‘Ascension’ Documents China’s Haves, Have-Nots, And Everyone In Between – Contenders Film: The Nominees

Broadcast and cable networks carried Joe Biden’s press conference in Brussels, where he is meeting with NATO allies, and reporters keyed in on one possibility: That Russia would use chemical weapons in the Ukraine war.

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.

A workman was beaten to unconsciousness after leaving a tool needed for a repair job.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief‘The Batman’ flew to an opening weekend of $11.6 million and landed in first place at the box office in China. It was the biggest opening this year in China for a Hollywood title but, with a return of coronavirus problems affecting cinema operations, the result has a tinge of missed opportunity.Data from consultancy Artisan Gateway showed the film amassing $11.8 million including previews from Thursday. Imax reported that the film earned $2 million of that total from its screens or 16% of the films China weekend total.

Refresh for latest…: Just days after Warner Bros/DC’s The Batman rounded the five-century mark globally, it is now just shy of $600M worldwide in its third weekend. A $49.1M overseas frame (down 46% versus last session) brings the international box office cume on the Matt Reeves-directed pic to $298M, with global standing at $598.1M through Sunday.

China where it earned $12.1 million in its first weekend. But about 43% of cinemas in China are closed due to the pandemic and “The Batman” still did slightly better than “Unchartered” which also opened there this weekend to $10.3 million.“The Batman” cost an estimated $200 million to make, not counting the many millions spent on marketing.

A global pandemic which closed a majority of the world’s cinemas from 2020-21 just won’t keep large format exhibitor Imax down.

Earlier this week, “The Batman” became just the fifth Hollywood film in the past year to gross over $500 million worldwide and should pass the $300 million domestic mark and $600 million global mark by the end of this weekend. While the new COVID-19 infection surge in China has closed over 25% of theaters in that country as “The Batman” opens there, the film is still on pace to surpass the theatrical runs of “F9” and “No Time to Die” and become only the second Hollywood film to gross over $800 million since the pandemic began.

Warner Bros/DC’s The Batman released in China today, getting off to an RMB 23.3M ($3.7M) start, including previews. The inauspicious bow was expected given that about 35% of the market’s cinemas have been temporarily shuttered amid a new Covid spike. The good news is that the film has a strong 9 score on platforms Tao Piao Piao and Maoyan. The latter is currently predicting an RMB 194.3M ($30.5M) final tally for the Caped Crusader’s full run.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“The Batman” flew to a worryingly slow start on Friday at the mainland China box office, where Hollywood films have struggled of late and where the latest coronavirus surge is threatening films of all origins.By 3.30pm on its first full day, the Warner Bros. noir had earned a lowly RMB12.1 million, or $1.90 million at prevailing currency rates, according to provisional data from ticketing agency Maoyan.

Warner Bros/DC’s The Batman has winged its way past the half a billion dollar mark worldwide to become the fourth highest-grossing studio release of the pandemic era. The global total is $505.8M through Wednesday, and there’s still plenty of gas left in the Batmobile.

After two weeks in theaters, Warner Bros./DC’s “The Batman” has passed $500 million at the global box office, with more than half of that total coming from domestic theaters. On Wednesday, “The Batman” added $5.75 million domestically, bringing its total to $258.3 million in North America and $505.8 million worldwide.

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.

This result signifies a weekend drop of just 51%, giving “The Batman” a better second weekend hold than any of the top 5 highest grossing films of 2021; and given the film’s ability to beat projections, that hold could improve further after Sunday actuals are reported. With this blistering pace, “The Batman” stays on track to reach $400 million in North America and potentially $1 billion worldwide, having already exceeded the domestic and global runs of “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” as it joins “Spider-Man: No Way Home” as the only film in the past year to top $225 million domestic.

The Matt Reeves-directed blockbuster is set to be the biggest theatrical hit for Warner Bros. since the DC film featuring Batman’s nemesis “Joker” was in theaters in fall 2019. And for movie theaters, it’s a much-needed boost in business after theaters were closed in 2020 and spent much of the past year trying to get back on their feet as the box office recovered in fits and starts.

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.