‘The Batman’ Gets March 18 Release Date in China

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefHollywood franchise movies “Hotel Transylvania: Transformania” and “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” have both secured April theatrical release dates in mainland China.“Transylvania” will open in Chinese cinemas on Sunday April 3, 2022, a couple of days ahead of the Qingming or Tomb Sweeping holiday on April 5. “Beasts” will open, more conventionally, on Friday, April 8.Sony missed out on a China release for “Spider Man: No Way Home,” which was the biggest film worldwide in 2021. But the confirmation represents the studio’s second Hollywood film this year to receive approval from the Chinese authorities (after “Uncharted,” set for March 14 ).

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“The Batman” landed a bigger opening weekend than Warner Bros., the studio behind the comic book adventure, initially expected.The latest superhero epic, starring Robert Pattinson as an exceptionally moody Caped Crusader, collected $134 million in North American theaters over the weekend, above Sunday’s estimates of $128.5 million.Those ticket sales rank as the best opening weekend of 2022, as well as only the second pandemic-era movie to cross the $100 million mark in a single weekend following “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”The reason behind the 4% bump in Monday’s final tally is because “The Batman” had a better-than-expected turnout on Sunday, bringing in $34.1 million. That’s more than some pandemic-era releases managed to earn in their entire theatrical runs.

Sony Pictures Animation’s Hotel Transylvania: Transformania has been granted an April 3 theatrical release date in China. Sony last summer licensed the fourth installment in the successful franchise to Amazon worldwide, but retained China rights.

Hollywood hasn’t been the most bullish about taking an action that would dent its bottom line, but Disney today has taken the bold move of pulling its theatrical releases from Russia temporarily in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

NEW YORK -- For the eighth time in the last two and a half months, a movie starring Tom Holland is No. 1 at the box office.The Sony Pictures videogame adaptation “Uncharted," starring Holland and Mark Wahlberg, led ticket sales for its second weekend of release with $23.3 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.“Uncharted” held well, too, dropping a modest 46% from its $44 million debut.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterSony’s video game adaptation “Uncharted,” starring Tom Holland as street-smart treasure hunter Nathan Drake, had another solid showing at the international box office.Over the weekend, the PG-13 video game adaptation collected $35 million from 64 overseas territories, pushing its international tally to $143 million. With $83 million in North American ticket sales, “Uncharted” has generated $226.4 million globally so far. That haul is impressive because “Uncharted” has yet to open in China (March 14), which currently stands as the world’s biggest theatrical market.“Uncharted” continues to pull in crowds in the United Kingdom, Holland’s birthplace.

Refresh for latest…: Sony’s Uncharted handily crossed the $200M mark globally this weekend, after adding $35M from 64 overseas markets and $23.3M domestically. The international box office cume is now $143M. Worldwide, the Tom Holland/Mark Wahlberg-starrer counts $226.4M.

J. Kim Murphy To twist the words of Gotham City District Attorney Harvey Dent, it’s always darkest before the dawn, especially at the box office.

Disney just announced a big release date!

The premium theater company reported revenue of $108.6 million, a surge of 94% year-over-year. Imax also reported adjusted earnings of 31 cents per share compared to a loss of 21 cents per share in the prior-year period.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaImax has continued to dig out from a global pandemic that devastated the theatrical movie business, posting its best quarterly results since COVID-19 became a facet of daily life. At the same time, the big screen company made it clear that it is setting its horizons behind the latest new releases, talking up the opportunities it sees in launching special events with filmmakers and musical artists.Revenue at the company topped out at $108.6 million, a 94% year-over-year improvement, while the company reported earnings of 17 cents a share compared with a year-ago loss of 36 cents.

Imax marked an official turning point in the fourth quarter, reporting its best results in any quarter since 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic upended show business and civilization.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterSony executives breathed a sigh of relief when “Uncharted,” a big-budget adaptation of the popular video game, secured a release date in China.The Chinese government, which has absolute control over which movies play in its theaters (and when they debut), has recently been ultra-selective about the non-Chinese films it allows to screen in the country’s tens of thousands of venues. As a result, many of Hollywood’s biggest pandemic-era releases, such as “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” and “Eternals,” weren’t granted access to Chinese movie theaters.

“Uncharted” is already exceeding industry expectations.

Refresh for latest…: After debuting early in 15 overseas markets last weekend, Sony’s Uncharted was game for another $55.4M at the international box office this session in a total 62 offshore hubs. With a projected $51M four-day domestic frame, the weekend maps out at $106.4M worldwide. This takes the running offshore cume to $88M and global to $139M.

Sony’s Tom Holland/Mark Wahlberg-starrer Uncharted has been dated for a March 14 release in China. The studio’s Weibo account shared the news today with a video message from Holland and Wahlberg and a subtitled trailer, as well as a new poster (see it in full below). This comes at the same time as China has also set a date for Warner Bros/DC’s The Batman, which will go out on March 18.

third-highest grossing film in American box office history, passing the $760.5 million run of James Cameron’s “Avatar.” Though the two films came out 12 years apart and under dramatically different circumstances for movie theaters, both were able to take advantage of a lack of competition and overwhelmingly strong word-of-mouth to bring moviegoers back again and again for repeat viewings. While “Avatar” started with a modest opening and then continued to reign as No.

Though the two films came out 12 years apart and under dramatically different circumstances for movie theaters, both were able to take advantage of a lack of competition and overwhelmingly strong word-of-mouth to bring moviegoers back again and again for repeat viewings. While “Avatar” started with a modest opening and then continued to reign as No.

Warner Bros/DC’s highly-anticipated The Batman has been cleared for a release in China. A date has yet to be confirmed, but the approval is significant given the market has been light on studio titles across the past year.

The Kenneth Branagh adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Poirot murder mystery is a follow-up to “Murder on the Orient Express,” which was released by 20th Century Fox prior to the Disney acquisition in November 2018 and opened to $28.6 million largely off of turnout from moviegoers over the age of 50. Such turnout was not expected for “Nile” given the pandemic.Reception for “Death on the Nile” has been mildly positive with a 65% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a B from audiences on CinemaScore, the latter of which was the same grade given to “Orient Express.” “Nile” is one of the last pre-acquisition projects from Fox to be released by Disney, with “The Bob’s Burgers Movie” coming out on Memorial Day weekend.