Universal Beijing Resort To Reopen This Month With Capacity Restrictions

Queen of the Universe is coming back to Paramount+!

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe Universal Beijing Resort will begin to restart operations from Saturday (June 25, 2022) after being closed for nearly two months due to COVID. The resort, which includes a theme park, two hotels and a Citywalk retail-entertainment area, closed on May 1 as COVID cases resurfaced in the Chinese capital after months of abeyance. Plans to reopen from June 15 were previously announced, but these were scrapped when the COVID wave flared up again.

EXCLUSIVE: Danielle Deadwyler (Till) has signed on to star alongside Aldis Hodge and his brother Edwin Hodge in the sci-fi thriller Parallel, from director Kourosh Ahari (IFC Films’ The Night), which has entered production in Vancouver.

Catherine Reitman My father died on Super Bowl Sunday. The night before, he had told me — in his signature style of sincere but “got places to be” — that he was proud of me. He then went to sleep and never woke up.

YouTube said today that more than 1.5 billion logged-in users are watching YouTube Shorts every month as it moves to cement its role as rival to short-form juggernaut TikTok.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefBaidu, operator of China’s dominant search engine, has reportedly put up for sale its entire stake in iQiyi, the country’s second largest conventional video streaming platform. IQiyi has close to 100 million subscribers, nearly all in mainland China.The sale plan was revealed as an exclusive report by the Reuters news agency.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentMusic Box Films has acquired North American rights to “Rodeo,” the bold feature debut of Lola Quivoron which premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes where it won the Coup de Cœur du Jury special prize. Produced by Charles Gillibert (“Annette”) at CG Cinema and represented by Les Films du Losange, “Rodeo” stars newcomer Julie Ledrue a Julia, a hot tempered and fiercely independent young woman who infiltrates an underground dirt bike community in France.After a chance meeting at an urban ‘Rodeo,’ Julia finds herself drawn into a clandestine and volatile clique and striving to prove herself to the ultra-masculine group, but is she is faced with a series of escalating demands that will make or break her place in the community.

Naman Ramachandran U.K. broadcaster ITV has completed its acquisition of leading natural history program producer Plimsoll Productions by taking a majority 79.5% stake.The deal, which was revealed by Variety last week, values Plimsoll at £131 million ($161 million) and ITV will pay £104 million ($127 million) in cash for the stake.Founded in Bristol in 2013, the BAFTA, Emmy and Academy award winning Plimsoll has produced hundreds of hours of content including “Tiny World” and “Giant World” for Apple+; “Hostile Planet” and “Supernatural Planet” for Disney; “Night on Earth” and “Animal” for Netflix and the upcoming series, “A Year on Planet Earth” for ITV, Tencent in China, Fox Nation in the U.S.

Naman Ramachandran U.K. broadcaster ITV has acquired a majority 79.5% stake in leading natural history program producer Plimsoll Productions.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentAfter a virtual edition in 2020 and a hybrid outing last year, this week’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival looks set be back with a bang, fully and only onsite.It also says a lot about the animation industry’s robust fundamentals. This and nine other takes on this week’s huge French animation reunion, which runs June 13—18:Annecy’s Biggest Fest EverFrance’s Annecy Festival, the biggest event in the animation world, looks set for its largest edition ever. Accreditation numbers were heading towards a final 13,000, artistic director Marcel Jean told Variety mid-week.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefA powerfully impressive opening by “Jurassic World Dominion” and a partial reopening of cinemas gave China its biggest box office weekend in more than three months. The dinosaur franchise movie earned $53 million (RMB355 million) in three days in China, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. The film chewed off a massive 88% share of the total weekend market.

Content warning: This article discusses allegations of sexual assault.Kris Wu is to be sentenced over charges of rape and “group licentiousness”, it has been reported, with a secret trial said to have been held in Beijing on Friday (June 10).According to the South China Morning Post, word of the trial was kept hush out of respect for the alleged victim’s safety. It comes 10 months after Wu was formally arrested on suspicion of rape.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefChinese-Canadian superstar Kris Wu is to be sentenced for rape after a secret trial in Beijing on Friday, Hong Kong media reports. He risks spending between three and ten years in jail.Wu was arrested and formally charged in August last year after allegations were made in late July by Du Meizhu, 18, a beauty industry influencer. The woman used social media to accuse the musician and actor of date-raping her while she was 17 and a time when she was drunk.

Refresh for latest…: Universal/Amblin Entertainment’s Jurassic World Dominion is putting its dino-print out in an additional 57 overseas markets this weekend after stomping into 15 early hubs last session. Through Thursday, the Colin Trevorrow-directed threequel has grossed $95.1M at the international box office. When including Friday’s China start, that rises to $110.4M.

Jurassic World: Dominion stops being an upcoming movie, and starts playing at a theater near you. After early showings in international markets, the big Hollywood premiere of director Colin Trevorrow’s epic conclusion has brought us that much closer to the flick's theatrical release. With legacy stars colliding with the Jurassic World cast, some great photos have emerged from the event; and I’m super obsessed with one Chris Pratt and Laura Dern moment that came out of it.

Johnny Depp visit. The 58-year-old dined out at Varanasi in the city's Broad Street on Sunday night.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe Universal Beijing Resort is poised to reopen next week after being closed due to the coronavirus outbreak in the Chinese capital.The resort – comprising the Universal Studios Beijing theme park, Citywalk retail and entertainment area and two hotels – is set to restart operations on June 15, it announced Tuesday via its Chinese social media accounts. It has been closed since May 1.The park will be allowed to operate at no more than 75% capacity.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“My Blue Summer,” a local romance led the Chinese box office higher over the latest weekend with a modestly respectable $7.2 million (RMB48.2 million) opening session. But the trend is hard to discern due to continually changing COVID conditions in China and the country’s uncertain economic direction.The nationwide Friday to Sunday box office total was $26.7 million, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. The total was more than double the $11.5 million achieved the previous weekend.The performance was goosed by the Dragon Boat Holiday weekend, operating June 3-5.