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Back in 2010, Chinese actress Chen Zhixi was performing in a supporting role alongside Xu Zheng, one of China’s biggest comedy stars, in the popular period drama series Li Wei the Magistrate. The show was a hit and a significant role for her, but Chen already had grown restless with her acting work and was pondering other paths through the industry.

“Being an actor requires you to be a bit passive because you always have to just hope that you’ll get that callback,” she tells THR during a Zoom interview conducted with an interpreter. “I’m not the kind of person who likes to wait to be selected. I’d much prefer to be the one who makes the rules rather than follows them.”

In Zheng, she says she recognized a comedic visionary of still untapped potential. She suggested that they make a pact: One day, he would not...

Malaysian filmmaker Sam Quah‘s directorial debut “A Sheep Without a Shepherd” , an official remake of the Indian film “Drishyam” by Jeethu Joseph, was a huge success both in China and Southeast Asia. Interestingly, his follow up, “A Place Called Silence” which centers on bullying, is actually a remake of his own film from 2022. But due to the lead actor Jag Huang’s MeToo sexual assault controversy, the film never got a release in China. Determined to have a second go, Quah decided to remake and recast it with international stars and it paid off. After opening in China, it became the second highest summer scoring film and a huge hit all over Southeast Asia.

Set in a fictional city named Doma somewhere in Southeast Asia, the film kicks off with Tong (Wang Sheng Di), a mute student from Jing Hua Girls’ High School, glued to the wall by a bunch of bullies.

A Place Called Silence (2024) is a crime thriller centered on a mute girl, Tong, and her mother, Li Han. Since Tong is mute, her classmates bully her often. Li Han works as a cleaner in the same school and cannot do much for her daughter. However, soon after a bullying incident with Tong, the girls who bullied Tong were killed. The police start to suspect Li Han and Tong when Tong goes missing. At that time, the school’s headmaster was suspicious of Zai Fu as Zai Fu’s daughter died. Whenever Zai Fu looked at girls his daughter’s age, it felt weird. While the police are looking for Zai Fu, Zai Fu has headed to a recreation room away from the town. Li Han also believes Zai Fu has hurt Tong and chases after Zai Fu, hoping Tong is still alive.

This article contains spoilers.

A Place Called Silence...

A Place Called Silence is a Chinese crime thriller that attempts to present itself as an art film but never really meets the mark. The film tells the story of a young girl named Tong who goes to a girl’s high school and is severely bullied there. Tong’s mother works at the same school as a cleaner, and somehow it doesn’t seem to make a big difference, because the bullying is brutal. At the beginning of the film, Tong is glued to a wall with some sort of gooey substance by her classmates, and her mom has to cut her hair off to get rid of it. This isn’t just bullying; it’s violence beyond your imagination. Soon after, 3 of the bullies head off to an abandoned place near the school, and the next day they go missing. Only they aren’t missing; they’re actually dead,...

GrX Studio has announced an ambitious plan to invest Usd 50 million over the next five years with its Asia strategic partners to produce 15 Mandarin series and 5 horror films, aiming to expand its presence across the Asia-Pacific region and establish itself as a leading film studio in Taiwan. The launch event was attended by the cast of the latest series and films, including Taiwan actress Ning Chang and Vietnam actor Lien Binh Phat from “The Outlaw Doctor,” which was co-produced with Public Television Service Foundation (Pts) and Chunghwa Telecom (Cht), as well as Korean celebrity Jinyoung and Taiwan actress Moon Lee from “The Photo from 1977,” a film facilitated by the Hakka Affairs Council, with script development supported by the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (Taicca), and funded by the Hakka Public Communication Foundation. This international collaboration has generated significant excitement.

The event brought together investors, distribution companies, IP licensing firms, media representatives,...

Taiwan’s GrX Studio is to launch a $50m fund covering 20 titles at the Asian Contents & Film Market (Acfm) in Busan on Monday (October 7), where it is also set to reveal the cast of upcoming romantic feature The Photo From 1977.

The fund, known as the Asian Spring Project, aims to expand the Taipei-based company’s footprint across the Asia Pacific region and comprises 15 series and five horror films over the next five years. GrX strategy and chief investment officer Dennis Wu, who heads the new fund, will collaborate with Asian and international partners to jointly develop and produce the projects.

Taiwan’s GrX Studio is to launch a $50m fund covering 20 titles at the Asian Contents & Film Market (Acfm) in Busan on Monday (October 7), where it is also set to reveal the cast of upcoming romantic feature The Photo From 1977.

The fund, known as the Asian Spring Project, aims to expand the Taipei-based company’s footprint across the Asia Pacific region and comprises 15 series and five horror films over the next five years. GrX strategy and chief investment officer Dennis Wu, who heads the new fund, will collaborate with Asian and international partners to jointly develop and produce the projects.

Set in the rainy city of Doma, Sam Quah’s 2024 thriller A Place Called Silence follows the investigation into a disturbing string of murders. School cleaner Li Han works tirelessly to support her daughter Tong, who faces constant bullying as a mute student. When several of the main tormentors turn up dead, hacked down by an unknown killer, Detective Dai is tasked with finding the truth. With the rain pouring relentlessly and tensions running high, anyone could be a suspect.

Li Han and Tong certainly face their share of troubles. Beyond the daily trials of Tong’s treatment at school, Li Han grapples with her own traumatic past. They struggle to get by in the aftermath of financial hardship. Yet through it all, Li Han’s devotion to her daughter’s wellbeing remains unwavering. She strives to shield Tong from further harm, whether threats arrive from within the school or somewhere yet unknown.

“Alien: Romulus” claimed a third weekend win at the mainland China box office. And Thai comedy “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” climbed into the top five on its second week of release in the Middle Kingdom.

But those bright spots for imported titles underlined the currently poor performance of Chinese-made films which have dragged the Chinese summer season lower.

“Alien: Romulus” earned RMB63.4 million ($8.9 million) between Friday and Sunday, according to data supplied by consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. That gives it a total of RMB661 million ($93.1 million). The figure is higher than the $88.8 million the film has earned to Sunday in the North American market.

The running total is the second-highest achieved this year by any Hollywood film in China (behind only “Godzilla x Kong”) and has surprised many commentators. Just as surprising, it was achieved in August, a month which in previous years was considered to be...

China’s summer box office (June 1-July 31) was down 40.9% year-on-year to $1.1bn (RMB7.6bn), despite July being the second highest month of 2024 boosted by the success of comedy drama Successor, according to consultancy Artisan Gateway.

July concluded with $757.3m (RMB5.4bn), only behind February’s takings of $1.6bn (RMB11.1bn) from a record-breaking Chinese New Year. But despite being the second-best month of the year to date, July was down 38.3% on the same period in 2023.

Family-themed feature Successor topped the month with $341m (RMB2.4bn), accounting for 45% of the monthly total. It is the summer season’s highest grossing film...

Comedy animation Harold And The Purple Crayon heads the new releases at this weekend’s UK-Ireland box office, opening in 595 cinemas through Sony.

The live-action/animation fantasy comedy is adapted from Crockett Johnson’s 1955 children’s book of the same name, with the film serving as a sequel to the book.

Harold And The Purple Crayon follows a character in a book who can make anything come to life by drawing it; and who draws himself off the book’s pages and into the physical world.

Zachary Levi leads the cast, which also includes Lil Rel Howery, Zooey Deschanel, Jemaine Clement,...

Disney’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” made a splash in its debut weekend, earning £17.3 million ($22.2 million) at the U.K. and Ireland box office, according to numbers from Comscore.

The superhero team-up film easily claimed the top spot and became the highest opener of the year in the territory, outpacing its nearest competitor by a wide margin. Universal’s “Despicable Me 4” held strong in its third week, adding £3.1 million in second spot for a cumulative total of £25.3 million. Warner Bros.’ “Twisters” maintained its position at No. 3, pulling in £1.5 million in its second week for a £7.9 million total.

Disney’s “Inside Out 2,” the previous highest opener of the year, continued its steady performance in its seventh week, crossing the £50 million mark with a £1.1 million weekend in fourth place.

Rounding out the top five, “Longlegs” added £724,320 in its third week for a total of £5.6 million. Further down the chart, Paramount’s...

Chinese hit comedy “Successor” comfortably topped the mainland China box office over the weekend and advanced its haul to over $300 million. But “Deadpool & Wolverine” also enjoyed one of Hollywood’s strongest openings in the territory so far this year.

“Successor,” a Chinese-produced comedy drama about escape from poverty, earned RMB364 million ($51.3 million) in what was its second official weekend of release and its third in reality, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. Its cumulative now stands at $317 million.

“Deadpool & Wolverine” took $23.9 million over the weekend. With previews, it has a total of $24.5 million. Some $5 million of the weekend total came from Imax screens.

That was the second biggest opening weekend performance by any Hollywood film this year and is only bettered by “Godzilla x Kong,” a film produced by Wanda-owned Legendary Entertainment and handled by its China subsidiary Legendary East. “Godzilla x Kong” earned an opening $44.6 million in China.

“Successor,” a Chinese-produced comedy drama about escape from poverty, dominated a big weekend at the Mainland China box office. The session also saw an impressive re-release for Japanese animation “Your Name” and Hollywood action film “Twisters” blown into instant irrelevance.

Data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway showed “Successor” earning RMB633 million ($89.1 million) between Friday and Sunday in China. While this represented the film’s official first weekend, “Successor” finished Sunday with a cumulative total of RMB1.55 billion or $219 million.

That is due to two days of wide screenings a weekend earlier that were considered as previews (causing the title to be omitted from Comscore charts a week earlier) and an opportunistic pulling forward of its official release to Tuesday (July 16), allowing it to jump ahead of weaker titles in the market.

“Successor” is co-directed by Yan Fei and Peng Damo and stars Shen Teng, Ma Li, Shi Pengyuan, Sa Rina and Xiao Bochen.

Worldwide box office July 5-7 Rank Film (distributor) 3-day (world) Cume (world) 3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Despicable Me 4 (Universal) $132.6m $437.8m $88m $226.7m 79 2. Inside Out 2 (Disney) $70.9m $1.4bn $50.2m $777.5m 46 3. A Place Called Silence (Maoyan)

$30.6m $117.5m $30.6m $117.5m 1 4. Longlegs (various) $25.7m $25.7m $3.1m $3.1m 16 5. A Quiet Place: Day One (Paramount) $22.2m $220.7m $10.4m $104.5m 68 6. Fly Me To The Moon (Sony) $19m $19m $9m $9m 53 7. Indian 2 (Tamil) (various) $13.7m $13.7m $11.7m $11,7m 26 8. Twisters (Warner Bros) $11.5m $11.5m $11.5m $11.5m 38 9. Kingdom 4: The Return Of The Great General (Toho) $10.3m $10.3m $10.3m $10.3m 1 10. Bad Boys: Ride Or Die...

Worldwide box office July 5-7 Rank Film (distributor) 3-day (world) Cume (world) 3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Despicable Me 4 (Universal) $132.6m $437.8m $88m $226.7m 79 2. Inside Out 2 (Disney) $70.9m $1.4bn $50.2m $777.5m 46 3. A Place Called Silence (Maoyan)

$30.6m $117.5m $30.6m $117.5m 1 4. Longlegs (various) $25.7m $25.7m $3.1m $3.1m 16 5. A Quiet Place: Day One (Paramount) $22.2m $220.7m $10.4m $104.5m 68 6. Fly Me To The Moon (Sony) $19m $19m $9m $9m 53 7. Indian 2 (Tamil) (various) $13.7m $13.7m $11.7m $11,7m 26 8. Twisters (Warner Bros) $11.5m $11.5m $11.5m $11.5m 38 9. Kingdom 4: The Return Of The Great General (Toho) $10.3m $10.3m $10.3m $10.3m 1 10. Bad Boys: Ride Or Die...

“Successor,” a Chinese-produced comedy drama about escape from poverty, opened on top of the mainland China box office over the latest weekend. “Despicable Me 4,” performed well, but landed only in third position.

Data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway shows “Successor” earned RMB358 million ($50.4 million) between Friday and Sunday. The film charts the ups and downs of a poor dad and a hardworking mom, living in a broken yard and seemingly having fallen behind others on the road to prosperity.

According to an official synopsis, “Ma Chenggang and Ma Chunlan, ride their donkey to work and see their son, Ma Jiye, as their only hope of turning their fate around. Jiye is very promising, excelling academically every year. He is tough and determined. But as Jiye grows up, he perceives that the people around him are becoming more and more strange.”

The film is co-directed by Yan Fei and Peng Damo and stars Shen Teng,...