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One new truth will prevail in cinemas as Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment is releasing Detective Conan: The Million-dollar Pentagram in Australia and New Zealand starting August 29, 2024! The newest Detective Conan movie will be available in Japanese with English subtitles when it is released in the region. Fans can get tickets here starting today. Chika Nagaoka (director of Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet ) directs the movie at Tms Entertainment, with Takahiro Okura handling the screenplay, Masatomo Sudo on character designs and Yugo Kanno on music. The movie released on April 12, 2024 in Japan. Crunchyroll describes the movie: Detective Conan follows Shinichi Kudo, a talented high school detective who was forcibly turned into a child by the Black Organization. Now going by the identity of Conan Edogawa, he strives to hunt down the Black Organization while solving the most difficult of cases using his brilliant wits and power of reason. In this new adventure,...

Osaka-based Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation will launch ytv animation, a new brand that will leverage Yomiuri TV’s long history in animation, while also undertaking more challenging titles.

The move comes a day ahead of the Anime Japan 2024 convention being held at Tokyo Big Sight. It also comes “ahead of the 60th anniversary in 2027 of Yomiuri TV’s airing of ‘Golden Bat’ in 1967,” the company said.

“We will leverage our nearly 60 years of experience producing and broadcasting anime to bring exciting titles to our fans,” said ytv animation producer in a prepared statement. “From Osaka to the world, ytv animation aims to develop titles that resonate with audiences in Japan and abroad.”

ytv animation is launching a new web site and an Instagram account to deliver information about titles, voice actors, and other exclusive content.

Yomiuri TV has produced and broadcast animation classics including “The Star of the Giants,” “Space Brothers,...

Locally-made films, especially animated titles, dominated the Japanese box office in 2021. The territory is usually the world’s third biggest cinema market, behind China and North America.

Though official figures compiled by the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (Eiren), will be not be announced until next month, numbers from the Pick Scene movie rankings and box office site show “Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time” as the year’s top earning film with a gross of $90 million following its March 8 release. A sci-fi anime written and directed by Anno Hideaki and produced by Anno’s Studio Khara, it is the fourth and final film in his “Rebuild of Evangelion” film series, which is part of the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise.

All of the top-three earning films in Japan this year are animations, including number two “Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet” ($67.5 million), the latest iteration of the “Detective Conan” teen-detective mystery franchise.

Moviegoing kicked off again in the UK and France this week, with the former reopening cinemas on Monday and the latter on Wednesday. And so far, signs are very positive after roughly seven months of darkened screens in each market. Advance sales are strong and exhibitors in both are encouraged at the early results.

In the UK, all films in play on Wednesday are estimated to have grossed around £760K ($1.07M). This was the biggest day this week, up about 41% versus Tuesday. That’s largely attributable to Cineworld resuming operations at about 120 sites yesterday after opting to sit out Monday and Tuesday. The Wednesday gross is also roughly 9% over Monday. Through three days of the reopening process (which limits capacity to 50%), UK cinemas have taken in about £2M ($2.83M).

Sony’s Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway is the runaway leader with an estimated $850K through Wednesday. There’s clear appetite...

There’s excitement in the air — and a whole lot of movies lined up — across the UK and France as cinemas are set to reopen in both markets this week after roughly seven months of darkened screens. Below we take a look at how the situation is shaping up in these majors.

In the UK, England/Scotland/Wales will be back up and running from Monday (May 17), while French cinemas resume operations on Wednesday (May 19).

One of the key new releases to hit the UK is Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, and the sequel should have the market hopping after the original did over $54M in 2018.

Capacity restrictions in England will be 50%, but that’s not providing much pause. Vue International boss Tim Richards tells Deadline he’s “comfortable with that level of occupancy restriction because, as an industry, we tend to operate at around 20% occupancy and with customers time-shifting...

Man In Love becomes Taiwan’s sixth highest-grossing local language film of all time via Sony.

‘Mortal Kombat’ drops in fourth international session

Updated: A lack of major new openings for New Line/Warner Bros’ Mortal Kombat saw the franchise reboot slide to a confirmed $3m weekend takings in international markets for its fourth session, a fall of 54%. International total is $32.8m.

Top international territory remained Australia, with estimated takings of $1.3m. Next best markets Russia and Spain were far behind.

In North America, the videogame spin-off was toppled from the top of the box office by Japanese anime Demon Slayer: Mugen Train,...

Peter Jackson’s “The Return of the King,” the third film in his classic “Lord of the Rings” trilogy,” will hit China on May 14 in remastered 4K.

The first two films of the trilogy are already in theaters, having debuted April 16 and April 23, respectively. So far, “The Fellowship of the Ring” has earned $17.3 million (RMB112 million) and “The Two Towers” has $9.28 million (RMB60.2 million) so far.

The latter premiered with a $4 million opening weekend — a weak showing by local standards that net the title only third place at the box office, behind the animation “Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet” and local holdover drama “Sister.” “Fellowship” came in fifth with sales of $1.3 million, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway.

Fans expressed frustration online that the later release date for “Return of the King” would likely make it difficult to do marathons of all three films at once, given that films...

Tuesday Update, writethru after Sunday Am post: Warner Bros/Legendary’s Godzilla Vs Kong has reached a new global benchmark, crossing $400M with a confirmed cume through Sunday of $406.5M worldwide. Of that, $320M comes from the international box office in 41 markets. The monster mash, already the biggest Hollywood movie of the pandemic era, continues to track above its Monsterverse predecessors. It is the highest-grossing of the films in 19 markets including China, Russia, Spain, Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mexico.

In combined like-for-like markets and at today’s rates, Gvk is running 6% above Kong: Skull Island, 44% over Godzilla: King Of The Monsters and 90% ahead of Godzilla. And, there are still over 20 markets to come including Brazil, Japan and the UK.

Gvk‘s weekend was worth $5.6M offshore. China’s run is winding down with a fantastic $183M through Sunday — the best Hollywood performance since Covid began — and could still grow a bit during this week.

Box office slumps ahead of busy May Day holiday weekend when several big local titles are scheduled for release.

Japanese anime Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet topped the China box office over the weekend (April 23-25), according to figures from Artisan Gateway, grossing $4.8m.

The film, which is the 24th installment in a popular franchise, has grossed $26m since its April 17 release in China. It was followed by Lian Ray Pictures’ Sister, starring Zhang Zifeng, which grossed $4.6m over the weekend for an impressive cume of $128.2m.

The re-release of the second installment in the Lord Of The Rings franchise,...

Man In Love, a Taiwanese remake of the 2014 Korean romantic drama has been winning hearts locally, grossing $11.3M through Sunday, and remaining No. 1 for three weeks in a row, despite holdover competition from Godzilla Vs Kong and Mortal Kombat. The debut feature from Yin Chen-Hao is coming out of its fourth frame and is currently the top local title of the pandemic era as well as moving up on the all-time chart for Taiwanese films at home.

Taiwan’s movie theaters were affected by Covid, but were never forced to close, and as capacity restrictions eased, a project titled Local Films Taking Off saw a number of Taiwanese titles hit theaters every month until April this year. That included a rewards system incentivizing moviegoers out to cinemas, the Straits Times reported in January. Through end-2020, local films had garnered 18% of the market, versus just over 8% in 2019.

The trend appears to...

New release title “Recalled” injected a little excitement into the South Korean box office over the weekend, deposing last week’s winner “Seobok.” But the nationwide aggregate remained moribund.

The indie film is a mystery thriller that features a woman suffering from disturbing visions of accidents, post traumatic stress and her fight to find the truth despite the partially-remembered images. It is directed by Seo Yoo-min.

Its release pattern (957 screens) was marginally wider than the number of holdover screens for “Seobok” (902 screens). But “Recalled” managed to earn $856,000 over the weekend for a $1.01 million cumulative after five days.

It accounted for 27% of the box office, implying total business of just $3.17 million. The weekend total was 8% down on the previous session.

“Seobok” fell by 63% from $1.43 million over the previous weekend to just $529,000 in its second frame, and third place.

The film had been hotly anticipated by audiences, but its simultaneous availability on...

Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet, the latest installment in the long-running Japanese anime franchise, topped the China box office on its opening weekend, grossing $17.1m in its first two days.

The film, which opened in China on April 17, is directed by Nagaoka Tomoka and produced by Tokyo-based Tms Entertainment, with Toho distributing in Japan. It also had a strong start in Japan, which together with its China opening, propelled it to become the highest-grossing film worldwide over the weekend. With the Tokyo Olympics already delayed by a year due to the pandemic, the topicality of the film’s plot may partly explain its success,...

Godzilla Vs Kong has cracked $300m in international markets, and now stands at $390.9m including North American takings.

‘Godzilla Vs Kong’ overtakes ‘Tenet’

Updated: Warner Bros and Legendary’s Godzilla Vs Kong has cracked $300m in international markets, and now stands at $390m including North American takings. The Adam Wingard-directed monster mash-up grossed a confirmed $12.3m in international at the weekend (down 50%) and $7.7m in domestic (down 44%). Cumulative totals are respectively $310.3m and $80.6m.

Godzilla Vs Kong’s global total of $390.9m compares with $364m for Tenet – previously the biggest-grossing Hollywood film of the pandemic era.

Godzilla Vs Kong...

Godzilla Vs Kong has cracked $300m in international markets, and now stands at $390m including North American takings.

‘Godzilla Vs Kong’ overtakes ‘Tenet’

Warner Bros and Legendary’s Godzilla Vs Kong has cracked $300m in international markets, and now stands at $390m including North American takings. The Adam Wingard-directed monster mash-up grossed an estimated $12.2m in international at the weekend (down 50%) and $7.7m in domestic (down 44%). Cumulative totals are respectively $309.7m and $80.5m.

Godzilla Vs Kong’s global total of $390m compares with $364m for Tenet – previously the biggest-grossing Hollywood film of the pandemic era.

Godzilla Vs Kong has...

Monday Update, writethru after Sunday Am post: Warner Bros/Legendary’s Godzilla Vs Kong is approaching the $400M global mark, as it topped $300M at the international box office this weekend. Adding $12.2M from 41 overseas markets (a good -49% hold), the monsters have cumed an estimated $309.7M offshore for $390.2M worldwide through Sunday. After overtaking Tenet as the No. 1 grossing movie of the pandemic era domestically last weekend, Gvk has also now surpassed that film to boast the same honors for a Hollywood title internationally and globally.

In like-for-like overseas plays and at today’s exchange rates, Gvk continues to track ahead of Kong: Skull Island (+7%), Godzilla: King Of The Monsters (+45%) and Godzilla (+96%). In China, the Adam Wingard-directed Gvk has become the highest grossing pic of the Monsterverse. The cume there is now estimated at $177.1M through Sunday. Rounding out the Top 5 behind China are Australia ($19.1M), Mexico ($17.3M...

Hotly-anticipated thriller “Seobok” opened on top of the box office in South Korea over the weekend, despite also premiering on streaming video. It was comfortably ahead of second-placed film, another new release, “Detective Conan: The Scarlett Bullet.”

Together the top two films managed to return overall theatrical revenues back to the depressed range that they have been stuck in since the beginning of the year, but below which they dipped on the previous weekend.

“Seobok” earned $1.43 million over the weekend, and $1.81 million in the four days since its Thursday release. That gave it a 41% share of the weekend box office. “Detective Conan,” which released on Friday, took $674,000 for a $19% market share.

They displaced the previous weekend winner “Book of Fish,” which slipped to fifth place with $183,000, and “Godzilla vs. Kong,” which fell to sixth spot in its fourth weekend on release. It earned $160,000, a drop of 67%, producing a cumulative total of $5.93 million.

Japanese animation “Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet” led both “Godzilla vs. Kong” and the debut of the 4K remastered “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” this weekend at the China box office.

Although the “Fellowship” re-release should have been a headlining event, the film’s roll-out was bungled when Chinese authorities left just one full day between their Wednesday theatrical approval for the title and its Friday opening.

Cinemas across the country did not receive the digital prints of the film in time, leading to canceled screenings on Friday and Saturday, and refunds for angry viewers who had already bought tickets.

Imax — whose prints arrived even later, since they’d been asked to prepare a new version of the film that exactly matched the standard one — missed a substantial portion of the weekend in most cities altogether.

“Fellowship” ended up coming in fifth with just $4.04 million — a...

China’s Huace Pictures this week unveiled its upcoming film lineup, which includes a new project from young arthouse filmmaker Bi Gan (“Kaili Blues”) and sequels to its Chinese New Year hit “A Writer’s Odyssey.”

Founded in 2014, Huace Pictures is the newer outgrowth of Shenzhen-listed, Hangzhou-headquartered Zhejiang Huace Film and TV, founded in 2005. The latter has historically been a strong player in China’s TV drama production, but the group hopes to boost its footprint in film.

To that end, it unveiled on Tuesday a new logo for Huace Pictures, and announced the goal of producing 30 films over the next three years that can collectively bring in $1.5 billion (RMB10 billion) or more at the box office. It also released a list of 16 upcoming films that it plans to produce or distribute this year.

Fu Binxing, Huace Pictures chairman and VP of Huace Film and TV Group, said the company seeks...