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China’s total box office in 2024 saw a sharp decline of 23% year-on-year, dropping to $5.81bn (RMB42.5bn) – the lowest takings since 2015 and 34% down on the pre-Covid peak in 2019 – indicating ongoing struggles to recover from the pandemic.

Last year’s annual gross was down from $7.5bn (RMB54.9bn) in 2023, which was seen as a more encouraging figure despite still being 14.5% behind pre-pandemic 2019.

A total of 501 films were released (425 local and 76 foreign titles), comparable to 512 titles in 2023.

A trio of local films topped the chart, with each exceeding the RMB3bn ($410m) mark: Jia Ling’s Yolo ($472m/RMB3.46bn); Han Han...

Back in 2010, Chinese actress Chen Zhixi was performing in a supporting role alongside Xu Zheng, one of China’s biggest comedy stars, in the popular period drama series Li Wei the Magistrate. The show was a hit and a significant role for her, but Chen already had grown restless with her acting work and was pondering other paths through the industry.

“Being an actor requires you to be a bit passive because you always have to just hope that you’ll get that callback,” she tells THR during a Zoom interview conducted with an interpreter. “I’m not the kind of person who likes to wait to be selected. I’d much prefer to be the one who makes the rules rather than follows them.”

In Zheng, she says she recognized a comedic visionary of still untapped potential. She suggested that they make a pact: One day, he would not...

Mainland Chinese director Lou Ye claimed the two top honors – best narrative feature film and best director – at the Golden Horse Film Awards on Saturday in Taiwan with his indie title “An Unfinished Film.”

The prizes for Lou, and others awarded on the night, represent a defiant gesture towards mainland Chinese authorities which operate a restrictive system of controls over its film industry.

The long-running Golden Horse awards had for many years been regarded as the pinnacle awards event for Chinese-language cinema. But, after a speech advocating Taiwan’s independence was given from the stage by a 2018 awards winner, China sought to ban its filmmakers from attending the event and instead promoted its own prize race.

The People’s Republic of China (mainland China) and the Republic of China (Taiwan) are at loggerheads over legitimacy in many international institutions. China claims democratically-run Taiwan as its own territory with which it will be united,...

‘Harbin’ To Be Present At Christmas

Poised to be one of the biggest blockbusters of an uneven year for Korean cinema, “Harbin” is finally confirmed to release on Christmas Day (Dec. 25). The movie had its premiere in September at the Toronto International Film Festival but its distributor and financier Cj Enm chose to hold back the commercial release in its native Korea until the busy end-of-year season.

The period action film follows Korean independence activists who launch a daring attack against the Japanese occupying forces in Manchuria (modern-day China).

It is directed by Woo Min-ho and stars Hyun Bin (“Crash Landing on You”), Park Jeong-min (“Decision to Leave”) and Jeon Yeo-been (“Cobweb”), who were all in action at a press launch event Monday in Seoul.

Apple Cider

Netflix has unveiled a trailer for Australian-produced “Apple Cider Vinegar,” a limited series which it will upload in 2025. The six-part drama chronicles the...

Worldwide box office March 1-3 Rank Film (distributor) 3-day (world) Cume (world) 3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros) $178.5m $178.5m $97m $97m 72 2. Exhuma (Showbox)

$17.2m $43.6m $17.2m $43.6m 1 3. Bob Marley: One Love (Paramount) $16.2m $146.1m $8.8m $63.3m 57 4. Article 20 (various) $14.4m $319.4m $14.3m $318.9m 4 5. The Pig, The Snake And The Pigeon (various)

$13.3m $17.6m $13.3m $17.6m 1 6. Pegasus 2 (various)

$12.8m $459.4m $12.7m $457.6m 4 7. Madame Web (Sony)

$8.2m $91m $5m $50.6m 66 8. Boonie Bears: Time Twist (various) $7.9m $268.1m $7.9m $268.1m 1 9. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba - To The Hashira Training (various) $7.7m $56.9m...

The four strongest Chinese titles that launched over the Lunar New Year holidays continued to dominate the mainland China and global office charts for a third successive weekend, albeit with a change of order that put Zhang Yimou’s “Article 20” in top spot.

Global box office tracking service ComScore showed “Article 20,” “Pegasus 2,” “Yolo” and “Boonie Bears: Time Twist” as ranking first, second, fifth and sixth, respectively, in the world over the latest weekend.

Within mainland China, the quartet’s numbers were sufficiently solid that the year-to-date aggregate is now closely comparable to 2023’s. And, even in their third week, the four were many miles ahead of the top newcomer, “Argylle.”

China data, provided by consultancy Artisan Gateway, showed “Article 20” earned $40.1 million (RMB285 million) between Friday and Sunday. Having placed fourth on opening and third in its second weekend, the latest weekend win means that the gaps between the cumulative...

Worldwide box office February 2-4 Rank Film (distributor) 3-day (world) Cume (world) 3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Yolo (various) $110.4m $110.4m $110.4m $110.4m 1 2. Pegasus 2 (various) $104.6m $104.6m $104.6m $104.6m 3 3. Boonie Bears: Time Twist (various) $60.8m $60.8m $60.8m $60.8m 1 4. Article 20 (various)

$46.6m $46.6m $46.6m $46.6m 1 5. Argylle (Universal) $15.9m $60.1m $9.4m $31.3m 82 6. Anyone But You (Sony) $12.4m $170.1m $9.7m $90m 51 7. Wonka (Warner Bros) 11.6m $587.5m $8.5m $382.3m 75 8. Migration (Universal) $9.7m $235.2m $6.7m $125.0m 80 9. The Movie Emperor (various) $7.9m $7.9m $7.9m $7.9m 6 10. Poor Things (Disney) $7.7m $81.2m $6.6m $50.9m 44

Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.

China wins top four spots in...

Four Chinese films dominated the global box office charts over the weekend, with combined takings of $350 million earned over just two days.

And, as North America watched the Super Bowl instead, the weekend’s top Hollywood title, “Argylle” earned just $15.9 million worldwide.

Chinese titles eschewed their usual Friday release pattern and opened on Saturday, the first official day of the Lunar New Year holiday period in China and much of Asia.

Female-directed comedy drama “Yolo,” earned $113 million (RMB802 million), according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. That was narrowly ahead of car-racing comedy “Pegasus 2,” which earned RMB758 million or $107 million and was the bigger title on Saturday. “Yolo” is poised to release in international markets in the future, having recently been acquired by Sony.

In third place, both in China and worldwide, Chinese animation film “Boonie Bears: Time Twist” earned a stunning RMB443 million or $62.4 million. “Article 20,” a Zhang Yimou...