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…

Universal Pictures has flown past the $1 billion mark overseas joining Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. which have already hit that mark earlier this year. Worldwide, including Universal and Focus Features’ stateside slates, the studio is at $2.19B. Broken down that’s $1.07B in foreign ticket sales, $1.1B in domestic…

Imax and Imax China Holding have entered a deal with Wanda Cinema Line to add 150 theaters throughout China over a six-year period. Construction will begin in 2017 with 110 cinemas expected to be completed by 2020 and the rest by 2022. This will take Wanda’s Imax footprint to 360 in a market that is a rabid consumer…

Citing changes in market conditions and the interests of minority shareholders, Wanda Cinema Line, the publicly traded exhibition unit of Wang Jianlin’s Dalian Wanda Group, has shelved plans for a 37.2 billion yuan ($5.6 billion) reorganization of entertainment assets. That includes a previously announced plan for…

UPDATE, WRITETHRU, Monday, 6:05 PM: While she was busy setting an animated opening record domestically this frame, a certain forgetful blue tang got her first taste of overseas waters as well. Pixar sequel Finding Dory cast a net in 29 material territories with an estimated $50.7M launch to take the No. 1 spot at the i…

EXCLUSIVE: Rob Kazinsky, the EastEnders veteran who plays Orgrim Doomhammer in Legendary and Universal's video game to film adaptation Warcraft, has signed with UTA. The Duncan Jones-helmed pic has made $377.6 million since being released this month — $205 million alone in China after this weekend. Kazinsky’s film…

A perfect storm of strategic partners working with a piece of culturally resonant IP and a key release date helped Legendary Pictures and Universal Pictures' Warcraft to an Orc-sized $156M opening this weekend in China. At the same time, the expensive film yielded an unimpressive $24.1M opening domestically. While…

Having missed the press screening last week for Warcraft, I am a little late to the party on this one. But even though it grossed only $24 million in the U.S. since opening on Friday, I was enormously curious about this movie since in its first five days in China alone it grossed $156 million. Say what? And a total of…

6TH UPDATE, Monday 5:16PM: Final weekend box office Warner Bros./New Line’s The Conjuring 2‘s actuals at the box office stayed in sync with its Sunday AM estimates of $40.4M. Several sources have told me inside and outside the studio that the film’s success can be attributed to director James Wan’s fanbase. The…

UPDATE, WRITETHRU, Monday, 4:47 PM: The full five-day China frame on Legendary/Universal’s Warcraft has come in at $156M (1.027B rmb). That sets a new Middle Kingdom opening weekend milestone, topping Avengers: Age Of Ultron and its 996M rmb start last year. Warcraft also set a speed record to 1B rmb — by a matter of…

UPDATE, SATURDAY AM PT: Warcraft's China invasion continued Friday and Saturday with a cume through 10:15PM local time tonight of $144.7M (950M rmb). That makes it the fastest film ever to cross 900M rmb in the Middle Kingdom, passing the previous four-day record of 891M rmb set by Furious 7 last year. Saturday's…

2ND UPDATE, TUESDAY AM: Adding to the WoW-za advance ticket sales that have been crafted by Legendary and Universal’s Warcraft in China comes a new record just as midnight shows are in full swing in the Middle Kingdom. The official bow is tomorrow, and with it, Duncan Jones’ feature take on Blizzard Entertainment’s…