China’s growing movie market, plus multiple acquisitions and a stock offering, helped Alibaba Pictures Group to generate net profits in 2015 — reversing its 2014 loss — the company says today. The Beijing-based studio, a division of Jack Ma’s e-commerce giant which is listed in Hong Kong and Singapore, says it ended…

When it comes to evaluating the financial performance of top movies, it isn't about what a film grosses at the box office. The true tale is told when production budgets, P&A, talent participations and other costs collide with box office grosses and ancillary revenues from VOD to DVD and TV. To get close to that mysteri…

Making its latest investment in an international film, China’s Alibaba Pictures has signed a memorandum of understanding for a stake in upcoming Korean action title Real. Shooting is expected to begin by the end of this year on the pic that stars Kim Soo-hyun as an ambitious and ruthless scavenger hungry to establish…

Paramount and Skydance’s Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation has rocketed past Interstellar as the highest-grossing 2D Hollywood film ever at the Chinese box office. The Tom Cruise starrer has earned $124M since it’s Middle Kingdom release on September 8; that tops the $122M Christopher Nolan’s space epic made…

FINAL UPDATE, 1:23 PM PT: Fox’s Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials kicked off in 21 international markets a week before it lands in theaters in North America where it is expected to open stronger than the first installment which opened to $32.5M last year. Finals are in also for the Paramount/Skydance holdover Mission: Imp…

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation was destined to open big in China. But just how big was the question with a Tuesday date and at a time where the Middle Kingdom appears to be focused on maintaining the dominance of local titles. The film, which the tireless Tom Cruise heavily promoted in the country, includes local…

Alibaba Pictures announced today that Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation will debut in Chinese cinemas nationwide tomorrow. The film represents Alibaba’s first investment in a Hollywood project. In addition to its financial investment, the film unit of the e-commerce giant has been collaborating with Paramount for…

Paramount and Skydance’s summer is drawing to a close with some nice bumps for their big holiday releases. Last week, both Terminator: Genisys and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation crossed $300M at the international box office. The latter has now flown over the $500M milestone worldwide with $511.2M to date. This is…

3rd UPDATE, 1:17 PM, PT: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and Terminator: Genisys finals are in for Paramount, which saw both action sequels pass $300M internationally during the weekend. Final grosses are in 18 pictures so far. They include the three-time North American box office champ Straight Outta Compton, Hitma…

4TH UPDATE, MONDAY ACTUALS, 2:50 PM PT: International weekend actuals have rolled in from the studios with a confirmed $27M on the frame’s No. 1 movie, Terminator Genisys. That’s down a touch from Sunday’s projected $27.4M. (Early estimates see Monday doing $10M+.) The whole haul comes from China where the…

EXCLUSIVE: Hot off playing the female lead in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Rebecca Ferguson is negotiating to star in The Girl On The Train, the Tate Taylor-directed adaptation of the Paula Hawkins novel. Ferguson will play the role of Anna. There are three main female roles in the thriller, and the first was…

5th UPDATE, 12:52 PM PT: Finally received final grosses on Sony’s Pixels and is updated below as of 3:48 PM. Meanwhile, the new entry The Man From U.N.C.L.E grossed $12M in 23 markets and only opened to No. 3 in its key U.K. market, while Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation pulled in yet another nice haul over the…