‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ Sets Box Office Record in Japan

Two American tourists have mysteriously been found dead at a resort in Mexico.

Shortly after series 10 of Love Island kicked off it was revealed that Islanders Ella Thomas, 23, and Tyrique Hyde, 24, already know each other, although the encounter wasn’t a memorable one for Tyrique as he claimed he couldn’t remember. Tyrique is a semi-professional footballer who originally hails from Essex and currently plays as a midfielder for East Sussex club Lewes FC.

David and Victoria Beckham recently traveled with their son Cruz, 18, and Harper Seven,11, to Japan for a family trip. On Sunday, the famous soccer player shared a gallery of photos showing their adventures, like delicious meals, riding public transportation, and admiring Japanese temples.

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.

Marta Balaga Lille-born filmmaker Benoît Chieux has been coming to Annecy for 30 years. This year, to his own amazement, he is opening the festival with “Sirocco and the Kingdom of Air Streams.”  “It’s an incredible surprise and a huge honor. Today’s competition [in animation] is very tough and there are so many high-quality feature films out there,” he says, calling the event “an exceptionally rich place to meet and discover new things.” In “Sirocco,” two sisters, Juliette and Carmen, discover a secret passage to the world of their favorite book, the Kingdom of Air Streams. Transformed into cats and separated from each other, they will have to find their way back and – with the help of talented singer Selma – confront the mysterious Sirocco, the master of winds and storms.

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.”

Celine Song’s Past Lives from A24 is very much here and now, grossing $232k on four screens for over $58k per location, a nice number for Song’s debut film as the second-biggest limited opening of the year so far. A24 also had the highest in April with Beau Is Afraid at $80k per theater at four locations, testament to helmer Ari Aster’s devoted fan base.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Disney’s perennial hit “Frozen” is saying “let it go” to its spot as the second-biggest animated film in history. Over the weekend, Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” hit $1.3 billion at the worldwide box office, enough to bump the original adventures of royal sisters Anna and Elsa ($1.28 billion) to the No. 3 spot. But the kingdom of Arendelle still reigns supreme in terms of all things computer-generated. The sequel “Frozen II” was even bigger than the original and stands as the highest-grossing animated movie of all-time with a mighty $1.45 billion. (Disney’s 2019 remake of “The Lion King,” which earned a staggering $1.65 billion, is technically computer-generated, but the studio has categorized the movie as live-action. Thus, it doesn’t have a place on the list of top-animated movies.)

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Crime action film “The Roundup: No Way Out” dominated the South Korean box office on its official opening weekend with a thumping $21.9 million performance. The film, the third in a franchise that pits a heavy-fisted cop, portrayed by Ma Dong-seok (aka Don Lee), against colorfully devious rogues, crushed all competing titles by taking an 88% market share. In terms of admissions, it attracted 2.82 million into cinemas between Friday and Sunday. The film’s official opening was on Wednesday (May 31). But it also enjoyed wide previews through much of the preceding week. Adding in the weekday takings and the preview activity, “The Roundup: No Way Out” has a current aggregate of $34.1 million and has sold a total of 4.51 million tickets, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council.

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.”

Naman Ramachandran Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” debuted atop the U.K. and Ireland box office with £9.1 million ($11.3 million), per numbers from Comscore. Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” continued its strong performance in the territory, collecting £4.2 million in second place in its second weekend for a total of £16.2 million. In third position, in its third weekend, Universal’s “Fast X” earned £1 million for a total of £13.3 million. Occupying fourth place in its fifth weekend was Disney’s “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3” with £993,389 for a total of £34.6 million. Disney’s “The Boogeyman” debuted in fifth position with £492,071.

The 1975 frontman Matty Healy has continued the unconventional tradition of consensually kissing someone on the lips during the band’s song ‘Robbers’ – this time, turning his attention to a security guard.The kiss took place during the band’s appearance at NorthSide Festival in Denmark, where fan footage captured Healy mouthing to the guard “Wanna kiss me?” The grinning security guard accepted, raising his hands in celebration as Healy continued singing the song.Matty Healy shared a kiss with the security guard at The 1975 concert tonight. pic.twitter.com/fla59kgtey— Pop Base (@PopBase) June 3, 2023The so-called ‘Robbers kiss’ has seemingly been a part of the band’s sets on and off from as early as 2014, when the song itself was released as part of The 1975’s eponymous debut album.While it largely takes place during ‘Robbers’, it also took place during ‘Loving Someone’ at a performance in Dubai circa 2019.

The Days has arrived on Netflix, with viewers now able to stream every episode of the series.Based on true events, the new drama depicts the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant meltdown that occurred in Okuma, Japan in 2011. It tells the story over the period of seven days from three different perspectives: the government, corporate organisations and those who put their lives on the line.The plant suffered major damage from the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011. Having been carefully researched, this series explores the chain of subsequent events that led to the meltdown and eventual evacuation of the 20k area surrounding the incident.The official Netflix synopsis reads: “Blamed by some, hailed as heroes by others, those involved with Fukushima Daiichi face a deadly, invisible threat — an unprecedented nuclear disaster.”There eight episodes of The Days in total, all of which are now available to stream on the service.

Talk about legs — or, more appropriately, wings: Paramount/Skydance’s Top Gun: Maverick is still playing in Japanese cinemas a full year on from its debut. Continuing on from a stratospheric and super-leggy run, the sequel, on its 365th day of release, became Tom Cruise’s biggest film ever in the market. In doing so, it overtook 2003’s The Last Samurai with JPY 13.71B ($101.5M) — and Maverick is still flying on local screens. It had become Paramount’s No. 1 movie of all time in Japan in August and also marks the same milestone for Skydance.

d4vd has shared an exclusive playlist to accompany the launch of NME’s The Cover.The Houston-based artist stars on this week’s cover (May 29) as we renew our commitment to supporting emerging talent across the globe on a weekly basis. Every week, a rising artist will feature on The Cover, and the full interview with d4vd can be read here.To celebrate, d4vd has curated a ‘songs for tour’ playlist, featuring songs from Holly Humberstone, The Japanese House, Clairo, Billie Eilish and more.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Fast X” predictably won a second weekend on top of the mainland China box office, driving its total past the $100 million mark. But the disappointing start for Disney’s live-action “The Little Mermaid” was the bigger talking point. “Fast X” earned $17.6 million in China according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. That was a 66% drop compared with its opening weekend, but still gave the film a $110 million cumulative after 12 days and has caused estimates to be further revised upwards. Ticketing agency Maoyan is now forecasting that the film will finish with RMB880 million ($126 million), having previously predicted RMB728 million ($104 million), and then RMB840 million.

Refresh for latest…: Apart from big new opener The Little Mermaid, which we detailed here, this weekend was notable for propelling Universal’s Fast X past the $500M mark globally, and Disney/Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 to over $730M worldwide.

Disney’s return to live-action takes of their animated vault in the fullest theatrical form happens this weekend with Rob Marshall’s The Little Mermaid which is eyeing a $180M worldwide start.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Fast & Furious 10” (aka “Fast X”) drove off with the top prize at the South Korean box office on its opening weekend. It earned $4.99 million between Friday and Saturday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). And over its full five-day run, from a Wednesday opening, it earned $6.76 million. Kobis showed the film claiming a 48% market share. The speedy start for “Fast X” was enough to depose “Guardians of the Galaxy 3,” which had ridden atop the Korean chart for the two previous weekends. In its third weekend on release “GOTG 3” earned $3.04 million, a 48% week-on-week decline, giving it a cumulative of $26.9 million after 19 days on release in Korea. That is the fourth highest total for any film that has played in Korean cinemas this year.

The John Wick movie franchise has officially reached the billion mark!