UK considers Gandhi coin to commemorate Indian independence hero

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorAfter pulling in $33.5M across five days of previews at the Chinese box office, local war epic The Eight Hundred overwhelmingly stormed theaters today, its first official day of release. Adding roughly $20M across the country on Friday — the biggest single-day box office since cinemas resumed operations — the Middle Kingdom cume is now north of $53M.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefChinese war film, “The Eight Hundred” achieved a cumulative box office score of more than $40 million by late afternoon on its opening day, Friday.By 5pm local time, the film had notched up RMB62.7 million or $9.04 million, according to data from China Box Office and Ent Group. That added to $31.8 million of previews earned on Friday last week and the days between Monday and Wednesday this week.The film enjoyed an 86% market share.

Anthony D'Alessandro Editorial Director/Box Office EditorSony and Tencent’s Oscar-nominated A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood has been cleared for China and will open there on Sept. 18.

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorEXCLUSIVE: As the rolling process of cinema reopenings continues across various markets, IMAX has recently enjoyed strong grosses with local-language movies in Asia as well as the reissue of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar in China. This week in the Middle Kingdom, it’s set to have a particularly vibrant frame with war epic The Eight Hundred.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefAlibaba, Chinese e-commerce and entertainment giant, says that  the worst of the economic fallout from the coronavirus is now behind it.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefNext week’s virtual FilMart will mark the market debut for newly-launched Blossoms Entertainment, a film sales agency based in mainland China. Among its available titles, the new outfit will be representing partial rights to Chinese blockbuster “The Eight Hundred.”Blossoms is owned and headed by Vicky Ding, an executive with sales and distribution experience at Beijing Culture and the now-defunct Hollywood sales and finance group IM Global.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefTom Hanks-starring drama “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” will join a thickening crowd of local and international films heading for Chinese movie theaters in the next six weeks.The film, about beloved U.S. TV host Mr.

Will Smith encouraged movie-goers to follow the social distancing rules in China in a new safety PSA.

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorChina was the big breakout this past weekend, leading the international box office for the fourth frame in a row and powered by the reissue of Warner Bros’ Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone in a 4K 3D restoration that conjured $13.6M on 16,000 screens over the three-day frame.

Rebecca Rubin News Editor, OnlineYou’re in the billion-dollar club, Harry.Two decades after it was released in theaters, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” has surpassed $1 billion at the global box office.

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorIt’s not so much mischief managed as it’s magic managed: Warner Bros’ reissue of Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone has become the second film in the franchise to cross $1B worldwide. The film, originally released in 2001, counts a global cume of $1,001,260,000 after debuting in a remastered 4K 3D version in China this weekend.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefBig-budget Chinese war epic “The Eight Hundred” is on course to be the first blockbuster film of the year in the Middle Kingdom, after super-strong Monday previews confirmed audience willingness to return to theaters.The film earned $7.24 million from 17,200 screenings on Monday, according to data from local analysis firm Ent Group.

Rebecca Davis editorChinese film authorities issued a new document outlining policy measures to boost the country’s production of science fiction movies.Entitled “Several Opinions on Promoting the Development of Science Fiction Films,” the document highlights how the sci-fi genre fits into the ruling Communist Party’s broader ideological and technological goals.

Rebecca Davis editorPeter Chan’s hotly anticipated biographical sports drama “Leap” is set to hit China on Sept. 30, becoming the first of the Chinese New Year blockbusters canceled due to COVID-19 to set a theatrical outing.Local animation “Jiang Ziya: Legend of Deification,” which was also originally scheduled to premiere over the lunar new year, will premiere the day after.

Tom Grater International Film ReporterChinese entertainment giant Maoyan, the country’s leading online ticketing provider, has posted its interim financials for the first half of a pandemic-disrupted 2020, with the company swinging to a loss of RMB 430.7M ($62M), compared with a profit of RMB 257.4M ($37M) in the same period last year.Revenue took a drastic tumble from RMB 1,984.6M ($285.9M) in the first half of 2019 to RMB203.1M ($29.3M) January-June this year, largely due to the closure of

India will soon be celebrating its 73rd Independence Day and on the occasion National Geographic is all set to enthrall its viewers with a two-part special series titled India from Above. As the name aptly puts it, the docu-series will show Indian landscapes in a never before seen light and from up above.

Rebecca Davis editorSome moviegoers feel China’s exhibition sector has been unfairly targeted by prolonged closures and excessive COVID-19 prevention measures, Variety found in a WeChat-based survey of cinema patrons.Survey respondents, who participated on the condition of anonymity, felt the protective measures required of cinemas helped to lower the risk of movie-going, but that the exhibition sector had been subject to overly cautious treatment.The vast majority of the 36 respondents —

enough.Tucker spent the first nine minutes or so detailing various containment measures that blue states have implemented, specifically calling out contact tracing efforts and economic shutdowns — things China did to contain its outbreaks.

According to reports by the Daily Mail, Mahatma Gandhi will become the first non-white person to be coined on the British currency.