‘Wonder Woman 1984’ Rises To $85M Global; ‘Demon Slayer’ Sets New Japan Milestone; ‘Soul’ Grows In China & ‘Croods 2’ Nears $100M WW – International Box Office

Following the departure of Terence Winter, HBO Max has announced that Joe Barton is taking over showrunning duties on “Gotham PD,” a spin-off show based on Matt Reeves‘ upcoming new “The Batman” film scheduled for March 2022. Barton is known as the creator of the BBC Two television crime series “Giri/Haji” about the Yakuza underworld in Japan and how it crosses over into London’s streets.

Rebecca Davis editorDisney/Pixar’s “Soul” has now outperformed “Wonder Woman 1984” in China by more than $10 million despite debuting a week later than the latter.

International box office was led again by China this weekend with local titles A Little Red Flower and Shock Wave 2 at the top of the charts, and Disney/Pixar’s Soul continuing its jazzy run there. The Pete Docter-directed original is soon to become Pixar’s No.

With the pandemic dragging on and vaccine efforts falling behind schedule, the total domestic weekend box office once again fell below $10 million with “Wonder Woman 1984” leading the charts with $3 million to reach $32.6 million in domestic grosses after its third weekend.Between widespread closures in Europe and lower-than-expected performance in China, the DC blockbuster has now grossed just $131.4 million worldwide.

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentAnticipating that the Japanese government may again call for movie theaters to temporarily close in Greater Tokyo due to an upsurge of coronavirus cases, Toho Cinemas and other leading exhibitors are halting sales of advance tickets for cinemas in the areas.

Refresh for latest…: China was the big international box office winner this weekend with three local movies at the top of the chart and a New Year’s Day record set on Friday. That came just as it was confirmed the market led global box office for 2020, surpassing North America for the first time.

Thanksgiving and is also now available to rent on premium video on demand.Disney and Pixar’s “Soul,” which skipped U.S. theaters and is available for free for Disney+ subscribers, added $16.5 million internationally — a 114% increase from its opening in the same markets last weekend.

After crossing $100 million worldwide on New Year’s Eve, Warner Bros.’ “Wonder Woman 1984” reached $118 million on the first weekend of 2021. But the pandemic is making its presence felt as domestic grosses fell 67% from the film’s $16.7 million opening weekend.The DC blockbuster took in $15.6 million worldwide this weekend, with $5.5 million grossed in the U.S.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentSavaged by COVID-19, global box office plunged between 57% and 76% in major markets outside the U.S., with the U.K. and Ireland leading the rout, crashing 76% against 2019, according to a Comscore study, published Wednesday.Also hit hard were China (-70%), South Korea (-71%), and Italy and Spain (both down 72%).

Hayao Miyazaki's nearly two-decade reign atop Japan's all-time box office rankings has come to an end. Runaway anime blockbuster Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train became Japan's biggest box-office hit of all time over the weekend, pushing Miyazaki's beloved classic Spirited Away (2001) into second place.

Hong Kong action sequel Shock Wave 2 rocked China's box office over the weekend, opening to a healthy $64.5 million. Youth fantasy film Dream of Eternity also did decent business, debuting to $38.9 million.

It’s clear, now having watched both 2017’s “Wonder Woman” and the just-released sequel, “Wonder Woman 1984,” the two films are very different. Whether that difference is good or bad is up to you, but there’s no denying that director Patty Jenkins has crafted a second ‘Wonder Woman’ film that shares very little in common with the original.

Rebecca Davis editorHong Kong’s “Shock Wave 2” out-earned “Wonder Woman 1984” in China in just two days, topping the local box office this weekend with a $51.4 million debut, according to data from Maoyan.By the end of Christmas Day, “Shock Wave 2” had grossed $28.6 million (RMB187 million), more than the $23 million (RMB151 million) “Wonder Woman” had earned since Dec.

Mark Schilling Japan Correspondent“Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train,” the animated film that has become the Japanese entertainment world tsunami of 2020, pushed its cumulative earnings to $313.7 million (JPY32.5 billion) over the Dec. 26-27 weekend.

The superhero sequel “Wonder Woman 1984” has earned an estimated $38.5 million in ticket sales from international theaters, Warner Bros. said Sunday.

“Wonder Woman 1984” — Warner Bros.’s much-anticipated sequel to its superhero franchise starring Gal Gadot — suffered a weak weekend debut in China, where it earned a mere $19 million in ticket sales, or less than half of what Hollywood had expected. Media watchers had pegged the follow-up film to 2017’s “Wonder Woman” to reel in at least $40 million in the Middle Kingdom.

While we may be talking about the unfortunate death of movie theaters in the US, considering they have yet to fully bounce back from being closed most of the year and 2021 isn’t looking as promising as we hoped, Chinese cinemas are not only open but thriving.

China's box office was the scene of disappointment over the weekend, as Warner Bros.' Wonder Woman 1984 got trounced by local action flick The Rescue. The Rescue, directed by Dante Lam, opened to $36.3 million, nearly double Wonder Woman 1984's meagre $18.8 million start, according to data from Artisan Gateway.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentStrand Releasing has acquired all North American rights to Anthony Chen’s “Wet Season,” which represents Singapore in the Oscar race for best international feature film.The movie world premiered in the Platform section at the Toronto International Film Festival, and is being represented in international markets by Memento Films International.Penned and directed by Chen, “Wet Season” revolves around a Chinese language teacher whose marriage and school

Wonder Woman 1984 opened to an underwhelming $18.8 million in China, behind expectations and a less-than-wondrous start for WarnerMedia as it embarks on a bold plan to release its films both in theaters and on HBO Max. The Warner Bros./DC superhero pic placed No.