‘Uncharted’ Banned by Vietnam Over Map Favoring China’s Claims in South China Sea

Afternoon all, Max Goldbart here looking back on quite a week. Lots to digest so the Insider has you covered. Read on.

NEW YORK -- American soprano Renée Fleming is to make rare operatic appearances as Pat Nixon in a new production of John Adams' “Nixon in China” at the Paris Opera next season.The opera is to be given eight performances at the Bastille from March 25 to April 16, 2023, the company said Wednesday. Music director Gustavo Dudamel will conduct a cast that includes baritone Thomas Hampson as Nixon and soprano Kathleen Kim as Madame Mao.

Gemma Chan is making things happen for an Anna May Wong biopic.

Netflix’s upcoming original South Korean film Yaksha: Ruthless Operations has arrived.The brand-new visual opens with a shot of the neon-lit Chinese city of Shenyang, as a voiceover briefs special inspector Ji-hoon (played by Squid Game‘s Park Hae-soo) for an assignment that requires him to shadow a secret black ops team.We then dive into the action-packed predicaments of the black ops team, led by Ji Kang-in (Sol Kyung-gu), also known as the Yaksha. The team butt heads with antagonist “D7” Ozawa (Hiroyuki Ikeuchi), a Japanese spy disguised as a lobbyist who has a particularly bad history with the Yaksha.Also starring GOT7‘s Jinyoung (Yumi’s Cells), Yang Dong-geun (Lost), Lee El (Love And Leashes) and Song Jae-rim (Work Later, Drink Now), Yaksha: Ruthless Operations follows the team and their unwilling inspector in search of a high-ranking North Korean official who has gone missing.

Zack Sharf Movies starring Keanu Reeves have reportedly been scrubbed from China streaming platforms such as Tencent Video, Youku and Migu Video following the actor’s public support for Tibet earlier this year. Reeves was announced in January as a performer for the 35th annual Tibet House Benefit Concert alongside Laurie Anderson, Patti Smith, Cyndi Lauper and Iggy Pop. Philip Glass serves as the benefit’s artistic director.

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Studios is negotiating a feature deal on the Shipli Somaya Gowda novel Secret Daughter, with an impressive package that has Chinese helmer Anthony Chen (llo llo, Wet Season) attached to direct Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Sienna Miller in the lead roles. Shruti Ganguly will adapt the novel.

At about the same time that President Joe Biden was on the phone discussing Russia with China’s Xi Jinping, and as Russian troops pounded Ukrainian cities, Vladimir Putin gathered close to 200,000 Muscovites in a soccer stadium to put his spin on things.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefTreasure-hunting action adventure “Uncharted” picked up $1.95 million in China on Monday, its official opening day, according to local box office tracking sources. Provisional data from Ent Group showed it launching in first place on Monday, becoming the first film to displace the long-running Chinese patriotic war movie “The Battle at Lake Changjin II,” which had reigned supreme since Feb.

In its sophomore outing, Warner Bros/DC’s The Batman kept a firm grip on the international box office, dropping just 42% to add $66.6M from 76 offshore markets. That brings the overseas cume through Sunday to $224.7M for $463.2M global. As the Robert Pattinson-starrer heads to $500M worldwide this week, in like-for-like markets and using today’s exchange rates, it’s currently tracking 132% ahead of pandemic comp Godzilla Vs Kong and is 44% above Wonder Woman, 36% ahead of The Dark Knight and 24% over Justice League.

Dune, West Side Story and Nightmare Alley were among the big film winners at the Motion Picture Sound Editors’ 69th Golden Reel Awards, which were handed out during a virtual ceremony tonight. See the full list below.

Golden Reel Awards were held this Sunday, honoring the best achievements in sound editing across film, television, video games and student work with “Dune,” “Nightmare Alley” and “West Side Story” among the winners.The ceremony, which was held virtually, was opened by an address from Motion Pictures Sound Editors president Mark Lanza congratulating the members of the organization for their continued work over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.“These past two years, our members led the way in developing remote solutions that kept them working,” Lanza said at the ceremony. “We salute their ingenuity.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefSony’s hit action adventure “Uncharted” has been banned in Vietnam over the film’s inclusion of a map that depicts China’s contested territorial claims in Southeast Asia.The film, which stars Tom Holland, Mark Walhberg and Antonio Banderas was to have arrived in Vietnamese cinemas from March 18. Prior to this weekend, the film had grossed $278 million, according to Box Office Mojo.Vietnamese state media announced the ban on Saturday.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefSome cinemas in central Shanghai were closed from Friday in reaction to a surge in coronavirus cases in the city and other parts of China. The Shanghai Disneyland theme park announced partial restrictions that take effect from Saturday. On Saturday, Chinese authorities announced that a total of 1,649 new cases in the country had been discovered on Friday.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaCharles Rivkin has an enviable view.From his desk in the Motion Picture Assn. offices, Rivkin can look out at the White House, a reminder of the proximity to power that comes with being Hollywood’s main lobbyist.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefChinese streaming video platform iQiyi has announced plans to raise $285 million from a private placing of shares, part of which will be taken up by parent company Baidu.The move comes in the same week that the NASDAQ-listed company said it was suspending its weekend live broadcasts of English Premier League football (soccer) due to the sport’s public displays of solidarity with Ukraine.iQiyi is understood to have informed the Premier League that it would be removing the coverage following the league’s announcement that a “moment of reflection and solidarity” would be held before matches at the weekend. Several teams also displayed armbands in the blue and yellow colors of the Ukrainian flag.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief‘The Battle at Lake Changjin II’ headed the mainland Chinese box office for the fifth successive weekend as cinemas await significant new content. “Changjin II” earned $7.5 million over the latest weekend, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. The increment expanded the film’s aggregate to $626 million since release on Feb.