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Warner Bros.’ “The Batman” continued its sway over the U.K. and Ireland box office for the second weekend in a row with £7.4 million ($9.6 million), according to numbers released by Comscore. The dark brooder starring Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz now has a total of £26.5 million.

In second place, Sony’s “Uncharted” collected £1.05 million on its fifth weekend and has a total of £21.7 million.

Trafalgar Releasing’s concert film “BTS Permission to Dance on Stage – Seoul,” featuring K-pop sensation BTS, debuted in third place with £899,127. In fourth position, on its seventh weekend, was Universal’s animated sequel “Sing 2” with £819,153. The film now has a robust total of £31.3 million.

Rounding off the top five was Warner Bros.’ “The Duke” with £500,749, which now has £3.8 million after three weekends.

In its 13th weekend, Sony’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” collected £203,906. With a total of £95.7 million, is fourth on the all time U.

Wu Jing, the highest-grossing male actor of all time in China, will join British action star Jason Statham in Warner Bros.’s “Meg 2: The Trench,” sources close to the production have confirmed to Variety.

The giant shark actioner, however, will be without Li Bingbing (“Transformers: Age of Extinction”). The Chinese actor, who played a female oceanographer, embodying both brains and beauty in Jon Turteltaub’s testosterone-fueled 2018 “The Meg,” is not returning to the franchise at this point.

With Ben Wheatley in the directing chair, production on “Meg 2: The Trench” began at the end of January at the Warner-owned Leavesden Studios outside London. It will continue there until May before switching to outdoor locations, likely to be in Asia.

The 47-year-old Wu is a former martial artist who has successfully parlayed a career as both actor and director in film and in TV. A protégé of the iconic action choreographer Yuen Woo-ping,...

Further new releases include ‘Studio 666’, ‘La Mif’ and ‘F@ck This Job’.

It’s a tale of two underdogs at this weekend’s UK-Ireland box office. Roger Michell’s The Duke goes up against Joe Wright’s Cyrano as both make their debuts.

The Duke is Michell’s final feature – the Notting Hill and Venus director passed away in September of last year – and is based on the true story of Kempton Bunton, the Newcastle cab driver who in 1965 appeared at the Old Bailey for stealing Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from London’s National Gallery...

Unfortunately for “No Time to Die’s” China debut, government authorities have decided that it’s currently no time for citizens to risk dying of Covid-19 at the movies and are taking extra precautions to suspend cinema operations across the country this weekend as new outbreaks occur.

Hollywood is catching a tough break in China this month. After weeks of an unofficial blackout period on foreign imports due to the patriotic National Day holiday, there are finally two major Western blockbusters in theaters in the world’s largest film market: “No Time to Die” and “Dune,” the first and third place finishers this week, respectively.

Nevertheless, their performance has been unimpressive, slammed in part by new Covid-19 outbreaks across the country that have left more than 1,400 cinemas in 14 provinces ordered shut. Closures even reached Beijing on Saturday, when certain districts called for temporary shutdowns. Together, the theaters represent over 13% of the national box office.

“Dune” didn’t quite manage to spice up its China open after a middling $6 million first day in the country on Friday. The film grossed just $21.6 million in its debut three-day weekend, according to studio estimates.

The result is more or less in the ballpark of its $41 million weekend tally in North America, where it released day-and-date simultaneously on HBO Max. It is nevertheless a disappointing one considering the enormity of the world’s largest film market, which has delivered much more spectacular openings in recent weeks.

As a dense, cerebral sci-fi epic, however, “Dune” is a hard sell for viewers in China’s lower-tier cities, who have recently proven their spending power by coming out in droves for National Day propaganda movies earlier this month.

The film is currently projected to earn just $35.2 million in China according to estimates from the Maoyan database, which would mean it has already...

“The Battle at Lake Changjin” is on course to become one of the top three films of all time in China after dominating proceedings at the mainland Chinese box office for a third successive weekend.

A patriotic war film, “Changjin” earned $73 million between Friday and Sunday to extend its cumulative total to $769 million since being released on Sept. 30, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway.

In second place, “My Country, My Parents” earned $14.6 million, to extend its running total past $200 million to $210 million.

The film is already the fourth biggest film in Chinese history. Giant screen theater supplier, Imax said that the $2.7 million earned on its screens this weekend extended its Imax cumulative to $34.6 million, the fourth highest score by a non-English-language film.

Forecasts from Chinese ticketing agency Maoyan point to “Changjin” reaching RMB5.43 billon or $843 million (at current exchange rates) over its lifetime. If it were to achieve that total,...

China’s Pingyao International Film Festival got under way on Tuesday with the gala screening of Zhang Lu’s new drama film “Yanagawa.” The festival will unspool Oct. 12-19 with a familiar package of competition screenings a work in progress section, a film lab, a project market and a tribute section dedicated to Tsui Hark.

Organizers announced an ambitious twelve-title competition section (“Crouching Tigers”) for first second and third films from around the world.

These include: “Amparo,” directed by Simón Mesa Soto; “As Far As I Can Walk,” directed by Strahinja Banovic; “Feathers,” directed by Omar El Zohairy; “Mama, I’m Home” directed by Vladimir Bitokov (Russia); “Pedro” directed by Natesh Hegde (India); “Playground” (Un Monde) directed by Laura Wandel (Belgium); “Prayers for the Stolen” (Noche de Fuego) directed by Tatiana Huezo; “Rehana” (Rehana Maryam Noor) directed by Abdullah Mohammad Saad; “The Tale of King Crab” (Re Granchio) directed by...

Strong holds added to North American debut boosted Universal and MGM’s release of 007 thriller.

Worldwide Box Office October 1-3 2021 RankFilm (Distributor) 3-day (World) Cume (World) 3-day (Int’l)Cume (Int’l) Territories 1. No Time To Die (Universal) $145.5m $313.2m $89.5m $257.2m 67 2. The Battle At Lake Changjin (various) $108.3m $632.2m $108.3m $632.2m 1 3. Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Sony) $56.8m $185.5m $24.8m $43.9m 14 4. My Country, My Parents (various) $19.6m $181.8m $19.6m $181.8m 3 5. The Addams Family 2 (Uni) $14.5m $35.7m $4.5m $4.5m 13

Credit: Comscore, all figures estimates

‘No Time To Die’ achieves strong hold in second session

Updated: A strong hold for...

Maoyan forecasts the patriotic blockbuster will end up on $828.6m making it the highest-grossing film globally in 2021

Patriotic blockbuster The Battle At Lake Changjin grossed a further $108.5m over the weekend (October 8-10), according to figures from Artisan Gateway, to reach a cumulative total of $633.2m, making it the fourth highest-grossing film worldwide in 2021. The film opened on September 30 to coincide with China’s National Day holidays, which ended on Thursday (October 7).

According to Box Office Mojo’s worldwide chart, the film has sailed past Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, currently on $401.6m without a China release,...

“The Battle at Lake Changjin” became the fourth most successful film in the world this year as it maintained its grip on the China box office for a second weekend.

Even as the National Day holiday season wound to an end, “Changjin” scored $109 million over the weekend according to data from Artisan Gateway. That gave it a cumulative total of $633 million earned since Sept. 30.

Second placed film over the weekend, “My Country, My Parents” earned $19.6 million. Its cumulative was extended to $182 million.

The score for “Changjin” puts it ahead of far ahead of “The Legend of Shang-Chi” which stood on $402 million worldwide prior to the latest weekend, according to data from Box Office Mojo, and the $468 million worldwide total earned by “Godzilla Vs. Kong.”

The only 2021 titles outscoring “Changjin” in the global rankings are “Hi, Mom” with $822 million, “F9” with $717 million and “Detective Chinatown 3” with $686 million.

The film about...

Cinema box office in China hit RMB4.2 billion ($651 million) over the seven-day National Holiday period, according to government sources on Friday.

By far the top title was “The Battle at Lake Changjin,” which had grossed RMB3.50 billion ($543 million) by 5pm local time on Friday, its ninth day of release. In second place over the holiday period was “My Country, My Parents” with RMB1,08 billion ($167 million).

Like “Battle,” “Parents” was released on Sept. 30, a day before the Oct. 1 festivities which celebrate the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, and kick off a prolonged official holiday, also known as ‘Golden Week.’

The total is 5% short of the RMB4.4 billion recorded in 2019, the last year before the coronavirus pandemic disrupted the global film industry. Including the weekend preceding the 2019 official holiday, the ten-day total in 2019 was RMB5 billion.

A key difference is that 2019 benefited from the release of three blockbusters – “My People, My Country,...

China’s ‘The Battle at Lake Changjin’ was the highest grossing film anywhere in the world over the past weekend, with a $203 million haul.

That score was fractionally lower than the combined total earned by “No Time to Die” ($119 million in international markets) and by “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” ($90.2 million in North America).

The film was the far away winner in mainland China, where it was released on Thursday, a day ahead of the October 1, National Day holiday. Over four days on release, it earned $234 million, according to consultancy Artisan Gateway.

Additional data from local provider Ent Group showed that “Battle” enjoyed a massive 157,000 screenings per day and was watched by 25.5 million ticket buyers between Friday and Sunday.

That put it ahead of “My Country, My Parents,” which earned $70.6 million over the weekend proper and a “Venom”-like $90.4 million total over four days.

Both titles are examples of the...