‘Oppenheimer’ is still doing huge business in China

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Australian TV journalist Cheng Lei has returned to her home country after three years in jail in China, the Australian government said on Wednesday. Born in China, but holding an Australian passport, having grown up in Melbourne, Cheng was a high-profile TV anchor for CGTN, the international broadcast arm of state-owned China Central Television. She fronted the “Global Business” daily show.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Hong Kong-listed shares of Imax China wobbled in reaction to the defeat of a buyout proposal that would have seen the Canadian parent company Imax Corp. take outright control. Imax Corp.

Christopher Nolan will be honored by the Federation of American Scientists for his cinematic portrait of J. Robert Oppenheimer in Universal’s Oppenheimer this November. The five-time Oscar nominee will be bestowed with the org’s Public Service Award which recognizes outstanding work in science policy and culture.

Spike Lee has commented on Oppenheimer, suggesting it should have shown “what happened to the Japanese people”.The recent Christopher Nolan historical drama follows the story of the Manhattan Project during World War 2, which developed the first nuclear weapons. These were ultimately dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and are estimated to have killed up to 226,000 people.The film focuses solely on the US side of the events, and in a recent interview Lee – who has directed films such as Do The Right Thing and BlacKkKlansman – praised Nolan, though suggested a “comment” regarding the historical depiction of events.“Chris Nolan with Oppenheimer, you know, he’s a massive filmmaker.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Zhang Yimou-directed contemporary drama film “Under the Light” retained its top spot at the mainland China box office for a second weekend, but with numbers that dropped steeply, as macro-economic weakening led to a Golden Week of across the board disappointment. Financial media Monday reported that consumers travelled less and spent less on leisure than had been forecast, likely reflecting general economic belt tightening, high unemployment and property sector worries. Before the holidays, cinema ticketing firm Maoyan had forecast that the first three days would throw up box office of RMB1.5 billion (208 million) and that “Under the Light” alone would reach RMB2 billion ($278 million) by the end of the eight-day holiday season (Sept. 29-Oct.

China’s Pingyao International Film Festival has announced the line-up for its seventh edition (October 11-18), which will open with Wei Shujun’s Only The River Flows and close with the world premiere of Fei Yu’s Football On The Roof. 

Oscar winner Spike Lee has shared some thoughts about two of the highest-profile movie titles of 2023, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Martin Scorsese’s upcoming Killers of the Flower Moon.

Ethan Shanfeld Spike Lee has offered his thoughts on Christopher Nolan‘s atomic bomb blockbuster “Oppenheimer,” calling it a “great film” but adding that he wishes it showed “what happened to the Japanese people.” “[Nolan] is a massive filmmaker… and this is not a criticism. It’s a comment,” the filmmaker said, speaking with the Washington Post. “If [‘Oppenheimer’] is three hours, I would like to add some more minutes about what happened to the Japanese people.

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Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Feted in Busan this week as the Asian Filmmaker of the Year, Hong Kong superstar Chow Yun-fat bemoaned censorship in China for its impact on the film industry. “We have a lot of censorship requirements in mainland China. Scripts must go to many departments. So, we need [to portray] clear situations in scripts.

Coco Gauff took a week off from Tennis after winning her first Grand Slam at the US Open but is ready to get back to work. The 19-year-old champion accepted a wild card to play the Zhengzhou Open, a WTA 500 tournament in China.

Refresh for latest…: Here we are with a sort of hybrid weekend at the international box office: there were fresh entries from the Hollywood studios, as well as major new titles timed to holiday play in local markets, and a holdover that’s continuing to rack up records.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Does Christopher Nolan‘s “Oppenheimer” have enough heat to hit $1 billion globally? At one point, this milestone may have sounded entirely improbable for a three-hour historical drama that mostly depicts scientists talking about theoretical physics. But sure enough, the biopic starring Cillian Murphy as the so-called father of the atomic bomb has become a full-fledged blockbuster with a fighting chance at joining the billion-dollar club. After 10 weeks of release, “Oppenheimer” has earned a staggering $926 million at the worldwide box office.

Disney/Marvel’sThe Marvels has secured a China release on November 10, day-and-date with North America. The sequel to the $1B+ worldwide grossing Captain Marvel is the latest major studio tentpole to be granted access to the market since Oppenheimer went out on August 30. It’s also wasting no time in spreading the word locally, leveraging the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day/Golden Week celebrations across the next week.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Canadian investment group Letko Brousseau & Associates and Imax Corporation have clashed over July’s proposed move to take private Imax China, which currently has a separate share listing in Hong Kong. Letko, which owns some 1.7% of Imax China shares, on Friday announced that it will vote against the proposal. It argues that the offer “significantly undervalues Imax China” and “unjustifiably benefits Imax Corporation at the expense of minority investors.” Imax currently owns nearly 72% of Imax China stock and is offering HK$10 per outstanding share valuing the unit at $124 million. “The timing of the offer is opportunistic and comes as [Imax China] is beginning to emerge from the global COVID-19 pandemic that has kept a significant portion of its theatres closed over extended periods of time from 2020 to 2022, said Letko.

K-pop boyband SEVENTEEN have taken down a teaser clip for their upcoming mini-album after receiving backlash from Chinese fans.Over the past few days, the 13-member group have released a series of teaser clips featuring famous landmarks in different cities around the world to promote their upcoming mini-album ‘Seventeenth Heaven’, which arrives in October.These included shots of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Times Square in New York, Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo and the Great Wall of China in Beijing, with smiling chamomile flowers – also featured in the record’s album art – floating around them.SEVENTEEN (세븐틴) 11th Mini Album 'SEVENTEENTH HEAVEN'

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief China’s remarkable box office recovery this year took a pause on a weekend with no new releases and the quietest attendance levels since January. Next week’s crop of blockbuster holiday releases will show if the latest weekend was aberration attributable to timing. Data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway showed nationwide box office worth just $25 million – from a population of 1.3 billion people and some 100,000 commercial cinema screens. The figure was the second lowest of 2023 and only fractionally higher than the second week of January, which was a time when China’s post-COVID recovery was only just gearing up and major film releases were targeting the late-January Chinese New Year festivities. Since that time, China’s box office has mostly been on a roll.

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Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief ‘Expendables 4’ narrowly took top place at the mainland China box office on a quiet weekend preceding the National Day holiday season at the end of the month. “A Haunting in Venice” opened outside the top five. Data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway shows “Expendables 4” earning $10.9 million (RMB78.6 million) over its debut weekend.