“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” stormed into theatres worldwide this weekend, amassing a staggering $110 million at the international box office.
23.05.2023 - 14:57 / deadline.com
Chinese director Wei Shujun has just premiered his third film, neo-noir thriller Only The River Flows, in Cannes Un Certain Regard to positive reviews.
While he’s now had three features selected for the festival, this is the first time he’s been able to walk the red carpet in person, at least with a full-length film.
His debut, semi-autobiographical drama Striding Into The Wind, was selected in 2020, the year that Cannes didn’t take place but still presented an Official Selection. His sophomore work, Ripples Of Life, premiered in Directors Fortnight in 2021, but he was unable to travel to Cannes due to Covid travel restrictions.
However, he’s been to Cannes in person before, with his 2018 short film On the Border, which won a Special Jury Award. He says that watching the Dardenne Brothers’ Palme d’Or winner Rosetta in 2016 (a few decades after it was made in 1999) was an inspiration early in his career. “Cannes was like my library,” says Wei. “I devoured everything I could find and started thinking about how to make a film that could one day play at the festival.”
Only The River Flows, which premiered here on May 20, is based on a novella, Mistakes By The River, by Chinese writer Yu Hua, who also wrote the novel To Live, adapted by Zhang Yimou into a film that won the Cannes Jury Grand Prize and Best Actor (Ge You) in 1994.
Mistakes By The River was brought to Wei by producer Tang Xiaohui, who suggested he adapt it. The story follows a policeman working on a murder case that appears to be easy to solve, but leads to the discovery of the secret lives of his fellow citizens. After the policeman and his wife are told that their first child may have a birth defect, he starts to unravel as he drifts between dreams and
“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” stormed into theatres worldwide this weekend, amassing a staggering $110 million at the international box office.
Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter After less than two weeks of release, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” has surpassed the entire box office run of its predecessor, 2018’s Oscar-winning “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” Over the weekend, the comic book sequel hit $226 million in North America and $390 million globally. It now stands as Sony’s highest-grossing animated release in history. The original film, also a box office winner, tapped out with $190 in North America and $384 million globally. Despite competition from Paramount’s “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” which opened to $60 million and targets a similar audience of younger males, “Spider-Verse” added $55 million in its second weekend of release, a decline of $55% from its huge $120 million debut.
Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” kicked off at the international box office with $110 million from 68 markets, including a decent $40 million start in China. The seventh installment in Paramount’s action franchise also pulled in $60 million in its North American debut, bringing its worldwide tally to a solid $170 million. Overseas audiences will be key to the theatrical success of “Transformers,” which cost $200 million. Prior entries in the 16-year-old series have earned as much as 70% of overall box office returns outside of the U.S. and Canada. At the international box office, ticket sales for “Rise of the Beasts” are pacing 32% below “Bumblebee,” which is the most recent entry in the series. The newest chapter has managed to set franchise records in eight smaller markets, including Indonesia, Argentina and Peru. The Autobots will take the box office milestones where they can get them.
Paramount/Skydance/Hasbro’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is on the prowl overseas with $43.3M through Friday in 68 markets. This portends a $100M+ international box office debut, in line with projections. The domestic three-day is looking at $60M.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Big-budget period action film “The Sand Murmurs” is set to start production in China’s remote region of Xinjiang later this month. The film is the tale of a soldier and an enemy nobleman brought together after a once-in-a-century sandstorm. After braving a near-death experience together, the pair find common purpose despite their differences. They also need to work together to find their way out across 800km of desert. The picture is directed by Wu Youyin as an adaptation of his novel of the same title. Wu previously wrote and directed “Till The End of the World,” which released in 2018.
Leonardo DiCaprio arrives at his hotel in London, England on Tuesday (June 6).
Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher’s latest pic La Chimera has inked a series of international deals for The Match Factory following its well-received debut at last month’s Cannes Film Festival.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief After a few pandemic-addled years, the global box office is finally ready to feel the warmth of the studios’ tentpole releases. Though the swing-back to pre-pandemic release schedules is happening at different speeds in each market, the quartet of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” “Fast X,” “The Little Mermaid” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” — not to mention “The Super Mario Bros Movie” before them — have announced the arrival of Hollywood’s version of summer across much of the planet. France saw admissions climb by 33% in the first five months of 2023, compared with the equivalent period last year, according to data from the CNC (National Film Board). Compared with an average figure for 2017 to 2019, the performance of the 2023 box office is (only) 12% behind. France’s recovery has been powered by a string of successful local films including “Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom,” “Alibi.com 2,” “The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan,” “The Crime Is Mine” and Cannes opener “Jeanne du Barry.”
The Fugees surprised concertgoers Saturday during Lauryn Hill’s headlining set at the Roots Picnic music festival. The three band members, including Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel, did a six-song set in celebation of Hill’s 25th anniversary for her landmark album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
As theatres swing back into the Spider-Verse, the highly anticipated sequel, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”, captured a remarkable $17.35 million in Thursday previews, setting the stage for an expected opening weekend that’s now being predicted to exceed $120 million.
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Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” grabbed top place at the mainland China box office over the weekend with an opening $17.2 million (RMB122 million) score. Giant screen company, Imax reports that $2.7 million, or more than 16% of the film’s China total, came from its Middle Kingdom venues. Chinese online ticketing agency Maoyan forecasts that “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” will earn a total of RMB241 million or $34 million at current exchange rates. “Fast X,” which had driven off with the spoils for the past two weekends, was overtaken on its third lap and achieved $7.7 million in second place, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. After 17 days in Chinese cinemas, “Fast X” has accumulated $124 million, making it the highest-grossing imported titled released this year in China ahead of Japanese animation “Suzume.”
As theatres swing back into the Spider-Verse, the highly anticipated sequel, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”, captured a remarkable $17.35 million in Thursday previews, setting the stage for an expected opening weekend of $80 million or more.
Columbia Pictures’ and Sony Pictures Animation’s Spider-Man: Across the Universe is casting its web in international box office markets with $13.5M through Thursday. That’s 2.5x the original in like-for-likes.
Angelique Jackson Ava DuVernay’s arts and social collective ARRAY has announced its slate of summer programming, including an actor’s masterclass taught by Emmy winner Niecy Nash-Betts, a cinematic celebration of Jean-Michel Basquiat and the debut of two new commissioned projects from ARRAY’s Law Enforcement Accountability Project (LEAP). The summer lineup is curated by ARRAY’s SVP of public programming, Mercedes Cooper, and in keeping with the ARRAY’s mission of “igniting social change through the cinematic arts,” all events are free to the public. “ARRAY’s focus on instigating narrative change through our non-profit ARRAY Alliance allows us to gather audiences around issues aligned with our core mission and everyday work,” said Cooper in a statement announcing the lineup.
At Tuesday night’s world premiere of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, there was a huge sigh of relief from the mass of animators inside Westwood’s Regency Village Theater: The $100M-budgeted sequel to the Oscar-winning 2018 animated movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, was done, having completed post-production literally just 10 days ago after a five-year trek to the screen which included a Covid delay due to the backlog in post-production houses. Starting today abroad, and into Thursday in U.S./Canada, the continuing adventures of Miles Morales will see the light of day in what is expected to be a $150M global opening.
EXCLUSIVE: Ming-Na Wen yesterday received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and today she’s teamed with Compelling Pictures on a doc series about Asian-American food culture.
EXCLUSIVE: Shazam! Fury of the Gods and Elementary star Lucy Liu will voice and executive-produce Tribeca Festival (June 7-18)-bound immersive experience, The Pirate Queen, about fabled Chinese pirate leader Cheng Shih.
Rotten Tomatoes. Those are the scores this remake will need to keep legging out against a crowded June slate that starts next weekend with “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” But here comes the bad news: “The Little Mermaid” has posted an international opening of just $68 million from 51 markets.
Chinese author Yu Hua is no stranger to Cannes. The famed postmodernist writer’s work first graced the silver screens of the Palais back in 1994 with director Zhang Yimou’s masterclass adaptation of his seminal novel, “To Live.” A searing portrait of a single family’s struggle through China’s mid-century upheaval and the Cultural Revolution, “To Live” would go on to win the festival’s coveted Grand Prix award, Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, and the Best Actor Award.