Location, Location, Location: Kirstie Allsopp has a bizarre hatred for a common household object

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefChina’s e-commerce and media giant Alibaba recorded lower profits in the 12 months to March 2022, following a year of turmoil for tech companies, a weakening Chinese economy, a COVID revival and Russia’s war in Ukraine..Group revenues increased by 19% in the year to March, reaching $135 billion (RMB853 billion). In the fourth quarter, revenues grew 9% to $32.2 billion (RMB204 billion).Net profits bore the brunt of the difficult conditions and the market value of some of its investments in other companies reduced by some $7 billion.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefChinese video streamer iQiyi unveiled a rare quarterly profit in the three months to March, amidst a mixed picture on revenue and subscriptions.The company, which is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange but is predominantly controlled by Chinese tech conglomerate Baidu, said in a filing that it had achieved net income attributable of RMB169 million ($26.7 million), compared to net loss attributable of RMB1.3 billion in the same period in 2021.After more than a decade of annual losses, the company has recently discovered a need to become more efficient and focus on earnings rather than growth.Revenues between January and March 2022 amounted to RMB7.3 billion ($1.1 billion) a decrease of 9% year-over-year. But the revenue portion that came from membership services was RMB4.5 billion ($705.4 million), increasing 4% year-over-year.

China recently set release dates for two summer films – Universal’s Jurassic World Dominion June 10 and big local language production Mozart From Space (by the director of the Detective Chinatown series) July 15. That’s good news for the giant market’s reopening, said Imax CEO Rich Gelfond. But he doesn’t expect heightened scrutiny of Hollywood fare to subside anytime soon despite the Jurassic news. China has declined to date many high-profile U.S. films with recent Marvel omissions perhaps the most glaring.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefTang Wei, the Chinese star of Korean film “Decision to Leave,” says she told director Park Chan-wook that he’d made her life complete after seeing the finished version of the film at its Cannes Film Festival gala premiere.The film played in competition this week in Cannes. She revealed her confession on Tuesday at a press event, accompanied by Park, cast member Park Hae-il and scriptwriter Chung Soo-kyung.Switching between Chinese and English, Tang Wei said: “This in not the first time I’ve worked with a Korean director.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefCinema box office this year in North America is poised to overtake theatrical revenues in China, the country that has been the world’s largest movie market for the past two years.Before the latest weekend, gross revenues in the year to date stood at $2.38 billion for the North American compared with $2.43 billion for China, according to data from ComScore.U.K.-based research firm Gower Street Analytics forecast that the North American figure would overtake China’s revenues over the weekend or early this week. That reflects business growth in North America and the current reversal in China, where anti-COVID measures are causing renewed cinema closures.Gower Street says that some 85% of global cinemas are now open for business, compared with pre-pandemic levels.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe question arising at every Cannes Film Festival lineup announcement about why the festival has not selected films from a particular country tends to irk chief selector Thierry Frémaux. But this year, with films from China notable by their absence, Frémaux may be asking himself if he messed up, or whether bigger forces are at play?Last year, Cannes was at pains to conceal its selection of Hong Kong pro-democracy film “Revolution of Our Times” until as late as possible, in order not to alert mainland Chinese authorities or disrupt the other Chinese indies showing in the festival.China experts differ as to how much Cannes’ defiance last year was a factor in this year’s de facto boycott.

ESPN is reporting that the NBA playoffs are back for China’s TV viewers after a long banishment over controvesial political statements by an executive.

a new lawsuit the U.S. Department of Justice is seeking to compel former hotel magnate and ex-Republican Party finance chair Steve Wynn to register as a foreign agent.The move comes in response to what DoJ says is his work on behalf of the government of China in 2017, when Wynn repeatedly lobbied Donald Trump to deport a Chinese businessman seeking asylum in the United States.The lawsuit does not identify who the businessman was, but according to The New York Times, they are likely referring to Guo Wengui, an outspoken critic of corruption in the Chinese government.

seven — soon to be eight — revealed to E! News’ Daily Pop he got a consultation to go under the knife for a vasectomy recently.“I don’t know if I would’ve designed it this way, but it’s one of those things when you’re blessed with the gifts of children — and as we all know, I’ve been through so much, I find solace, I find peace in my children and I find purpose,” the “Wild “N Out” host explained. “So, I’m not out here looking.”He continued, “I already went and got my vasectomy consultation. I ain’t looking to populate the Earth completely, but I’m definitely looking forward to taking care and loving all the children that I currently have.”Cannon is currently expecting his eighth baby with girlfriend Brie Tiesi.

The dinosaurs are ready to stomp into China with a June 10 date confirmed for Universal’s Jurassic World Dominion. This will be in step with the North American release — a rarity of late — after international rollout begins a few days prior. Universal confirmed the China release date on its official Weibo account with a video from stars Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt. Check out some new posters below.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefHong Kong-based sales firm Golden Network has picked up international rights to Jackie Chan’s upcoming film “Ride On.”The feature has recently wrapped production and is scheduled to be released on Dec. 31 in time for what is normally a peak cinemagoing period in China and elsewhere.Asian films are currently struggling to achieve pre-sales in international markets, but “Ride On” could be an exception.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe mainland China box office remained moribund over the latest weekend, lacking direction or new releases and achieving nationwide revenue of just $11.4 million.The country is continuing to suffer from clusters of COVID infections that have caused mass lockdowns in some cities and the temporary closure of many cinemas. Even as there is now talk of easing restrictions in Shanghai, which had been locked down for five weeks, there is the prospect of new restrictions in capital city Beijing. The government has also imposed a blanket ban on all but essential overseas travel.U.S.

Everything Everywhere All At Once.The martial arts legend was originally envisioned by directors and writers Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan as playing the movie’s lead role. However, when he said he was unavailable, they rewrote the part for Yeoh.“Jackie actually texted me,” she told the Guardian about his response to the film.