Zhang Yimou’s ‘Full River Red’ to Earn Box Office Honor at CineAsia

Warner Bros/DC’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom began offshore rollout on Wednesday, and with numbers through Friday included has grossed $40.9M in 73 international box office markets. This portends a full overseas opening in the $70M range. With domestic’s three- and four-day, the global start will top $100M.

J. Kim Murphy ‘Twas the weekend before Christmas and all through the theaters, “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” was the box office leader.

Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here leading you into the Christmas break with your final dash of news and analysis of the year. It’s been a blast. Thank you to regular readers for taking time out your busy schedules to give this a good ol’ glance every week. As our counterparts across the pond like to say, we appreciate you. We’ll be back in 2024 with plenty more.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Really, a company that creates augmented reality content for theatrical release movies has hired veteran media executive Peter Gaida as its chief commercial officer in Asia Pacific. The appointment is part of a wider expansion into Asia by the AR company. Founded by media entrepreneur James Andrew Felts in 2017, Really creates “highly functional, large-scale AR content” that it delivers weekly.

Tatiana Siegel 2024 can’t come fast enough. When the clock strikes midnight on Jan. 1, Hollywood will close the book on arguably the most tumultuous 12 months in a generation, with the town roiled by devastating strikes, the implosion of the superhero movie and deep divisions on everything from AI to Israel.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief After making a partial post-pandemic recovery, global cinema box office is expected to retreat again in 2024, as the twin writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023 are forecast to have a negative impact on theatrical revenues. Box office research firm Gower Street Analytics, in a preliminary draft of its annual forecast, says that worldwide cinema box office should weigh in at $33.4 billion for 2023.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese-made crime drama, “Endless Journey” opened on top of the mainland China box office on a weekend with three new releases in the top five. The Wanda Pictures and Alibaba title earned $20.5 million (RMB146 million) between Friday and Sunday, its official opening weekend, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. Together with previews from the week earlier, it ended the weekend with a cumulative total of $34.5 million (RMB245 million).

Searchlight Pictures’ Poor Things had a monster of an expansion, sewing up $1.3 million at just 82 theaters for a no. 10 spot at the weekend box office. American Fiction and The Zone of Interest, from, respectively, Amazon MGM Studios and A24, opened nicely as specialty films with original stories of all kinds are seeing traction with ticket buyers.

Timothée Chalamet’s Wonka is in theaters now, and the opening weekend box office numbers are in!

Refresh for latest…: After opening early in 37 international box office markets last weekend, Warner Bros/Village Roadshow/Heyday Films’ Wonka expanded its release this session to the rest of the world (save Korea which goes in late January). The results are sweet.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Timothée Chalamet’s fantasy musical “Wonka” hit a sweet box office milestone, surpassing $150 million globally. The song-and-dance movie about the early days of the eccentric chocolatier opened to No. 1 in North America with $39 million.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.The musical fantasy, which tells the story of the fictional proprietor in the 1964 Roald Dahl novel “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” stars Timothée Chalamet in the titular role. The Post said the actor exudes “impish charm and oddball quirks” and the film “delivers not so much a world of pure imagination as a land of constant cuteness.”The flick reportedly cost $125 million to make, so will have to earn double its budget, $250 million, to be deemed a box office success, according to Screen Rant.

J. Kim Murphy Oompa loompa doopity doo — here is a box office opening for you. “Wonka” is off to a promising start in North America after earning $14.4 million across Friday and preview screenings.

UPDATED, Saturday AM: Refresh for updates and chart Warner Bros.’ Wonka is doing what it’s suppose to do this weekend for a mid-December, pre-Christmas family title: A- CinemaScore on its way to an improved $37M-$38M after a higher than expected previews/Friday of $14.4M. Some industry estimates have Wonka at a $40M opening.

Naman Ramachandran Warner Bros.’ “Wonka,” starring Timothee Chalamet, has debuted atop the U.K. and Ireland box office with £8.9 million ($11.2 million), according to numbers from Comscore. In its third weekend, Disney’s “Wish” climbed up to £1.9 million in second place for a total of £5.8 million.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Two Hollywood films “Wonka” and “Migration” opened in Chinese cinemas over the latest weekend. But neither did enough business to appear among the box office top five. Instead, the weekend crown went to “The Invisible Guest,” a Chinese remake of the 2016 Spanish mystery thriller about a woman who must work with a police officer to clear her name after her lover is found dead in a locked room. It earned a modest $12.6 million (RMB89.6 million), according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.The Japanese animated fantasy, which The Washington Post called a “magical, otherworldly tale,” is expected to enjoy a $10.7 to 12 million opening weekend, Deadline reported.It is the only entirely foreign film to lead the weekend box office this year, the first since August 2022’s “Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.”In second place was “Godzilla Minus One,” with a $2.25 million take. The film, which is the 37th in the Godzilla franchise, now holds the title ofBiggest Single-Day Domestic Box Office For A Foreign Live-Action Film, according to Screen Rant.Queen Bey was dethroned this week as Beyoncé’s film, which was in first place last week, fell down to third.Her documentary concert movie “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé” took injust $1.6 million, a drop of 75% since last Friday.“Trolls Band Together,” which debuted on Nov.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Something Special, the Seoul-based international format agency founded by format specialists Jin Woo Hwang (president and executive producer) and Kim In Soon (EVP & head of content) announce that ITV Studios has optioned the hit Korean celebrity format “Battle in the Box” for France, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel. The deal was unveiled on Wednewday, the first full day of the Asia Television Forum and Market (ATF) in Singapore. “Battle in the Box,” created by Korea’s NMedia and represented globally by Something Special, has previously seen deals announced with Fremantle for Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Ridley Scott’s historical epic “Napoleon” was cruelly defeated at the mainland Chinese box office, where it opened in only fifth place on its opening weekend. Chinese crime thriller “Across the Furious Sea” headed the mainland China charts for a second weekend, earning $20.0 million (RMB142 million), according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. “Napoleon” earned just $2.8 million ($19.6 million) in China, according to the firm whose figures are generally considered as final, not estimates. The film earned generally mixed to positive reviews, but only a middling score of 6.6 out of 10 from users of the Douban movie fan site. But it appears that Chinese audiences found the travails of an ancient French emperor to be too much of a specialist topic.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.The documentary concert film written, directed and produced by Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, is expected to enjoy as much as a $24-million-dollar opening, according to Deadline.Variety said the movie, which chronicles her 2023 tour, “highlights the pursuit of perfection with dazzling results.”Japanese adventure “Godzilla Minus One,” which also debuted Friday, landed in second, with earnings of $4.72 million. The Hollywood Reporter called the flick, the 37th in the Godzilla franchise “one of the best Godzilla films ever.“The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes,” which was in the No.