Reminiscent of the outsized Chinese box office success once enjoyed by a certain genre of Hollywood movie – think “Expendables 3,” Pacific Rim” and “Transformers: Age of Extinction” – some Japanese anime films are now earning more in China than they are in their native Japan.
Last year, “Suzume” (pictured above) earned $117 million in China, coming in ahead of the film’s $104 million total in Japan.
And this year, Oscar winner “The Boy and the Heron,” despite its late release in China, enjoyed Middle Kingdom gross revenues of $109 million, dwarfing that of Japan, where the film was received more tepidly and earned only $57 million.
The scale of the China theatrical market has occasionally thrown up other examples of outsized success — in 2016, “Dangal” earned $190 million in China, compared with its already huge $77 million in India; the same year “Bad Genius” earned $41 million in China, compared with its $3.3 million in its native Thailand; Luc Besson...
Last year, “Suzume” (pictured above) earned $117 million in China, coming in ahead of the film’s $104 million total in Japan.
And this year, Oscar winner “The Boy and the Heron,” despite its late release in China, enjoyed Middle Kingdom gross revenues of $109 million, dwarfing that of Japan, where the film was received more tepidly and earned only $57 million.
The scale of the China theatrical market has occasionally thrown up other examples of outsized success — in 2016, “Dangal” earned $190 million in China, compared with its already huge $77 million in India; the same year “Bad Genius” earned $41 million in China, compared with its $3.3 million in its native Thailand; Luc Besson...
- 6/11/2024
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Passed over by France’s Oscar-nominating committee, but finding Academy favor nevertheless, Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or-winning “Anatomy of a Fall” has also become an indie champion in mainland China. Its success may hold lessons in a market that has become increasingly impenetrable to content from outside the mainstream.
It is increasingly rare for Western arthouse films to play in Chinese commercial theaters. These are increasingly dominated by local “main melody” titles, with a little room remaining for Hollywood franchise titles and Japanese animation. Nevertheless, “Anatomy of a Fall” released in China on March 29 and has garnered $3 million (RMB22 million) to date. The film’s director, Justine Triet, even made a visit to the country to participate in Q&As at several screenings.
Below, Julien Favre, head of film at Chinese distributor Road Pictures, speaks with Variety about the long process of getting it to screen.
Where did the journey begin?...
It is increasingly rare for Western arthouse films to play in Chinese commercial theaters. These are increasingly dominated by local “main melody” titles, with a little room remaining for Hollywood franchise titles and Japanese animation. Nevertheless, “Anatomy of a Fall” released in China on March 29 and has garnered $3 million (RMB22 million) to date. The film’s director, Justine Triet, even made a visit to the country to participate in Q&As at several screenings.
Below, Julien Favre, head of film at Chinese distributor Road Pictures, speaks with Variety about the long process of getting it to screen.
Where did the journey begin?...
- 4/11/2024
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
In today’s film news roundup, Rob Schneider wins a SAG-AFTRA board seat; “Badland,” “Sorry We Missed You” and “Extracurricular” find homes; and “The Shawshank Redemption” gets a re-release.
SAG-aftra
Rob Schneider has won a SAG-aftra national board seat as a member of presidential candidate Matthew Modine’s progressive Membership First slate.
Schneider won a four-year term as representative of the union’s San Francisco branch. He ran on a campaign platform of increased compensation from streaming services and garnered 402 votes, topping incumbent Kathryn Howell and three other candidates.
Schneider is a former cast member on “Saturday Night Live” with movie credits on “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo,” “The Hot Chick,” “The Benchwarmers,” and “Grown Ups” in addition to the two-season Netflix series “Real Rob.” It’s the first time he has run for a SAG-aftra post.
Results in the closely watched presidential contest will be tabulated on August...
SAG-aftra
Rob Schneider has won a SAG-aftra national board seat as a member of presidential candidate Matthew Modine’s progressive Membership First slate.
Schneider won a four-year term as representative of the union’s San Francisco branch. He ran on a campaign platform of increased compensation from streaming services and garnered 402 votes, topping incumbent Kathryn Howell and three other candidates.
Schneider is a former cast member on “Saturday Night Live” with movie credits on “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo,” “The Hot Chick,” “The Benchwarmers,” and “Grown Ups” in addition to the two-season Netflix series “Real Rob.” It’s the first time he has run for a SAG-aftra post.
Results in the closely watched presidential contest will be tabulated on August...
- 8/21/2019
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Zhu Zhu will star in the remake of the cult German thriller.
China’s Road Pictures has unveiled a slate of new productions, including a Chinese-language remake of 1998 German breakout hit Run Lola Run.
Announced at the recent Beijing International Film Festival (Bjiff), the remake will star Chinese actress Zhu Zhu (Marco Polo), who will also executive produce.
Based in Beijing with an office in Los Angeles headed by Julien Favre, Road Pictures is also co-financing Andrew Niccol’s upcoming sci-fi thriller Anon, starring Clive Owen and Amanda Seyfried, with Germany’s K5 Media Group. The film is currently in post-production for release later this year.
Road Pictures also announced several new projects at the Bjiff event including The Diamond Age, an adaptation of Neal Stephenson’s cult sci-fi novel, produced in association with Lauren Selig, Barry Levine and Mike Bundlie, which is being scripted by Karl Gajdusek.
Other projects unveiled by Road Pictures include English-language TV series...
China’s Road Pictures has unveiled a slate of new productions, including a Chinese-language remake of 1998 German breakout hit Run Lola Run.
Announced at the recent Beijing International Film Festival (Bjiff), the remake will star Chinese actress Zhu Zhu (Marco Polo), who will also executive produce.
Based in Beijing with an office in Los Angeles headed by Julien Favre, Road Pictures is also co-financing Andrew Niccol’s upcoming sci-fi thriller Anon, starring Clive Owen and Amanda Seyfried, with Germany’s K5 Media Group. The film is currently in post-production for release later this year.
Road Pictures also announced several new projects at the Bjiff event including The Diamond Age, an adaptation of Neal Stephenson’s cult sci-fi novel, produced in association with Lauren Selig, Barry Levine and Mike Bundlie, which is being scripted by Karl Gajdusek.
Other projects unveiled by Road Pictures include English-language TV series...
- 4/24/2017
- by lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
- ScreenDaily
Jason Statham, star of Spy, Furious 7 and all-round action stalwart, has agreed to topline Sj Pictures and Road Pictures yet-to-be-titled kidnapping thriller, which will take place primarily in Hong Kong.
Details are thin on the ground regarding The Stath’s latest picture, though we understand that he’ll headline the actioner as a British expatriate living in the Chinese metropolis, who becomes embroiled in a sprawling kidnapping case and opts to make tail and go on the run with a skilled Chinese operative. No word yet on a director to take the reins on the nascent project, though Road Pictures’ Gongming Cai and Julien Favre – attached to produce the picture along with Steve Chasman – are evidently excited to work with a genre expert.
“This is a perfect vehicle for Jason Statham to conquer the Chinese market — he is a true global superstar who has such an authentic connection with audiences around the world,...
Details are thin on the ground regarding The Stath’s latest picture, though we understand that he’ll headline the actioner as a British expatriate living in the Chinese metropolis, who becomes embroiled in a sprawling kidnapping case and opts to make tail and go on the run with a skilled Chinese operative. No word yet on a director to take the reins on the nascent project, though Road Pictures’ Gongming Cai and Julien Favre – attached to produce the picture along with Steve Chasman – are evidently excited to work with a genre expert.
“This is a perfect vehicle for Jason Statham to conquer the Chinese market — he is a true global superstar who has such an authentic connection with audiences around the world,...
- 11/6/2015
- by Michael Briers
- We Got This Covered
Jason Statham has signed on to star in a new, untitled action-thriller written by Kurt Wimmer (“Salt”) that will be a co-production between Statham and Steve Chasman’s Sj Pictures and China-based Road Pictures, it was announced Friday. Statham will play an ex-pat Brit living in Hong Kong who goes on the run with a high-level female Chinese agent to solve a kidnapping with global implications. Chasman (“The Bank Job”) will produce the movie with Gongming Cai and Julien Favre of Road Pictures, the Beijing-headquartered global media group. Production will begin next fall in China and Europe. Also Read: Jason Statham to Star.
- 11/6/2015
- by Jeff Sneider
- The Wrap
Jason Statham is back in the market in Untitled Kurt Wimmer Project, a thriller collaboration between Statham and Steven Chasman’s Sj Pictures and China-based Road Pictures.
Wimmer, whose screenplay credits include Salt and the upcoming Salt 2 and Point Break, wrote and will direct the project about an ex-pat in Hong Kong who goes on the run with a high-level female Chinese agent to solve a kidnapping with global implications.
Chasman will produce with Gongming Cai and Julien Favre of Beijing-based Road Pictures.
Principal photography is set to start in autumn 2016 in China and in Europe.
“Jason and I both have been wanting to work with Kurt for a long time,” said Chasman. “He has such an incredible vision for this film that this collaboration is particularly exciting for us.
“The narrative Kurt creates is incredibly rich and while our story is rooted in adventure, it is also very much character-driven. We couldn...
Wimmer, whose screenplay credits include Salt and the upcoming Salt 2 and Point Break, wrote and will direct the project about an ex-pat in Hong Kong who goes on the run with a high-level female Chinese agent to solve a kidnapping with global implications.
Chasman will produce with Gongming Cai and Julien Favre of Beijing-based Road Pictures.
Principal photography is set to start in autumn 2016 in China and in Europe.
“Jason and I both have been wanting to work with Kurt for a long time,” said Chasman. “He has such an incredible vision for this film that this collaboration is particularly exciting for us.
“The narrative Kurt creates is incredibly rich and while our story is rooted in adventure, it is also very much character-driven. We couldn...
- 11/6/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
#62. The Story of Luke - Alonso Filomeno Mayo What's a Sundance Film Festival without Lou Pucci Taylor? I can't remember an edition without his presence. Production may have wrapped up a couple of months ago, but Alonso Filomeno Mayo's feature debut The Story of Luke could be a lock for U.S Dramatic Comp or Premieres slot. Gist: Lou Pucci Taylor stars as Luke, 25, is autistic and has lived a sheltered life with his grandparents. But his world is turned upside down when his grandmother dies and he is forced to live with his dysfunctional relatives who have no patience for him or his senile grandfather, who they quickly force into a nursing home. Luke is left with his grandfather’s final semi-coherent words: “Get a job. Find a girl. Live your own life. Be a man!” For the first time in his life, Luke has a mission. He...
- 11/13/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
#05. Arcadia - Olivia Silver Besides the labs, you'll often hear about how Sundance supports young filmmakers in the creative process. As case in point, they often select a short film and a couple of years later re-invite the filmmaker when a feature film version of the given short is made. Last year we had Little Birds and Pariah, and if finished in time (filming was completed in September), this year we could find the feature version based on Olivia Silver's 209 accepted short Little Canyon (see pic above - watch here). Arcadia sees Sundance regular John Hawkes play father to a trio of children which includes Kendall Toole (who once again plays the same role) and the film's Pov, the child in the car's backseat played by an actress (Ryan Simpkins) who might be poised to break out bigger in Park City as a thirteen year-old than the toddler part...
- 11/7/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
Monique Caulfield, who is producing the feature Basmati Blues, is the recepient of Film Independent's first annual Sloan Producers Grant and will receive a $25,000 development grant and admission to FIND's 2007 Producers Lab.
Funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the grant was announced Sunday at FIND's Filmmaker Forum at the DGA.
Honorable mentions went to Gretchen Somerfeld and David Baxter's Face Value and Minh Nguyen-Vo and Julien Favre's Point of Reference. FIND also announced that producer Ram Bergman will lead this year's Producers Lab, which begins Monday.
Funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the grant was announced Sunday at FIND's Filmmaker Forum at the DGA.
Honorable mentions went to Gretchen Somerfeld and David Baxter's Face Value and Minh Nguyen-Vo and Julien Favre's Point of Reference. FIND also announced that producer Ram Bergman will lead this year's Producers Lab, which begins Monday.
- 10/22/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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