Latest in The Mermaid

UPDATE: The film that just won’t quit in China, Wolf Warrior 2, has now crossed into even further uncharted territory. Wu Jing’s Rambo-esque actioner passed the $600M mark at the Middle Kingdom box office today, gnashing its teeth on an estimated $618.6M (RMB 4.13B), per local research outfit Ent Group. Earlier this…

UPDATE, SUNDAY AM writethru with additional detail: Having heated up the Chinese box office last weekend, Wolf Warriors 2 is biting at new milestones in its 2nd frame. Through Saturday, the Wu Jing-helmed and starring action film is at an estimated $406M (RMB 2.73B) after 10 days in release and based on local…

Busy Alibaba Pictures Group has made an undisclosed strategic investment in Hehe Pictures Corporation. When the deal closes, Alibaba will hold a 30% stake in the Chinese film investment company, becoming Hehe’s second largest shareholder. Established in 2013, Hehe began focusing on film investment, distribution…

IM Global China has announced the launch of Go Global, a new venture that aims to increase the exposure of Chinese cinema worldwide while also representing non-Chinese films inside the middle kingdom. Led by Clément Magar, the Go Global team will be based in Beijing and will offer a range of services to local…

A slowing of its fortunes in the past few months isn’t expected to stop Chinese box office from overtaking the U.S. in 2017 for the first time. That’s according to new data compiled by Bloomberg. Middle Kingdom moviehouses are on track to rake in $10.4 billion in 2017, versus an estimated $10.2B for the U.S. market…

In an effort to drive box office of its films outside China, the Chinese government is said to be lining up incentives for Middle Kingdom pictures which perform above a certain threshold overseas. Reports in local media today say the word comes in a circular from a special film industry commission under the auspices…

UPDATE, Monday, 3:36 PM writethru with updates: Final grosses are coming in now with six more films added this post-Oscar weekend and just received market-by-market breakdowns for London Has Fallen and grosses for The Brothers Grimsby. Meanwhile, in this post-Best Picture Oscar-winning weekend for Spotlight, the film…

6TH UPDATE, WRITETHRU, TUESDAY AM: International weekend actuals moseyed in late Monday and early Tuesdsay, after a long Oscar Sunday that ended with major prizes going to a handful of movies still in offshore release and rollout. Best Picture winner, Spotlight, finished the weekend with a $24M overseas cume and will…

With Stephen Chow’s The Mermaid taking a staggering $485M alone in just three weeks of play in February, the Middle Kingdom box office hit a record 6.87B yuan ($1.05B) for the month. That’s about $260M bigger than the estimated North American February total of $790M. This is the first time Chinese turnstiles have…

Stephen Chow's The Mermaid on Friday became the highest-grossing movie ever in China. Coming off of a Lunar New Year debut February 8 that saw it break records for first-day gross of a Mandarin-language film, the estimated 2.49B yuan ($382M) box office through Friday takes it past last year's Monster Hunt, at about…

SXSW 2015 debut Rolling Papers is headed to theaters and on-demand this weekend, despite a shakeup at distributor Alchemy this week. The film follows the first-ever “marijuana editor” following the legalization of pot in Colorado. Colombia’s Best Foreign Language Oscar nominee, Embrace Of The Serpent launches a trio…