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Movie industry shares soared in Hong Kong on Tuesday in response to the bumper revenues being earned at the mainland China box office over the Chinese New Year holidays.

Leading the gains were Imax China and Alibaba Pictures, both of which have direct stakes in the box office boom. Imax China stock climbed by 31% to Hk$18.36 per share at the close of trading. Alibaba Pictures managed an even greater 35% jump to Hk$1.44 per share.

Mainland China stock markets remain closed until Thursday due to the continuing holiday period. That means there was no trade in the stocks of other companies involved in the box office scramble: Huayi Brothers (“Yin Yang Master”), Enlight Media (“Endgame”), Wanda Film (China’s largest exhibition chain and producer of “Detective Chinatown”) and exhibitor and distributor China Film Group.

With last Friday the biggest grossing single day in Chinese box office history, worth RMB1.45 billion ($245 million...

China’s patriotic “My People, My Homeland” has grossed $325 million as of Monday evening local time, earning more money in less than two weeks than the $323 million that Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” has grossed globally in over a month, according to data from Maoyan and Box Office Mojo.

This weekend, the total China box office hit $68 million, once again far surpassing sales in North America, where cinemas earned less than $9.5 million. To date, the Chinese box office has grossed $1.9 billion so far in 2020. The tally puts China now neck-and-neck with the North American market’s year-to-date earnings of $2.08 billion, according to Comscore. (Both markets are down 76% year-on-year.)

Cinema-going is on the rise in China as the pandemic remains under control, with strong local films set to release in the remainder of the year. Meanwhile, U.S. theaters are heading for trouble as Hollywood studio tentpoles drop off the calendar and...

The China box office bounced back this weekend to its pre-pandemic levels, figures from its National Day holiday weekend show — proving that the right mix of competitive new local titles can entice viewers in, what this year is very much on track to be, the world’s largest movie market.

The news comes as other major markets flounder, with Regal Cinemas owner Cineworld Group announcing the temporary suspension of its U.S. and U.K. operations due to an insufficient pipeline of Hollywood studio tentpoles, causing its shares to plummet more than 40% on Monday.

China’s week-long vacation period to celebrate the Oct. 1 founding of the People’s Republic is one of its busiest moviegoing periods of the year. That is particularly true this year, after Covid-19 shut down cinemas and wiped out the prospects of the strong Lunar New Year release window. Three of the top five titles this...

Peter Chan’s hotly anticipated biographical sports drama “Leap” is set to hit China on Sept. 30, becoming the first of the Chinese New Year blockbusters canceled due to Covid-19 to set a theatrical outing.

Local animation “Jiang Ziya: Legend of Deification,” which was also originally scheduled to premiere over the lunar new year, will premiere the day after. They will both hit theaters over the China’s patriotic National Day holiday that begins Oct. 1, typically one of the busiest movie-going weeks of the year.

They will compete against the patriotic anthology film “My People, My Homeland,” a sequel to last National Day’s “My People, My Country,” and Chinese comedy “Coffee or Tea?,” as well as a local animated take on the classic “Mulan” legend.

The fact that major new local blockbusters are now willing to set release dates is a signal of renewed confidence in China’s box office,...

Chinese movie “Double World” will forgo a theatrical premiere in favor of a simultaneous online debut on Netflix and China’s streaming service iQiyi.

The news comes as China’s cinemas have yet to offer a timeline for reopening despite nearly six months of closures.

The film will stream via iQiyi in China on July 24. It will debut on Netflix, which is blocked in China, for all the other territories the platform operates in on July 25, the company confirmed Wednesday to Variety.

Made on a budget of around $43 million (RMB300 million) and comprised of 80% special effects, “Double World” will be the fifth most expensive new movie to ever premiere on iQiyi’s premium video on demand (PVOD) service, which launched in January as coronavirus took off.

Shifting to an online release “will provide some relief to the struggling production company in the nick of time, and it will also help...

Chinese moviegoers can expect to see Dante Lam’s “The Rescue,” Jackie Chan film “Vanguard” and two titles involving helmer Zhang Yimou this year, says a top Chinese distribution executive. He also confirmed National Day releases for two propaganda films — the first concrete information on upcoming theatrical debuts for new titles in months.

China’s cinemas shuttered in late January to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. A bevy of blockbusters expecting to see record box office returns over the Lunar New Year holiday were pulled at the eleventh hour and have not been given new release dates.

But new information from Fu Ruoqing, chairman of major state-owned distributor Huaxia, says audiences will be able to catch the delayed Chinese New Year films “The Rescue,” Dante’s epic actioner about the Chinese coast guard, and Stanley Tong’s “Vanguard” in the second half of 2020, as well as Zhang’s new spy thriller “Impasse.

Hong Kong sports drama film “Knockout” will head straight to streaming in China through streaming platform iQIYI.

Prompted to change strategy by the coronavirus outbreak, which has shuttered cinemas across China since late January, “Knockout” joins a growing list of films that are skipping theatrical outings and will premiere online instead.

Iqiyi said that the Roy Chow-directed tale will be available from April 20 as a pay-per-view offering. The company’s VIP subscribers can access it at a discount.

At the end of February, iQIYI said that it had 106.9 million subscribers, of which 98.9% were paying subscribers.

Starring mainland singer-actor Han Geng the films is the desperate comeback story of a boxer who on release from jail discovers that he has become a widower and single parent. His problems only get worse, when his young daughter is diagnosed with leukaemia, and to pay for her treatment he makes a return to the ring,...

Research by Chinese ticketing agency Maoyan appears to show that Chinese people have not lost their taste for feature films during the recent coronavirus-enforced closure of cinemas.

Nearly all (97%) of the people surveyed have been watching movies at home. After being cooped up for weeks, more than half (54%) are more keen than they were before the hiatus to watch films again in theaters.

Mainland China’s cinemas were closed at the end of January, as part of nationwide measures to contain the spread of the new coronavirus. That wiped out the Chinese New Year season in which the biggest tentpole films of the year are released. Cinemas have remained closed ever since, resulting in lost box office estimated at $2 billion.

There is no official word yet on when Chinese cinemas will be allowed to reopen, though the country is now slowly returning to work, and new virus infection cases have fallen steeply.

Haifaa Al Mansour’s The Perfect Candidate, which was due for theatrical release in the UK on March 27, will instead be made available online to avoid the widespread disruption caused by the Covid-19 outbreak, which has today seen cinemas close across the country.

The film will be rolled out that same date by distributor Modern Films through the Curzon Home Cinema platform (the VoD service owned by UK exhibitor Curzon), and will also be viewable through the BFI Player as well as Modern’s own streaming space on its website. The release is being backed by BFI Lottery Funds.

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Eve Gabereau, Modern Films MD, explained that the decision was made because the promo...

As movie theater closures begin to roll through the U.S. in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Universal Pictures announced on Monday that it will release its upcoming animated film “Trolls World Tour” day-and-date on video on-demand April 10. And films already showing in theaters by the studio will be available for digital rental as early as this Friday.

Universal’s two current Blumhouse releases, “The Invisible Man” and “The Hunt,” as well as Focus Features’ “Emma.” will be available on a variety of on-demand services for a 48-hour rental period at a suggested retail price of $19.99. NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell said in a statement that this decision was made to give moviegoers more options for home entertainment as officials recommend that the public avoid large gatherings to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Also Read: Coronavirus: Quarantines Lead to Major Spike in TV Viewing, Nielsen Says

“Universal Pictures has a...

The rapid spread of coronavirus, which has already killed more than 3,000 people and infected as many as 90,000, has gripped a fearful global population and threatens the livelihood of countless workers as major events are canceled and businesses shut their doors to prevent transmission. Meanwhile, reacting to news of the worldwide spread of the virus, the Dow had its worst week since 2008, and plunged 1,191 points on Feb. 27, its worst single-day point drop in history, before staging a huge Monday rebound.

Hollywood and digital media are among the sectors feeling the weight of the impact. Consumer electronics, movie theaters, content production, theme parks and touring music acts rank among the collateral damage from the epidemic. China, which has suffered the bulk of the world’s coronavirus infections, relegated much of its workforce to in-home isolation in order to avoid infection. Even as the outbreak appears to slow and people make their way back to work,...

The shares of China’s entertainment companies crashed within minutes of stock markets reopening on Monday morning.

Many firms saw share trading quickly halted after prices moved by the 10% maximum daily limit allowed on mainland Chinese equity markets.

Film studio Huayi Brothers Media plunged 9.9% to Rmb 3.81 per share. Wanda Film was down 10.01% to Rmb 15.56. Enlight Media was down 10.03% to Rmb 9.51. State-controlled behemoth China Film Group was down 9.99% to Rmb 12.43, while shares in another state enterprise Shanghai Film Group were down a similar 9.99% to Rmb 12.17. Zhejiang Talent was down 9.95% to Rmb 4.98 per share.

The sharp moves are a delayed reaction to the sharp escalation of the coronavirus outbreak which caused the cancelation of all major film releases over the lucrative Chinese New Year period, and the subsequent closure of the nation’s 70,000 cinemas.

Stock markets in mainland China have been closed for more than a week, due to the scheduled four-day...

China’s streaming and online games companies have received a boost from the cancelation of seven major film releases that were expected to have dominated the Chinese New Year holidays, and the enforced closure of the country’s cinemas.

Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, and a dozen other Chinese cities are under government-mandated lockdown, causing tens of millions of people to cancel their travel plans and stay at home instead. That has handed the initiative to streaming companies.

Social media postings suggest that millions of people are stuck at home – some in cities under lockdown, others simply benefiting from the extra three days holiday mandated by the Chinese government – playing games and watching movies online.

The New York-traded shares of games and online entertainment firms have defied the recent stock market downturns and made modest gains. Streamer iQIYI closed the Thursday trading session at $22.43 per Adr, compared with $20.80 on Friday.

The cancellation of Chinese New Year releases, and the fact that China has quarantined more than 50 million people, is turning out to be a huge boon for the nation’s streaming services.

Xu Zheng’s action comedy Lost In Russia, which has been streaming online in China since its theatrical release was abruptly cancelled in the coronavirus outbreak, racked up 600 million views in three days according to Chinese tech industry website Techweb.

The film was one of seven that were pulled from theatres on the eve of Chinese New Year, by far mainland China’s biggest annual holiday, as part...

The cancellation of Chinese New Year releases, and the fact that China has quarantined more than 50 million people, is turning out to be a huge boon for the nation’s streaming services.

Xu Zheng’s action comedy Lost In Russia, which has been streaming online in China since its theatrical release was abruptly cancelled in the coronavirus outbreak, racked up 600 million views in three days according to Chinese tech industry website Techweb.

The film was one of seven that were pulled from theatres on the eve of Chinese New Year, by far mainland China’s biggest annual holiday, as part...

The cancellation of Chinese New Year releases, and the fact that China has quarantined more than 50 million people, is turning out to be a huge boon for the nation’s streaming services.

Xu Zheng’s action comedy Lost In Russia, which has been streaming online in China since its theatrical release was abruptly cancelled in the coronavirus outbreak, racked up 600 million views in three days according to Chinese tech industry website Techweb.

The film was one of seven that were pulled from theatres on the eve of Chinese New Year, by far mainland China’s biggest annual holiday, as part...

As the coronavirus continues its rapid spread, China continues to struggle with consequences of the disease on myriad levels. The updated count of confirmed cases has crossed 6,000 on the mainland, with 132 people dead.

Separately to the tragic human toll of the virus, the economic impact could exceed $40B on a global level. Today, British Airways said it was cancelling all flights to and from China, following others who have curtailed or kiboshed travel. Hundreds of Britons being flown back from Wuhan tomorrow will be placed in quarantine for two weeks as a precaution, other countries are also repatriating citizens under similar measures.

Within the film industry, most recently, the giant Hengdian World Studios is understood to have closed indefinitely after shuttering its tourist attractions over the weekend in order to “cooperate with the current epidemic prevention and control work.”

Among the high profile projects to have temporarily ceased shooting elsewhere...

For an industry that was already suffering from unfavourable market and regulatory forces, the crisis has wiped out the most profitable box office season of the year.

With a death toll of 26 people and more than 800 infected, the mystery coronavirus that originated in the city of Wuhan has escalated into a full-blown emergency for China. The virus has also spread to Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, the Us and the UK.

At the time of writing, more than 33 million people were under lockdown in Wuhan and several neighbouring cities – an unprecedented move at a time...

For an industry that was already suffering from unfavourable market and regulatory forces, the crisis has wiped out the most profitable box office season of the year.

With a death toll of 26 people and more than 800 infected, the mystery Coronavirus that originated in the city of Wuhan has escalated into a full-blown emergency for China. The virus has also spread to Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, the Us and the UK.

At the time of writing, more than 33 million people were under lockdown in Wuhan and several neighbouring cities – an unprecedented move at a time...

China’s cinemas are shutting down during the Lunar New Year holidays as the country is gripped by the deadly coronavirus epidemic. The news comes after seven titles collectively pulled out from their scheduled new year release on Thursday. The virus has so far led to quarantine measures in at least 10 cities in Hubei province home to some 33 million people, including the capital Wuhan, the epicenter where the virus first emerged. The number of confirmed cases across China has grown to 830 and the death toll to 26. The Guangdong province film bureau issued an emergency notice Friday instructing all cinemas in the province to shut down during the holidays to stop crowds from gathering in enclosed environments. As of Friday, the province has reported 17 cases of coronavirus. This was followed by announcements from individual cinema operators that they would be closing up their businesses. Wanda, Bona, Lumiere Pavilions and Emperor are...

China closed swathes of cinemas on Friday in response to the outbreak of novel coronavirus, which started in the city of Wuhan and has now killed 26 people. The closures come a day after the distributors and producers of the seven major blockbusters that had expected to launch from Jan. 25 cancelled their films’ releases.

Chinese New Year is the commercial high point of the cinema industry year in mainland China, with well over $1 billion of box office revenue normally anticipated to flow through turnstiles in a week of celebration and family gatherings. It is also the peak time of year for internal travel, when typically half of China’s 1.4 billion population return to their hometowns to be reunited with family.

To prevent the spread of the disease – which may have originated from bats, but now appears to involve human-to-human transmission – Chinese authorities have now put 13 cities in Hubei province into a form of lockdown.

Chinese film production and online group Huanxi Media has cancelled plans for the theatrical release of its blockbuster Chinese New Year film “Lost in Russia” and will release it online for free instead. The move is both a reaction to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak that has caused disruption and panic throughout China, and as the springboard for a new business relationship with online giant Bytedance, owner of wildly popular short video platform Tiktok.

Huanxi, which is partially owned by talent, including the film’s star, producer and director Xu Zheng, said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it had cancelled the minimum guarantee arrangement that it had struck with theatrical distributors. The deal, signed in November, had been conditional on the film enjoying a wide release on the first day of Chinese New Year. That is now not possible due to precautionary measures being belatedly taken...

China's leading film studios were forced to cancel the holiday release of their biggest movies of the year yesterday after the growing coronavirus epidemic cast a pall over the country's annual Lunar New Year festivities.

Now, rising film company Huanxi Media is responding to the setback with a bold but fan-pleasing move: The studio has decided to release its much-anticipated comedy tentpole Lost in Russia online for free.

Lost in Russia, directed by and starring comedy superstar Xu Zheng, was widely expected to be one of the big winners of China's 2020 New Year box office, which, prior to the ...

China's leading film studios were forced to cancel the holiday release of their biggest movies of the year yesterday after the growing coronavirus epidemic cast a pall over the country's annual Lunar New Year festivities.

Now, rising film company Huanxi Media is responding to the setback with a bold but fan-pleasing move: The studio has decided to release its much-anticipated comedy tentpole Lost in Russia online for free.

Lost in Russia, directed by and starring comedy superstar Xu Zheng, was widely expected to be one of the big winners of China's 2020 New Year box office, which, prior to the ...

Seven major blockbusters were set for release during the holiday.

All films set for release during the Chinese Lunar New Year period have been pulled due to concerns over the spread of coronavirus in what is a major blow to the Chinese film industry.

At least seven major blockbusters were due to open during the holiday, which kicks off this weekend and is the most lucrative time of the year at the Chinese box office.

The titles are Lost In Russia, Leap, Vanguard, Detective Chinatown 3, Boonie Bears: The Wild Life, The Rescue, and Legend Of Deification, from the studio behind smash-hit animation Ne Zha.

The overseas release of Chinese films in the next weeks is certain to be affected by the cancellation of theatrical outings in mainland China as a response to the rampant spread of the coronavirus.

On Thursday, movie companies in China announced they would not go ahead with the release of seven major films at Chinese New Year, normally the busiest period in the cinema calendar.

Chinese regulations prevent a Chinese-produced film from being released outside mainland China in advance of a release within the country. There can be exceptions, such as those for major film festivals, but these need government approval.

Chinese rights holders also like to avoid international releases preceding their film’s outings in China. The chance of pirated recordings from the smaller overseas markets leaking back into massively larger mainland Chinese market is too great a risk.

Cancelled domestic outings will now have a domino effect on overseas releases of certain films.

Updated with more detail: Amid the escalating outbreak of the deadly coronavirus — and in an unprecedented move — Chinese producers and distributors have cancelled the local release of all films set for the Lunar New Year period that begins this weekend. There were seven potential blockbusters due to hit Middle Kingdom theaters, kicking off what is annually a highly lucrative session at local turnstiles, but the government has warned people not to congregate in crowded areas and producers are understood to have made the decision to delay releases given the potential risk of spreading the disease. It is estimated that over $77M worth of tickets had already been pre-sold for the coming week.

Chinese health authorities announced today that 571 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the virus had been reported in 25 provincial-level regions, while 17 people have died. This morning, the city of Wuhan, where the outbreak originated, was placed on lockdown...

The deadly coronavirus outbreak has dealt a fatal blow to China’s biggest movie-going weekend of the year, as all new releases were cancelled to prevent further spread of the disease.

Seven major films were expected to have been released over the coming weekend, with the likelihood that together they would have earned more than $1 billion in just a few days. They are Peter Chan’s “Leap,” Dante Lam’s “The Rescue,” Xu Zheng’s “Lost in Russia,” Wanda’s “Detective Chinatown 3,” Stanley Tong’s Jackie Chan-starring “Vanguard,” and two animations, “Boonie Bears: The Wild Life” and “Jiang Ziya: Legend of Deification.”

Within hours of each other on Thursday, the production teams for the film each put out statements on their official Weibo accounts that they had decided to pull out for public health reasons. The messages all spoke of a sense of collective duty to work together to fight the virus,...

In the more than six months that protest movements have rocked Hong Kong, a whole range of business sectors have become color-coded, as both Beijing-loyal blue elements and yellow pro-democracy forces have weaponized the economy.

Companies on the front line include leading bank Hsbc, airline Cathay Pacific and even the subway operator Mtrc. Effects range from a poorly observed boycott of Starbucks, where a family member of the local franchise holder has spoken out against protesters, to lonely hearts who choose to flag their political colors on dating apps in order to avoid future incompatibility.

Hong Kong movie-goers have largely turned their backs on mainland Chinese films. The phenomenon is not entirely new, but it is starkly illustrated by the upcoming Chinese New Year season.

Films releasing in Hong Kong over the next two weeks are a mix of those driven by Hollywood’s global schedules – “Dolittle” and “Spies in Disguise” release on Jan.

Just two Us studio films, Avengers: Endgame and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs And Shaw, made it into the year-end top ten.

China’s box office increased by 5.4% to $9.2bn (RMB64.3bn) in 2019, according to figures from the China Film Administration, mostly off the back of a small number of out-sized local releases.

Local films accounted for 64% of total box office with a combined haul of $5.9bn (RMB41.2bn), despite a slowdown in local production due to increased censorship and the fallout from the tax scandal in 2018. Hollywood and other imported titles saw their market share decline further as Chinese films...