Latest in Searching

SUNDAY AM WRITETHRU after Saturday AM update: Thank to the legs on Christmas holdovers Avatar: The Way of Water and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, and M3GAN running to $73.2M, the 2023 box office is surging to an estimated $514.7M for the Jan. 1-Jan. 22 period, +39% over last year, which was at $370M per…

2018’s sleeper hit, Searching, showed you could create an effective edge-of-your-seat mystery thriller told exclusively through the use of the screens that dominate our daily lives in this century. It starred John Cho as a father whose 16-year-old daughter disappears, leading him to use all the tools of…

Good news exhibition: Sony is moving up Missing from Feb. 24, 2023 to Jan. 20, 2023. That’s the weekend after the long MLK holiday frame and the only other wide release is an untitled Crunchy Roll film. The movie is the next installment in the Searching franchise and stars Storm Reid and Nia…

EXCLUSIVE: Euphoria star Storm Reid is in negotiations to star in the sequel to the Sony Pictures’ Stage 6 Film box-office hit Searching. Will Merrick and Nick Johnson will direct the sequel, which will have a similar theme to the original that starred John Cho, but tell a different story. Sony had no comment on…

EXCLUSIVE: TikTok meets the movies? Prolific Russian director and producer Timur Bekmambetov, whose credits include multiple Hollywood pics such as Searching, Ben Hur and Wanted, is set to go into production on V2. Escape From Hell, the first blockbuster movie made entirely in a vertical format. Bekmambetov is…

Timur Bekmambetov is leaning in heavily on what he calls ScreenLife storytelling, a disruptive format which eschews traditional cameras for methods that visually drive the narrative through stories that unfold from the POV of smartphone and computer screens, where most of us now spend the bulk of our waking…

With the success of Asian-led films such as Crazy Rich Asians, Searching and Aquaman, #GoldOpen has partnered with AMC Theatres to help continue their initiative of championing Asian films. The first-of-its-kind partnership with AMC is designed to streamline group movie-going, theatre buyouts and bulk regular-price…

With Venom still coursing through China, December is now heating up as a busy time at the Middle Kingdom box office — but, contrary to tradition, not necessarily for local films. Sony has just confirmed that sleeper hit Searching has secured a December 14 release, while anticipated animated family action adventure Spid…

7th Writethru, Monday AM after Sunday, Saturday, Friday night, and mid-day write-thrus:  Warner Bros.’ Crazy Rich Asians continues to be extremely robust. While industry estimates had the romantic comedy at $30M over four days in its third weekend, it’s now looking like $28.3M, with Warner Bros. reporting $22.1M for…

Since 1997, Searching star John Cho has appeared in a diverse array of film and television (remember when he had the knife-wielding roommate in Felicity?). When he appeared in American Pie as the “MILF guy” he not only popularized the term but gained a reputation for his comedic chops. This paved the road for Harold…

5TH UPDATE, Sunday AM Writethru following Saturday and Friday updates. For most recent Sunday update click here: We’ve frequently written about the wane of raunchy comedies recently at the box office, often blaming streaming for encroaching on the genre’s theatrical territory and stealing away such talent as Adam…

Diversity rules for the second week in a row as an Asian-American family again is at the center of a major studio release. However Sony’s Searching, which stars Jon Cho as a desperate dad trying to uncover the mystery of why his 16-year old daughter has gone missing, could not be more different from director Jon M. Chu…