‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Nears $100M Offshore; China’s ‘Little Red Flower’ Leads Weekend – International Box Office

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefMildly titillating romantic comedy “Big Red Envelope” topped the box office rankings in China as overall takings in the world’s biggest theatrical movie market amounted to a lowly $37.5 million over the weekend.The new release title may be intended as a critique of obsessions with money, gifting culture and societal status – red packets are gifts of money in Chinese culture, given especially, but not exclusively, at Chinese New Year – but chunks of the audience

Refresh for latest…: Disney/Pixar’s Soul got off to a jazzy start in Korea this weekend, debuting at No. 1 and seeing the second best bow for a non-local title since the Covid pandemic began. The Pete Docter-directed original also launched in Russia, at No. 1, and came in ahead of several pre-Covid animation openings. In total, Soul led the international box office with a $10.4M weekend from 13 markets. See more on Soul below.

Holdover romantic drama A Little Red Flower topped a quiet weekend at China's box office, earning $11.7 million for a local total of $182.8 million. Fellow holdover Shock Wave 2, a crime thriller starring Andy Lau, scored second, adding $7.8 million for a four-weekend haul of $163.2 million, according to data from Artisan Gateway.

Vivienne Chow Documentary feature “Inside the Red Brick Wall,” which chronicles one of the most dramatic chapters of the 2019 Hong Kong protests, bagged the best film at the 27th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards.The best director prize went to Peter Chan Ho-sun for “Leap,” a sports drama based on the trajectory of China’s national women volleyball team.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefFamily drama film “A Little Red Flower” continued its dominance of China’s box office in 2021 with a third weekend on top of the charts. The weekend was, however, a typically quiet one for January, worth an aggregate $47.1 million according to exhibition and distribution consultancy, Artisan Gateway.While the individual films’ scores are modest, six movies in China achieved grosses over the past weekend that were stronger than any film in North America.

Refresh for latest…: Fans of Kollywood cinema got a treat this weekend as Tamil action thriller Master debuted in India and a handful of other markets across the harvest festival period. While we do not have confirmed figures for the Vijay-starrer in India, estimates had it at around $11M from Wednesday-Friday with the film believed to have crossed the coveted Rs 100 crore ($15M) gross mark over the weekend.

Lily James Rom-Com Adds CastSajal Ali, Shabana Azmi, Rob Brydon and Asim Chaudhry have joined the cast of Working Title and Studiocanal’s romantic comedy What’s Love Got To Do With It? Shoot is now underway in London on the pic, which Deadline previously revealed would star Lily James, Shazad Latif and Emma Thompson. Jemima Khan wrote the screenplay and will produce, with Shekhar Kapur directing.

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ViacomCBS' Nickelodeon will premiere CG-animated seriesDeer Squadin the U.S. following its run in international territories.

Rebecca Davis editorDisney/Pixar’s “Soul” has now outperformed “Wonder Woman 1984” in China by more than $10 million despite debuting a week later than the latter.

With the pandemic dragging on and vaccine efforts falling behind schedule, the total domestic weekend box office once again fell below $10 million with “Wonder Woman 1984” leading the charts with $3 million to reach $32.6 million in domestic grosses after its third weekend.Between widespread closures in Europe and lower-than-expected performance in China, the DC blockbuster has now grossed just $131.4 million worldwide.

Andrei Konchalovsky’s acclaimed historical drama Dear Comrades! is inspired by the true story of a state-sponsored massacre in the Russian city of Novocherkassk in the early 1960s.

Rebecca Davis editorImported films accounted for only about a sixth of China’s total box office in 2020, a nearly 55% decrease year-on-year, industry data tracker Maoyan Entertainment said Monday.

Ever since the movie theater industry was gutted due to COVID-19, with many of the world’s cinemas being shut down in March until this fall, we’ve known 2020 was going to be a record bad year for the industry. But with the final 2020 box office numbers being reported, we can fully see just how the pandemic destroyed an industry.

Sony’s Will Smith sequel “ Bad Boys for Life ” has stayed in first place in North America since its January release with $206.3 million. Globally it’s in second place to the Chinese film “The Eight Hundred” — the first time that the top worldwide film originated outside of Hollywood.

Soul” continues to charm China with sales of $13.8 million over its second weekend, more than double its $5.5 million Christmas debut, thanks to strong word of mouth. It was the highest-grossing foreign import of the New Year weekend, far outstripping “Wonder Woman 1984” and even Hayao Miyazaki’s older but beloved animation “Ponyo.”The weekend was huge.

It's official: North American box office revenue plummeted 80 percent in 2020 amid the novel coronavirus pandemic and unprecedented theater closures, while global revenue tumbled more than 70 percent. As predicted, domestic movie tickets sold between Jan.

Refresh for latest…: China was the big international box office winner this weekend with three local movies at the top of the chart and a New Year’s Day record set on Friday. That came just as it was confirmed the market led global box office for 2020, surpassing North America for the first time.

Thanksgiving and is also now available to rent on premium video on demand.Disney and Pixar’s “Soul,” which skipped U.S. theaters and is available for free for Disney+ subscribers, added $16.5 million internationally — a 114% increase from its opening in the same markets last weekend.