‘The Batman’ Cleared For China Release

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterRobert Pattinson’s “The Batman” towered over international box office charts, collecting $120 million from 74 overseas markets.After debuting to $128.5 million in North America, the Warner Bros. comic book adventure has generated $248.5 million globally to date.

A4 presents Kagonada’s second feature in limited release, the latest in the distributor’s varied indie slate ahead of wide-release horror slasher X on 3/18 and sci-fi adventure Everything Everywhere All At Once on 3/25 — which is also opening SXSW Film Festival.

China has cleared Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore for release in the market, though a date is still to be set. The WB Weibo account posted today that “magic is coming” and said, “stay tuned.” This is the third film from the studio this year to be granted access, following The Matrix Resurrections which opened in January and The Batman which is due on March 18. After a reduced number of Hollywood movies getting into the market across 2021, whether this is a trend that will continue remains a question mark.

This Much I Know to Be True, the latest feature from Andrew Dominik which recently debuted at the Berlin Film Festival, has been set for a May theatrical release by Trafalgar Releasing.

Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have announced a full global cinema release for their forthcoming film This Much I Know To Be True.The film will be released in cinemas globally on May 11, with tickets going on sale on March 23. They will be available here.The Andrew Dominik-directed feature is a companion piece to the 2016 music documentary One More Time With Feeling, and premiered at the Berlin Film Festival this month.This Much I Know To Be True will explore Cave and Ellis’ creative relationship and feature songs from their last two studio albums, 2019’s ‘Ghosteen’ (by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds) and last year’s ‘Carnage’ (by Cave and Ellis).It will feature the first ever performances of the albums, filmed in Spring 2021 ahead of their UK tour.

Hollywood hasn’t been the most bullish about taking an action that would dent its bottom line, but Disney today has taken the bold move of pulling its theatrical releases from Russia temporarily in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Kanye «Ye» West is moving on. The 44-year-old rapper has been spending time with model Chaney Jones. A source tells ET, «Kanye and Chaney are seeing each other and having fun.

NEW YORK -- For the eighth time in the last two and a half months, a movie starring Tom Holland is No. 1 at the box office.The Sony Pictures videogame adaptation “Uncharted," starring Holland and Mark Wahlberg, led ticket sales for its second weekend of release with $23.3 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.“Uncharted” held well, too, dropping a modest 46% from its $44 million debut.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterSony’s video game adaptation “Uncharted,” starring Tom Holland as street-smart treasure hunter Nathan Drake, had another solid showing at the international box office.Over the weekend, the PG-13 video game adaptation collected $35 million from 64 overseas territories, pushing its international tally to $143 million. With $83 million in North American ticket sales, “Uncharted” has generated $226.4 million globally so far. That haul is impressive because “Uncharted” has yet to open in China (March 14), which currently stands as the world’s biggest theatrical market.“Uncharted” continues to pull in crowds in the United Kingdom, Holland’s birthplace.

Refresh for latest…: Sony’s Uncharted handily crossed the $200M mark globally this weekend, after adding $35M from 64 overseas markets and $23.3M domestically. The international box office cume is now $143M. Worldwide, the Tom Holland/Mark Wahlberg-starrer counts $226.4M.

The premium theater company reported revenue of $108.6 million, a surge of 94% year-over-year. Imax also reported adjusted earnings of 31 cents per share compared to a loss of 21 cents per share in the prior-year period.

Imax marked an official turning point in the fourth quarter, reporting its best results in any quarter since 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic upended show business and civilization.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterSony executives breathed a sigh of relief when “Uncharted,” a big-budget adaptation of the popular video game, secured a release date in China.The Chinese government, which has absolute control over which movies play in its theaters (and when they debut), has recently been ultra-selective about the non-Chinese films it allows to screen in the country’s tens of thousands of venues. As a result, many of Hollywood’s biggest pandemic-era releases, such as “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” and “Eternals,” weren’t granted access to Chinese movie theaters.

Refresh for latest…: After debuting early in 15 overseas markets last weekend, Sony’s Uncharted was game for another $55.4M at the international box office this session in a total 62 offshore hubs. With a projected $51M four-day domestic frame, the weekend maps out at $106.4M worldwide. This takes the running offshore cume to $88M and global to $139M.

Bill Maher zeroed in on China during the latest edition of “Real Time”, targeting the winter Olympics in Beijing during the “New Rules” segment.

Bill Maher couldn’t hide his contempt for the country hosting the Winter Olympics on his Friday Real Time. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefWarner Bros.’ franchise title “The Batman” and Sony’s game adaptation “Uncharted” have both been given confirmed theatrical release dates in mainland China.“The Batman” will reach conventional and Imax theaters in China on Friday March 18, 2022. “Uncharted” will release four days earlier on Monday March 14.The confirmations mean that there is a rebounding flow of Hollywood movies into China after a drought in 2021, when revenue sharing import numbers fall short of the bilaterally agreed 34 film annual quota. There has also been a complete absence of Marvel movies (from both the Disney and Sony stables).

The approval is a big boost to Warner’s box office hopes, as it will be the first comic book movie since “Wonder Woman 1984” to get a release in China and the first major American import after the Lunar New Year period, which is reserved for Chinese films only. Warner Bros.

Sony’s Tom Holland/Mark Wahlberg-starrer Uncharted has been dated for a March 14 release in China. The studio’s Weibo account shared the news today with a video message from Holland and Wahlberg and a subtitled trailer, as well as a new poster (see it in full below). This comes at the same time as China has also set a date for Warner Bros/DC’s The Batman, which will go out on March 18.

Mariah Carey certainly was not alone on Valentine's Day. On Tuesday, the GRAMMY-winning singer took to social media with a photo of herself and boyfriend Bryan Tanaka. If there was any question about who Carey spent Valentine's Day with, the music maven made it crystal clear when she captioned the photo, «Valentine’s marathon continues.