Fantastic Beasts

[GeneChing]

[GeneChing]

How magical.

‘Doctor Strange,’ ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Score China Releases
Senior Film and Media Reporter
Brent Lang @BrentALang


COURTESY OF DISNEY
OCTOBER 19, 2016 | 03:06PM PT

“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” and “Doctor Strange” will both be allowed to screen in China, sources tell Variety.

Both films appear likely to debut at roughly the same time that they bow in the United States. “Doctor Strange,” an adaptation of the popular comic book about a former surgeon who becomes a sorcerer, is the first out of the gate, and will hit the Middle Kingdom on Nov. 4.

“Fantastic Beasts'” date hasn’t officially been confirmed and could shift, but it appears that the “Harry Potter” spinoff will debut on Nov. 18.

China is the world’s second-largest film market, and can add tens of millions of dollars to a film’s gross. Previous Marvel releases such as “Iron Man 3” and “The Avengers: Age of Ultron” did more than $100 million in the People’s Republic. The “Harry Potter” franchise hasn’t been as successful, with the most recent film in the series making a little more than $60 million in the country. However, that film hit theaters five years ago, and China’s box office has continued to grow exponentially since that time.

China maintains a tight quota on the number of foreign productions it allows to screen in the country, limiting it to 34 non-Chinese films annually. It appears that the remaining slots are going fast. Just this week, “Trolls” scored a release date. “Inferno,” a thriller with Tom Hanks, and “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” Ang Lee’s war drama, will also get screened in China.

Benedict Cumberbatch stars in “Doctor Strange,” along with Tilda Swinton and Rachel McAdams. “Fantastic Beasts” is set in the world of Hogwarts, though it focuses on new characters. Eddie Redmayne stars, with David Yates, who directed several previous “Potter” adventures, sliding behind the camera.

Spokespeople for Disney, the studio behind “Doctor Strange,” and Warner Bros., the maker of “Fantastic Beasts,” declined to comment.

[GeneChing]

As you all know, I review a lot of screeners. It's a guilty pleasure, but as long as there's a martial connection, I'm good to go. The hardest one I that I've done so far has been HARRY POTTER and the Chinese Porcelain Doll for HP7.P2. I really wanted to get into that screener (I know, I know, I'm an incorrigible nerd when it comes to some franchises, but I blame my Kung Fu movie addiction to this - Shaw Brothers was the gateway for me), but it was a tough connection. I don't know how I'll connect FB&WtFT yet, but you'll all forgive me for trying.

‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ Gets China Release Date
Brent Lang
Senior Film and Media Editor
@BrentALang


Fantastic Beasts and where to findCOURTESY OF WARNER BROS.
OCTOBER 26, 2016 | 12:53PM PT

“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” has an official Chinese release date, Variety has learned.

The “Harry Potter” spin-off will open in the Middle Kingdom on Nov. 25. That’s seven days after the fantasy adventure lands in the United States. Last week, Variety reported that the picture had been cleared by censors, but a final release date had yet to be determined. “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling announced the date on her Chinese Twitter feed.

The most recent “Harry Potter” film made just north of $60 million when it opened in China five years ago. Since that time, the Chinese box office has grown exponentially, spurred by a massive amount of movie theater construction. However, that film hit theaters five years ago, and China’s box office has continued to grow exponentially since that time. Many blockbusters make more than $100 million exclusively from their Chinese runs.

China is the second biggest market for film and is widely expected to pass the United States as the top source of ticket sales in the coming months. It remains a protectionist market; one that can be difficult to navigate. Chinese authorities have a habit of pitting Hollywood blockbusters against one another and oversee blackout periods when only local productions can screen. There is also a strict quota on the number of foreign film releases that are allowed into the country.

Warner Bros. is planning to release five “Fantastic Beasts” films. The series stars Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, an author of magical textbooks who ventures to 1920’s New York in order to discover supernatural creatures. David Yates, who helmed several previous Potter films, will oversee “Fantastic Beasts.” The “Harry Potter” franchise made $7.7 billion global receipts, making it one of the most successful film series in history.

I copied the posts above from the Harry Potter thread.

[GeneChing]

£150m = $187m

Harry Potter special effects firm looks east with sale to China group
Shanghai-listed CIH buys Oscar-winning special-effects firm behind Doctor Strange in deal valuing company at £150m


Framestore worked on the Harry Potter films. Photograph: Alamy

Julia Kollewe
Thursday 3 November 2016 11.31 EDT Last modified on Thursday 3 November 2016 20.05 EDT

An Oscar-winning British visual effects company, which has worked on films including Doctor Strange and the Harry Potter franchise, is selling itself to a Chinese group in a deal that values it at nearly £150m.

Framestore has agreed a deal with Cultural Investment Holdings Co (CIH) that will mean the Shanghai-listed group acquiring 75% of the business.

The remainder is owned by the firm’s founder and chief executive, Sir William Sargent, and the rest of the management team.

Framestore is currently working on Paddington 2, the sequel to last year’s box office success about the bear from Peru. The London-based firm has also performed the visual effects for JK Rowling’s Harry Potter spinoff Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which opens later this month.

As part of the deal, Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad is selling its 30% stake in Framestore along with other shareholders who used to work for the business.

“I started the process about nine months ago. We’re swapping the partners we had before for the Chinese group,” said Sargent, who set up Framestore 30 years ago and retains a 10% stake. “I’m looking east.”

Following the firm’s success in North America and Europe, it wants to tap into the fast-growing Chinese and Indian film markets. “It’s not easy to do on our own,” he said.

Sargent said CIH had been chosen from a list of 100 interested parties that included bidders from North America, the UK and Asia-Pacific.

Framestore employs two people in Beijing, the centre of the Chinese film industry, and plans to open an office there before Christmas. CIH is also based in Beijing.

Framestore started as a five-person team based in Soho, the heart of London’s creative industries, and has become one of the world’s biggest post-production houses in the film industry. It now employs 1,400 staff and has offices in London, New York, Montreal and Los Angeles.

Framestore works with Hollywood film studios Warner Bros and Disney-owned Marvel. It has won an Oscar for its work on Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity in 2014 and was nominated for Oscars for Superman Returns, The Dark Knight and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.

The deal would be the latest in a series of Chinese takeovers of British companies. Cala Homes, the UK’s largest private housebuilder, is reportedly in talks with Chinese property developer Evergrande Group, whose shareholders include Alibaba chief executive Jack Ma.

British television and film production is booming, thanks to a number of tax breaks. According to the latest official figures, film and TV programme production was the fastest-growing segment within Britain’s dominant services sector in the third quarter, with 16.4% growth.

[boxerbilly]

Anyone seen this yet ?

I may today.

[boxerbilly]

Gene I just noticed what you wrote. I've been watching screeners long before the public had internet. Ive watched completed films up to a year before their opening dates. You guy remember when videos sold for 300+ a tape ? Good old Betamax.

edit. So people don't let their imaginations run away on them. I go out and make friends. It don't always work that way. I was friends with almost every video rental store owner in county. Not many of those left now.

[boxerbilly]

Okay I liked it. Pretty good.

If this kind of stuff is not your thing then wait until it comes to cable. Harry Potter stories were never big on my list of must watch but I thought they all were good. Id give it a solid 7.

[GeneChing]

In the wake of SDCC2018

[GeneChing]

So is the zouwu like a flower vase but in reverse?

NOVEMBER 23, 2018 1:04AM PT
‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald’ Unlikely to Beat First Film in China
By BECKY DAVIS


CREDIT: YINGHANGTIANXIA

As it heads into its second weekend, “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” looks set to fall well short of the box-office performance of the franchise’s first installment in China, despite a number of tailor-made attempts to woo Chinese audiences.

As of mid-afternoon Friday, six days after its release, “Grindelwald” had brought in about $46.3 million in the world’s second-biggest movie market. It was beaten at the box office Wednesday and Thursday by “Venom” and comedic Chinese crime thriller “A Cool Fish,” then dropped even further, to fifth place, by 3 p.m. Friday, muscled aside by new releases “Ralph Breaks the Internet” and “Johnny English Strikes Again,” starring Rowan Atkinson, who has a huge following in China.

2016’s “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” took in $86 million in China – nearly double the sequel’s current take – at a time when the country had significantly fewer screens than it has now. On Wednesday and Thursday, “Grindelwald” had about 70,000 screenings per day.

J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World remains extremely popular in the Middle Kingdom, where more people are likely to recognize Harry Potter than Prince Harry as an emissary of British culture. On Douban, a key Chinese user-review site, some 127,000 reviewers gave “Grindelwald“ a respectable aggregate 7.2 rating, but many complained that the story was too convoluted, a common criticism by Western reviewers as well.

“An installment that’s totally a setup for the next; it was way too dull, and the emotional scenes awkward and wooden,” said one of the most popular Douban reviews, which gave it just two stars. “The spectacle of the beasts was not as rich or interesting as it was in the first.”

Another three-star review cautioned: “The threshold for getting into it is very high – non-fans will be totally lost, and the plot is too messy. But the special effects were very good and the sets are very cool.”

The film hasn’t quite hit home with audiences despite the introduction of a Chinese “fantastic beast”: the zouwu, based on an obscure creature mentioned in the “Classic of Mountains and Seas,” an ancient Chinese text full of myths and mythical geography thought to date back to the 4th century B.C.

“This is how it is described in Chinese mythology: gigantic, elephant-sized cat, five-colored. It really does take a Newt Scamander to contain and look after that beast,” Rowling said in a promotional video for “Grindelwald.” She added: “There’s a Chinese bestiary that is utterly fascinating.”

The original classical text mentions the zouwu only briefly, stating: “In Lin Country, there are rare beasts. Big as a tiger, with a multi-colored body and a tail longer than its body, it is called the Zouwu, and riding it you can go a thousand li” – an ancient unit of measurement of about a third of a mile.

Chinese fans were charmed by Hollywood’s version of the fantastical cat, with some even saying they found it so cute that they dug out dusty copies of the classical text to find the reference. Many noted the irony of Hollywood picking up on a cultural element that even most Chinese people themselves didn’t know about, with one user on Weibo, China’s Twitter, writing: “Our ancestors left us many good things that we’ve never made full use of – a shame!”

“Grindelwald’s” marketing campaign also reached out to Chinese audiences with a gorgeous China-specific poster: a Chinese ink-brush painting of the zouwu and other creatures perched in a tree, done with the “gongbi” technique known for its highly precise strokes and realism. It was displayed at the film’s Beijing premiere, stretched out over a seven-paneled screen. The artist, Zhang Chun, had also created ink-brush portraits of six creatures for the first film, which went viral in China.

Some on Western fansites have chattered about the possibility that the zouwu could take the “Beasts” franchise to China. In the first film, a creature with the French name demiguise played a prominent role, and the next film was set in Paris.

Patrick Frater contributed to this report.

[GeneChing]

I would've reviewed this for KungFuMagazine.com if I had known. I was invited to a screener but I couldn't think of a decent connection to Kung Fu (It was a reach to write ). I think I was busy when the screener was shown anyway.

The zouwu in “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.”

CULTURE
That Chinese creature in ‘Fantastic Beasts’ is surprisingly accurate
Gavin Huang
NOV 22, 2018

JK Rowling was inspired by Chinese mythology when she created one of the most dazzling creatures in the latest Fantastic Beasts movie.

The scene-stealing zouwu (驺吾), also called zouyu (驺虞) in some Chinese texts, is an elephant-sized beast with the head of a tiger and the tail of a pheasant.

The zouwu in “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.”
The zouwu in “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.” / Photo: Warner Bros

Newt Scamander, the zoologist wizard played by Eddie Redmayne, encounters the furry beast wreaking havoc on the streets of Paris.

“It travels 1,000 miles in a day,” he says, “and can go from one district of Paris to another in a single leap.”

Scamander manages to tame the zouwu into cat-like composure with a furry ball reminiscent of the orb used in Chinese dragon dances.


Newt Scamander, played by Eddie Redmayne, tames the zouwu in “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.” / Photo: Warner Bros

The creators of the Fantastic Beasts movie appear to have taken historical descriptions of the zouwu quite literally.

Their version has five shades of red and orange, a nod to the way it’s described in classical Chinese texts as having “five colors,” though the phrase is often used to describe anything that’s colorful or shiny, not necessarily with five colors.

The movie’s zouwu also bears resemblance to the Tai Hang fire dragon, a straw effigy adorned with incense sticks that’s paraded around Hong Kong once a year.


The zouwu (left) and the Tai Hang fire dragon (right). / Photo: Warner Bros/Shutterstock
The zouwu is not the only reference to Chinese culture in the film.

Ezra Miller, who plays Credence Barebone, told the Global Times that he based his character’s movements off tai chi.

Symbol of benevolence
In Chinese mythology, the zouwu first appears in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, a compendium of fictional creatures similar to Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

The exact authors and time of writing remain unknown, though extant copies of the text date back to the Han Dynasty, which began around 200 BC.


A Ming Dynasty woodcut depicting the zouwu. / Photo: Wellcome Library

In later texts, the zouwu is described as a creature that only appears during the reign of benevolent rulers. A Ming Dynasty emperor supposedly received one from a relative in Henan.

Scholars now believe the gift might have been less mythological, and really a giant panda.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald made nearly $13 million on its opening day in China, a record for a Harry Potter film in the country.


Eddie Redmayne poses in front of a zouwu painting during a promotional event in Beijing for “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.” / Photo: Reuters

Production companies have been keen on developing films with the Chinese market in mind, infusing elements of Chinese culture wherever they can.

The zouwu didn’t exist in Rowling’s original book of fantastic beasts, but was specifically created for the film.

Gavin Huang
Gavin Huang is an editor at Goldthread. He was previously an editor at the Korea JoongAng Daily, the partner paper of The New York Times in Seoul, South Korea.

[GeneChing]

Kidding. I love the world of HP but FB&W2FT lacks the teen charm of the original franchise, even with Zuowu.

NOVEMBER 5, 2019 11:57AM PT
‘Fantastic Beasts 3’: Can Warner Bros. Recapture ‘Harry Potter’ Magic?
By REBECCA RUBIN
News Editor, Online
@https://twitter.com/rebeccaarubin


CREDIT: JAAP BUITENDIJK

Magic has been in short supply for the “Fantastic Beasts” saga.

Warner Bros., the studio behind the “Harry Potter” spinoff series, planned a sprawling five-film franchise for a prequel series set in the Wizarding World made famous by author J.K. Rowling. “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” was a hit in 2016, grossing over $800 million at the worldwide box office. It was a reassuring sign to executives that even after the “Harry Potter” series wrapped its eighth and final film in 2011, the studio could mine more riches from the beloved universe.

But the sequel, 2018’s “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” couldn’t recreate the same charm of the original, let alone the adventures of Harry, Ron and Hermione. Critics called the follow-up confusing, partially because it introduced so many unfamiliar characters and dangled narrative threads that became tricky to weave into a cohesive story. “The Crimes of Grindelwald” wasn’t exactly an embarrassment with $650 million in worldwide ticket sales, but it fell short of expectations and earned over $150 million less than its predecessor. What did become clear, however, was that just two films in, the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise was already starting to show signs of fatigue.

“I don’t think you can discount a movie that made $650 million, but there’s an issue any time a sequel drops that far from the original,” said Jeff Bock, a box office analyst with Exhibitor Relations. “We’ve seen what happens when a studio tries to put out a third movie in a franchise after the second didn’t do anything for audiences.”

Warner Bros. delayed production on the third movie for several months, igniting speculation that the studio was revamping one of its most beloved properties after uninspiring ticket sales. Insiders at Warner Bros. told Variety that the studio is postponing the third movie in an effort to get it right the third time, rather than churning out an installment every two years.

The studio announced Monday that filming on the threequel would officially commence in spring. Part three is expected to put more of a spotlight on Jude Law’s young Albus Dumbledore and set more action at Hogwarts, with series stars Eddie Redmayne, Ezra Miller, Katherine Waterston and Dan Fogler also returning. While taking the series back to its Hogwarts roots, the third movie will also show how magic is explored in an entirely new location: Rio de Janeiro. “Fantastic Beasts 3” is expected to arrive in theaters in November of 2021, and Warner Bros. executives still expect “Fantastic Beasts” will make good on its promise to deliver five films in total.

“If you look at what worked with ‘Crimes of Grindelwald, it was when they went back to Hogwarts. There were audible gasps from the audience,” Bock said. “People loved seeing Jude Law as Dumbledore. Hopefully J.K. and the writers realize just because the movie is set in Brazil doesn’t mean we can’t spend half the time at Hogwarts. There are things they could do to save the movie.”

But Warner Bros. will need more than just a new South American setting to entice muggles back to theaters. To recapture the heart of the original franchise, the studio enlisted Rowling’s frequent collaborator Steve Kloves, who penned seven of the eight “Harry Potter” movies, to co-write “Fantastic Beasts 3.” Kloves has been integrally involved in the Harry Potter universe from its on-screen inception, and sources say his inherent understanding of the world will help Rowling better service the fans for part three. Kloves and Rowling are said to get along well and have an established working relationship. Though a successful novelist, Rowling was not as experienced when it came to screenwriting. Internally, executives are high on the script they’ve seen, believing it represents a big step forward in quality. The upcoming installment is also said to pack in more breadcrumbs for Potter enthusiasts to obsess over.

“Adding Steve Kloves is the first good step they’ve made since ‘The Crimes of Grindelwald. I suspect bringing him in will bring in more mythology from ‘Harry Potter’ into ‘Fantastic Beasts’ — that’s why you’d hire someone like that,” Bock said. “He has a lot of knowledge and is trusted by J.K. Rowling to bridge that gap. They need to lead this into a new direction.”

“Harry Potter” has always been a global draw, and international moviegoers have been a key ingredient in boosting revenues. “Fantastic Beasts” has proven no exception, with majority of ticket sales coming from overseas markets. But its domestic audiences have declined dramatically from the days of Daniel Radcliffe’s boy wizard. Re-charming fans in North America will be integral in the longevity of the series. Moreover, the Wizarding World is also much more than box office receipts. Each new film promises profits from ancillary goodies like toys, video games and theme park attractions.

“Maintaining any kind of momentum really does depend on the direction that they go with this story,” Bock said. “There’s still a big audience, especially overseas. They really have to win back the domestic audience to get that to ‘Harry Potter’ levels.”

[GeneChing]

[GeneChing]

China Box Office: ‘Fantastic Beasts 3’ Opens to $10M Amid Mass Cinema Shutdowns
Approximately 54 percent of Chinese movie theaters are currently closed as the country battles local COVID outbreaks.

BY PATRICK BRZESKI

APRIL 10, 2022 10:41PM

COURTESY OF WARNER BROS. PICTURES

Warner Bros.’ Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore cruised to an easy win during its opening weekend in China, but the prize was smaller than usual.

The Harry Potter spinoff sequel earned just $9.7 million, according to data from Artisan Gateway. Thanks to ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks, an estimated 54 percent of China’s cinemas are currently closed.

The first Fantastic Beasts film opened to $40.4 million in China in 2016, and the sequel, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, debuted to $36.6 million in 2018.

Social scores for the Secrets of Dumbledore were solid, if unexceptional: 8.7 on Maoyan, 8.7 from Alibaba’s Taopiaopiao and 6.7 on Douban.

The film performed somewhat better on Imax, earning $1.5 million in the giant-screen format, or 15 percent of its nationwide total. Dumbledore played on 360 Imax screens, roughly half of Imax’s usual outlay.

In recent months and years, Hollywood titles have been earning conspicuously less than they once did in China, but the current COVID closures make it difficult to assess whether the general trend of waning local enthusiasm for U.S. movies was also a factor in Dumbledore’s lackluster opening.

Sony’s animated sequel Hotel Transylvania 4 earned just $1.4 million in its second weekend for a running total of $6.2 million. Hotel Transylvania 3 (2018) earned $32.2 million in China.

Other U.S.-made titles added similarly tiny sums. Escape Room 2, in cinemas for its second weekend, added $940,000, taking its total to $5.2 million. Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall, which was co-financed by Chinese studio Huayi Brothers Media, added $900,000. The film has earned $19.4 million since its local release late last month — slightly better than its $19.1 million North American total.

threads
Fantastic-Beasts
Coronavirus-(COVID-19)-Wuhan-Pneumonia
Chollywood-rising

[GeneChing]

Wands out! READ FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE: Is Three a Charm (Spell)? by Gene Ching