million) by 2pm Friday local time.The $3.7 million haul was only good enough for second place, behind “The Battle at Lake

Enes Kanter and the NBA’s Boston Celtics opened ESPN’s regular-season schedule with a dramatic, double-overtime game won by the New York Knicks. But social media posts by Kanter before the game wound up being much more consequential.

Rebecca Davis editorDeadly flooding did not divert this year’s Pingyao International Film Festival from running its full course, with the event drawing to a close Monday with an award ceremony honoring Egyptian director Omar El Zohairy, India’s Natesh Hegde, and China’s Kong Dashan and Wei Shujun with top prizes.Many anticipated that this fifth edition of the festival would be different, given the shifting role of its co-founder and leading light, director Jia Zhangke.

the Hollywood Reporter has revealed.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“The Battle at Lake Changjin” is on course to become one of the top three films of all time in China after dominating proceedings at the mainland Chinese box office for a third successive weekend.A patriotic war film, “Changjin” earned $73 million between Friday and Sunday to extend its cumulative total to $769 million since being released on Sept.

EXCLUSIVE: In a very competitive situation with eight bidders, Sony Pictures Television’s TriStar has won the television rights to author Kirstin Chen’s upcoming novel Counterfeit. Chen will executive produce the series adaptation alongside Ben Smith of Captive Entertainment and Kay Cannon and Laverne McKinnon through K&L Productions. The producers have started a search for a writer to pen the project.

Timed to the occasion of China’s National Day holiday, the state spared no expense in making a most lavish and expensive slab of self-congratulatory movie propaganda with The Battle At Lake Changjin. Clocking in at nearly three hours, and spectacularly presented on an enormous IMAX screen, this is a gargantuan account of how Chinese troops outfoxed the Allied brass and pushed American and United Nations forces out of North Korea near the border of China in late 1950.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefTech giant Microsoft has withdrawn its LinkedIn professional social media service from mainland China, citing the difficulties of compliance in the Middle Kingdom.The move marks the withdrawal of the last major western social media operation in China, where the Communist government is simultaneously pushing back against tech firms, private capital and western influence.The Chinese government is in the process of pushing tech firms out of the news business, even