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While the industry, filmmakers and press have Sundance on the mind this weekend, new limited-release titles are making their way into theaters. Freestyle Releasing successfully tapped the faith-based audience with the 2014 hit God’s Not Dead, which grossed in the mid-eight figures. The producers of that film followed…

Monster Hunt was a monster hit in China last year, managing to rake in $380.99M (2.428B yuan) in less than two months, edging out Furious 7 to become the highest grossing film ever at the Chinese box office. That’s an impressive feat by itself, but more important for the Middle Kingdom’s home-grown film industry is…

The Chinese government released official box office figures for the year late Thursday night, showing a 48.7% hike from 2014 to over 44B yuan ($6.77B). This is the highest percentage increase since 2011, media authority SAPPRFT said. Industry execs believe China will overtake North America as the world's biggest box…

Posting more than 48% growth from the same period last year, China’s box office has hit 40B yuan ($6.25B). A record, it was set Thursday night as films like The Martian ($62M) and local title Our Times ($48M) continue their runs. Unsurprisingly, locally produced movies have accounted for more than 59% of the…

It took 58 days, but China’s local summer blockbuster, Monster Hunt, has now overtaken Universal’s Furious 7 to become the highest-grossing film ever at the Middle Kingdom box office. Furious 7‘s milestone was set with a run that lasted only 30 days. State news agency Xinhua, citing industry watchdog SAPPRFT, today…

Chinese online giant Tencent Holdings is setting up a new film production business, Penguin Pictures. According to local media reports, the company, which competes with Alibaba and Baidu in the Middle Kingdom space, said the banner will concentrate on online dramas with minority investment in some 10-15 movies per…

McG is set to direct The Babysitter, a new horror-comedy being set up through his Wonderland Sound and Vision at New Line. Based on a blacklist script by Brian Duffield that was the subject of a bidding war, the film is about a babysitter and a 12-year old boy during a crazy night when things go horribly wrong. Life…

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…

5th UPDATE, Monday, 12:26 PM PT: Paramount Pictures just reported grosses for Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation which was the No. 1 picture again domestically for the second weekend in a row beating out the debut of Fox’s Fantastic Four. It was a one-two finish internationally as well for the two pictures with Mission…

If Monster Hunt has its sights set on all-time Middle Kingdom box office champ, Furious 7, it will need to put another $62.6M in the tank. While that Universal title is still several laps ahead, the local-language juggernaut has been on a tear, steadily rounding up records during its 25-day run thus far. Rentrak puts M…

3rd UPDATE, 12:27 PM PT: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation opened to No. 1 in most of its 40 markets and the highest opening ever in those same markets and it will log in as highest ever weekend opening for a Tom Cruise movie in 25 countries. It rode in with about $600K less than estimated over the weekend but still…

3RD UPDATE, MONDAY 3:45 PM PT: Actuals are in from the studios, with Sony’s Pixels confirmed at $21.03M, down slightly from the $21.4M projected yesterday, and performing solidly in Latin America with many markets (including China, a co-financier) still on deck. That film came in 6th overall at the international box…