Nezha

[GeneChing]

China Box Office: 'Lion King' Dethroned by Local Family Film, 'Spider-Man: Far From Home' Hits $200M
1:59 AM PDT 7/22/2019 by Patrick Brzeski

The heartwarming Chinese drama 'Looking Up' proved to be the market's preferred family film this weekend.

Chinese family film Looking Up, co-directed by and starring Deng Chao, delivered on its early buzz to swiftly unseat Disney's The Lion King from its perch atop China's box office.

After several days of escalating nationwide previews, Looking Up officially opened Thursday to $9.2 million, then added a healthy $38.6 million from Friday through Sunday. Thanks to those expansive previews, the film had totaled $62 million by the end of Sunday, according to box office tracker Artisan Gateway.

A heartwarming drama, Looking Up follows a Chinese astronaut who, after losing contact with Earth, drifts through space reminiscing about the generosity and educational upbringing he received from his single dad (played by Deng, a local fan favorite from The Mermaid, Duckweed and other hits). The film is produced by Deng's company Tianjin Chengzi Yingxiang Media, with Enlight Media, Maoyan, Tencent Pictures and Dadi Films also holding stakes.

Jon Favreau's The Lion King, meanwhile, slipped 62 percent from its $55 million opening last week to pull in $20.8 million for its second frame. The CGI juggernaut has climbed to $97.1 million and should run out of gas somewhere around the $130 million mark in the coming weeks. That's a respectable, if somewhat middle-of-the road, finish for a Disney mega-tentpole in China, but still better than most of the studio's other recent remakes in the market: Aladdin ($53 million), Dumbo ($22 million), Beauty and the Beast ($85.7 million ) and The Jungle Book ($150 million).

Holdover Hong Kong crime thriller The White Storm 2: Drug Lords, starring Andy Lau, added $13.9 million in its third weekend. The film has earned $171.7 million, the market's sixth best showing this year.

Local animation Nezha, an adaptation of a classic work of Chinese literature, crept into fourth place. The film doesn't officially open until Friday, but it's already generating momentum and significant earnings thanks to a cross-country roadshow of previews — an increasingly common marketing strategy in China during the summer holiday and Chinese New Year blockbuster periods.

Coming in fifth for the weekend, Sony Pictures' Spider-Man: Far From Home swung past the $200 million mark, earning $3.6 million in its fourth weekend. The film is Hollywood's second-biggest earner in China in 2019, behind only Avengers: Endgame ($614 million).

Didn't see that one coming.

Here's our Spider-Man: Far From Home coverage.

Thought we had threads on The White Storm 2: Drug Lords & Nezha too, but couldn't find them.

[GeneChing]

I really could have sworn that I started a Nezha thread, but all there is on this 2019 film is the post from our Chollywood rising thread, so I'm splitting this off for that indie Nezha thread. We have a few references across this forum but none to this new film until now.

China Box Office: 'Nezha' Smashes Animation Records With $91.5M Opening
4:19 AM PDT 7/29/2019 by Patrick Brzeski


Courtesy of Horgos Coloroll
'Nezha'

The feature debut of Chinese filmmaker Yang Yu, 'Nezha' is well positioned to overtake Disney's 'Zootopia' ($236 million) as China's biggest animated film ever.

Beijing Enlight's big-budget 3D animation film Nezha opened to a historic $91.5 million at China's box office over the weekend, smashing a slew of records for an animated film in the country.

Thanks to the huge start, Nezha ranked number two at the global box office for the weekend even though it was screening only in China. Disney's The Lion King was the only film to go bigger, clawing in $142.8 million from dozens of markets around the world.

The feature debut of Chinese director Yang Yu, Nezha's records for an animated feature include biggest opening day ($21.1 million, topping Despicable Me 3), largest single-day total ($33.3 million, beating Disney film Zootopia's $25 million) and the top opening weekend overall ($91.5 million, crushing Despicable Me 3's $64 million start in 2017).

Nezha proved especially powerful on Imax, earning $7.7 million from 618 screens — the biggest animated Imax opening in China and the biggest ever July opening for a film of any category.

The film's social scores are among the best ever for a Chinese film. Its user rating on Maoyan sits at 9.7/10 and its score from Douban's notoriously picky but influential users is 8.7/10. Including its roadshow preview screenings in the two weeks leading up to Friday's release, Nezha's overall total was $102.6 million Sunday.

Given the rave word of mouth and current momentum, Zootopia's all-time China animation record of $235.6 million looks well within sight.

The film is based on a young male character from Chinese mythology, who appears in some of the country's best known works of classic literature, such as The Investiture of the Gods and Journey to the West. In Nezha, Yang has given the story a coming-of-age spin, as the young character fights to overcome prejudice and pursue his dreams — themes that appear to be clicking with China's filmgoing youth.

Last weekend's top title, family comedy drama Looking Up, returned to Earth with $17.3 million in its second frame. The film, about an astronaut who reflects on his father's teachings while marooned in space, has earned $106.7 million after 10 days.

Bona Film Group's hotly anticipated firefighter hero film The Bravest scored $7.8 million in third place thanks to packed limited preview screenings. The film unfurls Aug. 1 and early word of mouth augurs a blazing debut.

Disney's The Lion King added $5.8 million in its third weekend. The global juggernaut appears to be running out of steam in China. It has earned a healthy $114.5 million to date.

Further down in fifth place, Beijing Culture's coming-of-age comedy Dancing Elephant opened to just $4.7 million — a pricey flop for the hit-making studio behind 2019's biggest Chinese film, The Wandering Earth ($700 million).

[GeneChing]

China Box Office: 'Ne Zha' Soars to Record $340 Million
11:58 PM PDT 8/4/2019 by Patrick Brzeski


'Ne Zha'

Riding rave WoM, 'Ne Zha' raced past Disney's 'Zootopia' to become the biggest animated film ever in China.
China's event film of the summer has finally arrived.

Local animation Ne Zha, which debuted last weekend to a record $91.5 million, grew 39 percent in its second outing, adding a whopping $127.3 million. After 10 days on Chinese screens, the film has climbed to $340 million.

That's a new all-time high for an animated title in China, crushing the record previously held by Disney's Zootopia at $236 million. Local ticketing giant Maoyan projects the film to finish at more than $600 million, which would make it China's third biggest film ever, trailing only Wolf Warrior 2 ($854 million) and The Wandering Earth ($690 million).

Ne Zha's triumph is a huge win for Chinese studio Beijing Enlight, which produced the film through its new animation subsidiary Horgos Coloroom Pictures. Written and directed by first-timer Yang Yu (aka Jiaozi), the 3D feature is based on a well-known Chinese myth about the son of a deity who defies the dark fate that's expected of him and instead becomes a heroic protector of the innocent.

The film has clicked with China's filmgoing youth in a major way, earning historically high social scores, such as 9.7/10 on Maoyan and 8.7/10 on Douban. Its second weekend surge is all the more impressive considering the strong competition it faced from Bona Film Group's firefighter rescue film The Bravest.

Also scoring well with filmgoers — 9.6 on Maoyan; 6.7 on Douban — The Bravest earned $56.2 million from Friday to Sunday. The film's total is $81.7 million, including roadshow previews and its opening-day earnings Thursday, Aug. 1 — which was Army Day, a holiday celebrating the founding of the People's Liberation Army.

Directed by Tony Chan and produced by Andrew Lau, the film follows a band of firefighters who battle to contain an enormous conflagration after an oil pipeline explodes. The film is loosely based on the real response to an oil pipeline disaster that took place in China's Liaoning Province in 2010. It's the first feature in Bona's China Pride Trilogy, a film series of soft propaganda glorifying real-life Chinese heroes.

Joining these two blockbusters at the Chinese multiplex this week will be Line Walker 2 and sci-fi spectacle Shanghai Fortress, which open Wednesday and Friday, respectively.

Starring Hong Kong veterans Nick Cheung and Louis Koo, the first Line Walker film earned $89 million in 2016. Both stars have returned for the sequel.

Shanghai Fortress' fate will likely rest on how favorably it compares with local sci-fi smash The Wandering Earth. An alien invasion epic, the film stars pop star-turned-actor Lu Han and Taiwanese actress Shu Qi as two heroes battling to save Shanghai, which stands as humanity's last line of defense.

I keep meaning to read Meir Shahar's book on Nezha:

Oedipal God: The Chinese Nezha and His Indian Origins
Meir Shahar
ABSTRACT
This book offers the comprehensive account (in any language) of the oedipal god Nezha, doubtless one of the most intriguing figures in Chinese religion and literature. The book analyzes the patricidal god’s visceral myth, and the light it throws on the tensions that have been generated by the patriarchal Confucian family. It charts the evolution of the Nezha legend and cult over a two-thousand and five-hundred years peropd: From his origins in the Sanskrit epics and his association with the Indian child-god Kṛṣṇa; through his introduction ot China in the esoteric rituals of Tantric Buddhist masters; through the emergence of chinese fiction and drama celebrating his audacious adventures; all the way to his flourishing contemporary cult. The book uses the fascinating figure of the audacious child-god as a prime for the investigation of larger questions that concern Chinese religion and society, the psychology of the Chinese individual, and the impact of Indian civilization on Chinese culture. The book provides the most systematic analysis (in any language) of the Oedipus complex in Chinese culture. It examines the interplay of fiction, drama, and religion in the emergence of a popular Chinese god, and it surveys the role of Esoteric Buddhism in bringing Indian mythology to bear upon the Chinese imagination of divinity. Drawing upon a vast array of historical and literary sources (no less than upon ethnographic field work), the book is written backwards in time: it opens with the divine child’s present-day lore, tracing it back through Ming-period fiction and drama, Song-Period Buddhist literature, and medieval Tantric sutras to the ancient Sanskrit epics. Along the way, the the book examines the religions of fathers and sons in Chinese religion and literature, the application of the Freudian oedipal complex to China, and the long-term impact of the Indian gods on Chinese religion and literature.

[GeneChing]

[GeneChing]

News
Animated Film About Cheeky Kid With Powers Breaks Records
“Ne Zha” has become the highest-grossing Chinese animated movie of all time, snatching the spotlight from Disney’s ‘Lion King’ remake.

Yin Yijun
Jul 30, 2019 3-min read

Chinese mythology’s most beloved iconoclast has made a triumphant return to the silver screen, smashing box office records and invigorating the country’s flagging film industry.

After five years in the making, “Ne Zha” has raked in over 1 billion yuan ($145 million) since its release Friday, snatching the crown from “Monkey King: Hero Is Back,” which screened four years ago and previously held the title of highest-grossing animated film from China. “Ne Zha” has also set a new domestic record for highest opening box office of any animated film — from China, Japan, Hollywood, or anywhere else. Maoyan, an online ticketing platform and box office data provider, projects that the film will take in over 3 billion yuan by the end of its run in theaters.

The cinematic story of Ne Zha — a rebellious boy who is born to become a demon but later defies his destiny — is adapted from the literary classic “Fengshen Yanyi,” or “The Investiture of the Gods.” The film’s director, Yang Yu, said he wanted to make a movie about Ne Zha because he harbored fond memories of “Prince Ne Zha’s Triumph Against the Dragon King,” a film that premiered in 1979 during a period that is often described as a renaissance for Chinese animation.

For years, China’s animators have had their doubts about whether it’s possible to achieve commercial viability in the domestic film industry. In China as in many other markets the world over, Disney dominates, with the country seeing few animated success stories since “Monkey King.” But “Ne Zha” has lived up to the hype ahead of its release and is the first animated film in years to stoke real confidence in the market.

On China’s most popular review site, Douban, netizens have scored “Ne Zha” 8.7 out of 10. When Zhuang Yuanyi went to see it in his hometown in eastern China’s Jiangsu province, the theater was packed. “The plot and action scenes are excellent,” the 28-year-old told Sixth Tone. “More than 3-D animation skills, what our country lacks is good scripts and a more mature industry in general.” He added, however, that China’s animation industry still lags behind Hollywood, which churns out several smash hits a year.

The director, Yang, sensed this gap more acutely while creating the film, recalling a few particularly tricky scenes that the crew eventually gave up on. “I felt the immaturity and underdevelopment of China’s animation industry deeply,” Yang said in an interview Saturday with The Paper, Sixth Tone’s sister publication.

So far, 2019 has been a turbulent year for China’s film industry thanks to several abrupt cancellations before festivals or public releases that have frustrated cinephiles and investors alike. Overall, the domestic box office has slipped, with several major studios — including Beijing Enlight Media, the entertainment powerhouse behind “Ne Zha” — filing disappointing midyear reports.

Editor: David Paulk.

(Header image: A still frame from the Chinese animated movie “Ne Zha,” which has set multiple box office records since its release Friday. From the film’s official Weibo account)

A friend of mine saw this and said it was really good.

[GeneChing]

How Chinese Animation Film 'Ne Zha' Became a Surprise $400M-Plus Hit
3:05 AM PDT 8/8/2019 by Patrick Brzeski


Coloroom Studios

The film is the directorial debut of a self-taught college dropout and it has almost singlehandedly turned around the finances of Beijing Enlight Media, one of China's biggest movie studios.
In the face of mounting competition, China's animated hit of the summer, Ne Zha, continues to do huge business.
The film, produced by Beijing Enlight's recently launched animation studio, roared past the $400 million mark at the China box office on Wednesday, earning $35.2 million and driving its total to $425 million after 13 days of release, according to analyst Artisan Gateway.
Ne Zha is now the biggest animated film ever in China by a wide margin, having overtaken Disney's Zootopia — which brought in a record $236 million in 2016 — early last weekend. Since Ne Zha's release on July 26, two strong competitors have hit the Chinese market — Bona's firefighter hero movie The Bravest on Aug. 1 (now with $125 million and counting) and Hong Kong action flick Line Walker 2 on Aug. 7 ($25 million after one day) — but Ne Zha has remained on top.
The runaway success of Ne Zha represents a huge win for both Enlight and its director, Yang Yu, who made his feature debut with the project.
Yang, who goes by the nickname Jiaozi (which means "dumpling") has become an overnight celebrity and inspiration in China. The 38-year-old filmmaker dropped out of pharmacy school at Sichuan University — to the ire of his medical doctor parents — with the long-shot dream of becoming an animator. He then reportedly spent three and half years holed up in his mother's home, studying animation techniques and technology, and developing his debut short, See Through. Released in 2009, the 16-minute short earned rave reviews and numerous accolades, including the Berlin International Film Festival's special jury prize for shorts.
Boosted by that success, Yang then founded his own animation company in the Chinese city of Chengdu, but spent the next six years toiling on his debut feature and struggling to find financing for the project — what would ultimately become Ne Zha. He was then approached by Coloroom Pictures, Enlight's startup animation subsidiary, with financing and technical support in 2015. Coloroom's CEO, Yi Qiao, has said in interviews with the Chinese media that he was attracted to Yang because of his "poverty and his crazy, singleminded passion for animation storytelling."
Many have noted that Yang has channeled his unconventional sprit into Ne Zha, which is an innovative take on a well known work of classical Chinese mythology, the Ming Dynasty-era text Fengshen Yanyi (also known as The Investiture of the Gods). Ne Zha, one of the work's heroes, has traditionally been portrayed as an attractive young hero figure in recent remakes, but Yang depicted his as a mischievous boy with cute-ugly features. He's positioned as a lovably defiant underdog character who has to overcome prejudice and his dark fate to become a hero.
"It would have been easy for our animators to paint a handsome face that the audience will like at first glance," Yang told Xinhua in an interview. "But we wanted a breakthrough and wished to convey a message that a person should not be judged by his or her look. Instead, it's the internal personality that decides who you are."
The Pixar-esque, nuanced approach to underdog heroism has clicked with the Chinese audience in a huge way, giving the film incredibly high social scores on leading review platforms, such as 9.7/10 on ticketing app Maoyan.
All of this has proved profoundly good for Enlight, which absorbed Yang's startup animation studio into its operations. Just prior to Ne Zha's release, Enlight announced in mid-July that it expected its profit for the first half of 2019 to plunge 95 percent compared to the same period of 2018. The company attributed the steep slide to "an increase in film costs during the reporting period" and several under-performing releases, such as cult director Lou Ye's The Shadow Play, which brought in just $9.6 million, and On the Balcony, starred Zhou Dongyu and earned $577,000.
Since the report, however, Enlight has released the two biggest local blockbusters of the summer: Ne Zha, at $425 million and counting; and family drama Looking Up, currently finishing its run with about $124 million. In response to the company's box-office turnaround, Enlight's shares have climbed more than 16 percent on the Shenzhen stock exchange since mid-July.

If there's one thing I've learned from watching the Chinese film market for decades now, it's that it is unpredictable.

[GeneChing]

NE ZHA: Well Go USA Acquires Yang Yu’s Animated Box Office Hit For Late August Theatrical Release
by Lee B. Golden III August 16, 2019 in Acquisitions and Release


Ne Zha

Fresh off of a winning box-office milestone since its July release in China, debut writer/director Yang Yu (a.k.a. Jiao Zi) will get his day with a stateside release of his animated feature adventure, Ne Zha. Well Go USA Entertainment officially acquired the rights as of Thursday.

Ne Zha centers on a young boy born from a heavenly pearl by the Primeval Lord of Heaven, Yuanshi Tianzun. Birthed with unique powers, he finds himself as an outcast who is hated and feared. Destined by prophecy to bring destruction to the world, the young boy must choose between good and evil in order to break the shackles of fate and become the hero.

Well Go USA Entertainment plans to exclusively roll the hit movie out in select IMAX 3D screens in North America on August 29, followed by a nationwide expansion on September 6.

Produced by Beijing Enlight Pictures, Ne Zha is currently the highest-grossing animated feature in China’s film history with box office gross presently at $535 million and over 100 million admissions. The film is on course to pass action star Wu Jing’s explosive sci-fi spectacle, The Wandering Earth and become China’s second-highest grossing film of all-time by the end of its theatrical run.

Ne Zha is also the highest-grossing animated IMAX feature in China’s film history, and the second highest-grossing local language IMAX feature of all time in the market.

Peep a trailer below and stay tuned for U.S. trailer and artwork updates.

Way to go Well Go! Again!

Might have to spring for that IMAX if available in my market...

[GeneChing]

[GeneChing]

AUGUST 19, 2019 1:47AM PT
China Box Office: New Animations No Match For ‘Nezha’ Domination
By REBECCA DAVIS


CREDIT: COURTESY OF SONY PICTURES

Chinese animation “Nezha” continued its run as China’s biggest hit of the summer, maintaining its top spot at the box office even 25 days into its run with a weekend gross of $41.2 million. The tally made it this weekend’s fourth highest grossing film worldwide.

Meanwhile, two other new animated titles performed unremarkably. The flop of Tencent spinoff company China Literature Media’s new animation “The King’s Avatar: For the Glory” on its debut made it clear that just trotting out any old locally-made cartoon based on a well-known IP isn’t enough to spark “Nezha”-style box office domination. It grossed just $9.3 million, according to data from the Artisan Gateway consultancy, despite being an adaptation of a very popular online novel about an professional e-sports player that has top ratings for fan engagement. This made it fifth at the China box office and fourteenth globally.

Rovio Entertainment’s “The Angry Birds Movie 2” also swooped into China, ranking fourth with a $9.8 million opening. This was more than the approximately $3 million that Paramount’s lackluster animation “Wonder Park” earned in its April debut, but less than “Toy Story 4”, which brought in $13.2 million in its first three days in June. The China figures for “Birds,” which were in the same ballpark as its U.S. haul of $10.5 million, helped the film pull off a fifth place finish at the global box office.

Neither, of course, is anywhere close to dreaming of “Nezha” levels of success. With a cumulative score of $587 million, the emo take on the origin story of the eponymous popular folk religion deity has now climbed the ranks to become the mainland’s fourth biggest title of all time. The film was recently granted a theatrical extension, and so will remain in theaters until Sept. 26.

“Nezha” is projected to rake in a total of $663 million (RMB4.67 billion) over the full course of its run, eking in just above February’s RMB4.65 billion-grossing “The Wandering Earth” to become the country’s second biggest earner in history. It will also release theatrically in North America, Australia (Aug. 23) and New Zealand (Aug. 28).

In a particularly slow summer, all other cineplex offerings have apparently held little charm for audiences: even including “Nezha,” the total weekend gross of the top five films didn’t break $100 million. Overall, Artisan Gateway figures show China’s box office running 2.8% behind 2018’s course.

The second most popular film at the weekend was the Wanda Pictures-backed “Bodies at Rest,” which took in $18.1 million in its debut, making the Hong Kong-Chinese co-production the seventh largest film worldwide. The crime thriller was the opening film at the Hong Kong International Film Festival earlier this year, and is directed by Finnish Hollywood helmer Renny Harlin (“Die Hard 2”). It tells the story of a forensic expert and his assistant working in a morgue on Christmas eve who are attacked by masked villains wanting one of the bodies there.

Bona Film Group’s patriotic fire fighter rescue movie “The Bravest” came in third in China with $16.7 million, bringing its cume up to $204 million so far. Also backed by Sony, it was the eighth biggest grosser globally.

In apparent hopes of paving the way for “The King’s Avatar: For the Glory,” Tencent Video also released a live-action web series adaptation of the same novel earlier this month. The Tencent conglomerate hopes to develop properties that criss-cross its different entertainment divisions to exploit synergies between web novels, web series, gaming and film, but it appears that the strategy hasn’t quite paid off in this case. The film adaptation has been rated just 5.7 out of 10 by users on the influential Douban platform, and 8.8 out of 10 on the more populist Maoyan ticketing site. The 40-episode web series of 45-minute installments appears to have fared slightly better, but still netted just a 7.0 on Douban.

I concur. I don't want to see any of these films except for Nezha. And I'll spring for IMAX 3D for Nezha if that's available in my market.

[GeneChing]

In Theaters On August 29th, 2019

August 29, 2019
AMC Barrywoods 24
AMC Barrywoods 24
Albany
Regal Crossgates & IMAX
Austin
Regal Gateway & IMAX
Boston
AMC Loews Boston Common 19
AMC Liberty Tree Mall 20
Buffalo
Regal Transit Center & IMAX
Chicago
AMC Navy Pier IMAX
AMC Village Crossing 18
AMC DINE-IN Yorktown 18
Columbus
AMC Lennox Town Center 24
Dallas
AMC Grapevine Mills 30
AMC The Parks At Arlington 18
Denver
AMC Westminster Promenade 24
AMC Arapahoe Crossing 16
Detroit
AMC Star Great Lakes 25
Durham
AMC Southpoint 17
Eugene
Regal Valley River Center Stadium 15
Hartford
AMC Plainville 20
Honolulu
Regal Theaters Dole Cannery Stadium 18
Houston
Regal Edwards Houston Marq*E
AMC Fountains 18
Kansas City
AMC Town Center 20
AMC BarryWoods 24
Las Vegas
AMC Town Square 18
Los Angeles
AMC Santa Anita 16
Regal Edwards Alhambra Renaissance
AMC Puente Hills 20
AMC Century City 15
Miami
AMC Sunset Place 24
New York City
AMC 34th Street 14
Regal UA Sheepshead Bay IMAX
AMC Clifton Commons 16
AMC Loews Stony Brook 17
AMC Monmouth Mall 15
AMC DINE-IN Staten Island 11
Oklahoma City
AMC Quail Springs Mall 24
Orlando
Regal Waterford Lakes & IMAX
Philadelphia
United Artists Riverview Plaza 17
Phoenix
Harkins Arizona Mills
Pittsburgh
AMC Waterfront 22
Portland
Regal Lloyd Center 10
Sacramento
Regal Delta Shores & IMAX
San Diego
AMC Mission Valley 20
San Francisco / Bay Area
AMC Metreon 16
AMC Bay Street 16
San Jose
AMC Saratoga 14
Seattle
Regal Thornton Place ScreenX & IMAX
AMC Loews Alderwood Mall 16
Syracuse
Regal Destiny USA IMAX & RPX
Tampa Bay
AMC The Regency 20
Washington DC
Regal Majestic & IMAX
AMC Georgetown 14
AMC Potomac Mills 18

September 6, 2019

Albany
Regal Crossgates & IMAX
Atlanta
Regal Cinemas Hollywood 24
Austin
Regal Gateway & IMAX
Bloomington
AMC Classic Bloomington 11
Boston
Regal Fenway & RPX
Buffalo
Regal Transit Center & IMAX
Chicago
AMC River East 21
AMC Champaign 13
Dallas
Cinemark Legacy
AMC DINE-IN Stonebriar 24
AMC DINE-IN Mesquite 30
Detroit
AMC Livonia 20
NCG Lansing Cinema
Elizabeth
AMC Loews Jersey Gardens 20
Eugene
Regal Valley River Center Stadium 15
Honolulu
Consolidated Theatres Pearlridge 16
Regal Theaters Dole Cannery Stadium 18
Houston
AMC Studio 30
Regal Edwards Houston Marq*E
AMC Fountains 18
AMC Deerbrook 24
Los Angeles
Harkins Theatres Cerritos 16
AMC Atlantic Times Square
Harkins Theatres Chino Hills 18
Regal Edwards Irvine Spectrum
AMC DINE-IN Ontario Mills 30
AMC Tustin 14 at The District
AMC Burbank 16
Minneapolis
AMC Inver Grove 16
New Brunswick
AMC Loews New Brunswick 18
New York City
Regal UA Sheepshead Bay IMAX
College Point Multiplex Cinemas
AMC Empire 25
Orange County
AMC Orange 30
Orlando
Regal Waterford Lakes & IMAX
Philadelphia
AMC Cherry Hill 24
United Artists Riverview Plaza 17
AMC Hamilton 24
Phoenix
AMC Centerpoint 11
Harkins Arizona Mills
Portland
Century 16 Eastport Plaza
Regal Lloyd Center 10
Sacramento
Regal Delta Shores & IMAX
UA Laguna Village 12
San Diego
AMC La Jolla 12
San Francisco / Bay Area
Cinemark Century 20 Daly City
CineLounge Fremont 7
AMC Mercado
Regal Hacienda Crossings
Century San Francisco Centre 9
San Jose
Century 25 Union City and XD
Seattle
AMC Pacific Place 11
Regal Meridian 16
Regal Thornton Place ScreenX & IMAX
Cinemark Lincoln Square Cinemas
Syracuse
Regal Destiny USA IMAX & RPX
Washington DC
AMC DINE-IN Rio Cinemas 18
Regal Majestic & IMAX
Regal Cinemas Rockville Center 13
AMC Tysons Corner 16

CANADA
August 29, 2019

Calgary
Scotiabank Theatre Chinook
Halifax
Cineplex Scotiabank Theatre Halifax
London
SilverCity London Cinemas
Toronto
Cineplex Cinemas Yonge-Dundas
Cineplex Cinemas Markham & VIP
Cineplex Cinemas Mississauga
Vancouver
Cineplex Cinemas SilverCity Riverport
Victoria
Cineplex SilverCity Victoria
Winnipeg
Cineplex Scotiabank Winnipeg
August 30, 2019
Kingston
Landmark Cinemas 10 Kingston
Montreal
Cineplex Odeon Forum Cinemas
Ottawa
Landmark Cinemas Kanata
Scotiabank Theatre Ottawa
Whitby
Landmark Cinemas 24 Whitby

September 6, 2019

Edmonton
Cineplex Cinema City Movies 12
Ottawa
Cineplex Odeon South Keys Cinemas
Scotiabank Theatre Ottawa
Toronto
Coliseum Scarborough Cinemas
SilverCity Richmond Hill Cinemas
Vancouver
Cineplex Cinemas Metropolis
Cineplex Cinemas Marine Gateway and VIP
Waterloo
Galaxy Cinemas Waterloo

There's actually an IMAX 3D showing in range of me but with the holiday, I'm not sure if I can swing it.

[GeneChing]

After Breaking Records at Home, “Nezha” Is Taking Aim at the Oscars
China's second biggest film of all time is now its nomination for the 2020 Oscars
By JAKE NEWBY 2 days ago

Having smashed a whole host of box office records, China’s biggest-ever animated movie, Nezha, now has Oscars glory in its sights. Enlight Pictures’ revamped tale of the titular havoc-causing god-child has reportedly been chosen as China’s entry into the International Feature Film category (previously called Best Foreign-Language Film) for the 2020 Academy Awards.

But there’s still some way to go before director Yu Yang (aka Jiaozi) can think about getting his hands on an Academy statuette. China is one of a record 93 countries to have submitted movies for the category and the final shortlist for the awards won’t be released until January 13, ahead of a glitzy ceremony to crown the winners on February 9.

Although China’s influence on the Oscars can be said to be growing thanks to an array of funding projects and co-productions, last February’s Academy Awards nominees didn’t feature any Chinese filmmakers. The country’s pick for Best Foreign Language Film, Jiang Wen’s Hidden Man, didn’t even make the 2019 shortlist; the last such Chinese film to do so was Zhang Yimou’s Hero back in 2002.



Does Nezha stand more of a chance? It’ll be tough. The film has demolished records in the domestic box office, becoming the country’s second-biggest film of all time (animated or otherwise) based on its ticket sales. But its performance overseas — including on a limited run in US cinemas — hasn’t been quite so explosive.

It’ll certainly be interesting to see whether the China entry will resonate with Academy judges, especially as it faces competition from the likes of Makoto Shinkai’s Weathering With You from traditional Asia animation powerhouse Japan.

THREADS
Nezha
The Academy Awards

[GeneChing]

‘Ne Zha’ Filmmakers Sued for Alleged Plagiarism
A Beijing-based production company claims the animated blockbuster bears ‘striking similarities’ to its musical.
Tang Fanxi
Nov 13, 2019 2-min read

First came the praises; now come the accusations.

The producers of the summer blockbuster “Ne Zha” are facing a lawsuit from a Beijing-based production company that claims the record-breaking animated movie copied plotlines from its musical. China Film Huateng — the company behind the musical “Memory 5D+” — had alleged in September that the animated movie exhibited “striking similarities” to the musical’s storyline, character design, and production elements, among other things.

The Beijing Intellectual Property Court accepted the case Monday. China Film Huateng is demanding 50 million yuan ($7.1 million) for “economic losses” as well as 1 million yuan in legal fees, according to the lawsuit.


A comparison between the stage play “Memory 5D+” (top) and the animated film “Ne Zha.” From @石璟箜篌 on Weibo

“Memory 5D+” brands itself as “a creative show of Chinese intangible culture heritage” that tells a creation story based on Chinese mythology, according to its website. The show was staged from April 2017 to July 2018 in Chinese cities and Pasadena, California.

“Ne Zha,” meanwhile, is about an impish god-child struggling with his identity while simultaneously protecting a community that cast him out because of his special powers. The movie was released in July and has become the highest-grossing Chinese animated movie of all time in the country.

While the movie was amassing positive reviews, Shi Jing, one of the “Memory 5D+” musicians, was the first to publicly accuse “Ne Zha” of plagiarism. She claimed in August that the movie’s “content, details, and even poster” were similar to the musical, and that this had prompted fans to wonder if the animated blockbuster was the musical’s “movie adaptation.”

Shi’s post quickly drew support and criticism online, with many demanding that she prove her allegations. A week later, China Film Huateng announced its plans to take the makers of “Ne Zha” to court.

Amid the plagiarism accusations, a visual effects designer from the southern Guangdong province has accused China Film Huateng of using his video in the musical without attribution. The company said it reached out to the man but has not received a response, adding that the video was obtained from a third party that claimed to have the legal rights to it.

Editor: Bibek Bhandari.

(Header image: Promotional images from the film “Ne Zha” (left) and the stage play “Memory 5D+.” From Douban and @石璟箜篌 on Weibo)

Are they both based on the same myth?

[GeneChing]

ASIADECEMBER 5, 2019 1:25AM PT
‘Parasite’ Leads Asian Charge in International Oscar Race
By NAMAN RAMACHANDRAN


CREDIT: NEON

For most awards observers, the Asian Oscars race narrative in the international feature category begins and ends with Bong Joon Ho’s South Korean contender “Parasite.” That said, there are other notable submissions from around the continent that might spring a surprise or two.

The deliciously surgical dissection of Korean society that is “Parasite” has rightly won acclaim and awards around the planet, beginning with its unanimous Palme d’Or victory at Cannes. Neon is distributing the film in the U.S. and its impressive box office will do the film’s prospects no harm. A nom seems certain.

Tiny Singapore has been punching well above its weight in recent years and this year’s submission from the country, Yeo Siew Hua’s “A Land Imagined,” has been garlanded with awards since it exploded onto the global festival circuit with three trophies at Locarno, including the Golden Leopard, in 2018. The investigation of insomnia and identity at a construction site in the city-state has since won gongs at El Gouna, Pingyao, Rotterdam and Valladolid, among many others. The other Asian film to be lauded at a major European festival is Raymund Ribay Gutierrez’s battered wife drama “Verdict,” which won the special jury prize at Venice’s Horizons strand, and is the Philippines entry.

Malaysia is taking a punt with political doc “M for Malaysia” in which Ineza Roussille, with Dian Lee, provides a personal and intimate look at the historic elections of 2018 when her 92-year-old grandfather, former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, returned to power, overthrowing a long ruling government.

Politically, Hong Kong has been in the news the past several months for its political upheaval, and voters will have the territory in their minds front and center. However, political disruption is not the theme of Hong Kong’s entry Herman Yau’s “The White Storm 2 — Drug Lords,” which seems unlikely to be headed for Oscar glory, unless voters choose to reward a hugely entertaining high-octane action film. If action, of the martial-arts variety, is what voters are after, they need look no further than Vietnam’s entry, Le Van Kiet’s “Furie,” in which Veronica Ngo Thanh Van cuts a swathe across gangsters, after her daughter is kidnapped.

Indonesian vet Garin Nugroho has made a career of exploring diverse themes, and “Memories of My Body,” the country’s submission, conforms to that, following as it does a male dancer specializing in female appearances, juxtaposed against social and political upheaval.

From Australia, Rodd Rathjen’s powerful “Buoyancy,” which casts a harsh spotlight on modern slavery, has been wrenching hearts and winning awards since its debut in Berlin, where it picked up the Ecumenical Jury Prize.

China appears to have taken a break from submitting jingoistic films, and this year’s entry, Jiaozi’s “Ne Zha,” the country’s highest-grossing animated film of all time, could wow voters with its combination of cutting-edge Hollywood style animation and the lovable scamp that is the lead character. Also submitting animation is Japan, with Makoto Shinkai’s anime “Weathering With You,” in which a teenage boy runs away to Tokyo and befriends a girl who appears to be able to manipulate the weather. The director previously helmed “Your Name,” one of the highest-grossing anime films of all time. It is worth noting the region’s previous win in the category formerly came from Japan a decade ago — Yojiro Takita’s “Departures.”

Mag Hsu and Hsu Chih-yen’s “Dear Ex,” in which a son’s relationship with his mother is strained after it emerges that his late father’s insurance payout is to go to his lover, is Taiwan’s submission. The film won big locally at the Golden Horse Awards and at the Taipei film kudos, and voter visibility will be via Netflix, where it is streaming. Sitisiri Mongkolsiri’s horror “Krasue: Inhuman Kiss,” Thailand’s entry, also was a local success and is also dependent on Netflix for voter eyeballs.

From South Asia, all the entries deal with characters from the fringes of society. Zoya Akhtar’s Indian entry “Gully Boy,” a smash hit at the Berlin festival, is the most likely contender if only because voters will be familiar with the theme of a rapper from the wrong side of the tracks, aiming to make it big. Amazon has U.S. distribution.

Pakistan’s entry, Kamal Khan’s “Laal Kabootar,” is concerned with a petty criminal who aims to escape his circumstances, while from Nepal, Binod Paudel’s “Bulbul” follows the travails of a woman who drives a tempo truck in Kathmandu. Bangladesh’s submission, Nasiruddin Yousuff’s “Alpha,” centers on an impoverished painter who lives in the middle of a polluted lake on the outskirts of Dhaka. While these films are thematically remarkable, their campaigns will depend on the level of funds available.

THREADS
Parasite
Furie
Nezha
The Academy Awards

[GeneChing]

...it'll need it's own thread as soon as I can find that trailer.

Fans snap up Hasbro’s special edition toy marking release of trailer for Nezha: Transformers animation series
Fans immediately snapped up 100 limited edition toys launched on Tmall celebrating a new cartoon animation series set to hit screens next year
Characters from the Transformers series will join Nezha in the new cartoon, a tie-up between US toymaker Hasbro and CCTV, the Chinese state broadcaster
Pearl Liu
Published: 2:26pm, 12 Dec, 2019


The official poster of Nezha: Transformers. Photo: SCMP Handout

Clad in red and gold and with his trademark pigtails flowing, he flies through the air on his famous wind fire wheels.
Now Nezha, the teen hero of Chinese mythology, is flying off the shelves in robotic form after a tie-up with US toymaker Hasbro’s iconic Transformers.
Fans went crazy on Thursday morning, immediately snapping up 100 limited edition toys launched on Tmall celebrating a new cartoon animation series set to hit screens next year.
Americans may feel a pinch this Christmas as toymakers face import tariffs
The specially tailored toy depicting Nezha in the form of one of the famous robot superheroes was released after the first official poster and trailer for Nezha: Transformers were unveiled on the Weibo accounts of both Hasbro and its partner in the project, CCTV Animation, a unit of the state broadcaster CCTV, on Wednesday.
“Nezha which represents Chinese culture and spirit will adventure with world-famous Transformers to brave difficulties and fight evils shoulder to shoulder,” said CCTV Animation on its Weibo account.
In the official trailer, the Chinese teenage warrior Nezha has become a transformer, dressed in a metallic version of his traditional Chinese red-and-gold uniform and still sporting his iconic pigtail knots.
Original characters from the Transformers series will come to join Nezha, fighting enemies against a backdrop that appears to be based on places in China.
Hasbro did not respond to an inquiry by the Post asking for details of the joint production.
The toy giant’s CEO, Brian Goldner, said during an earnings call in April that he was excited about the mash-up of the American and Chinese cultural icons.
“The entertainment looks so good that broadcasters around the world are starting to say, this could be something we’d take out globally,” he said. “We’re very excited about continuing to build that relationship with CCTV … it’s very exciting to see what’s possible in China.”
The US toymaker has been a victim of the prolonged trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.
A 10 per cent tariff on a list of items including toys is to go into effect on December 15. It was originally supposed to go into effect on September 1.
Hasbro reported third-quarter earnings fell short of market estimates in October because the threat of the tariffs on toys imported from China had increased shipping and warehousing costs.
The adjusted earnings per share came in at US$1.84, a long way below analysts’ estimates of US$2.21 per share. Net revenue for the three months through September was US$1.58 billion, which missed the average estimate of US$1.72 billion among analysts polled by Refinitiv.
“The prospect [of tariffs] had our retailers cancel major direct import programme orders, and rewrite many of those orders as domestic shipments,” said Goldner in the company’s earnings call.
“Hasbro remains on track to deliver profitable revenue growth in 2019. However, as we’ve communicated, the threat and enactment of tariffs reduced revenues in the third quarter and increased expenses to deliver product to retail,” he added.

THREADS
Nezha
Transformers
Nezha-shi and Zisun-dan

[GeneChing]

Legend of Deification: Jiang Ziya is the sequel to Nezha.