China Box Office Forecast to Surge to $8.3B in 2017

China's movie box office is expected to surge 20 percent-plus in 2017, hitting a record total of $8.31 billion (55.0 billion yuan), the country's media regulator said Friday.

In yuan terms, the figure would be up 20 percent, while the growth in dollar terms would hit 26 percent.

The sizable expansion would mark a major turnaround from 2016, when tickets sales grew by just 3.7 percent to $6.58 billion (45.7 billion yuan) after averaging 35 percent yearly gains for a decade.

The 2017 forecast was made by Zhang Hongsen, vice minister of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, during a press conference on the sidelines of China's 19th Party Congress, Reuters reported.

"The rapid development of the film industry has been a big bright spot for China’s culture industry,” Zhang said.

The return to double-digit growth would put China back on track to overtake North America as the world's largest box-office territory within a handful of years. North American box office revenue grew by 2.1 percent in 2016, settling at $11.36 billion.
A sizable chunk of China's gains were driven by the historic success of local action flick Wolf Warrior II, which brought in $863 million over the summer. No Chinese film has ever earned more, and only J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens exceeded it in a single market, grossing $936.6 million in North America in 2015.

'The Good Place' Builds on Last Season’s Twist, Emphasizing the Need to Connect

There are few genuine surprises left to reveal anymore on television, but The Good Place pulled off a brilliant twist at the end of its first season. By upending the premise of the show to create a world in which almost everything we thought to be true was actually false, the series immediately created excitement for the new season, while never abandoning its commitment to finding the funny in the ridiculous. It’s important to note that the major revelation from last season wasn’t a cheap ploy or an unconvincing shift; rather, it was the kind of clever development that reminds viewers smart and skillful writing isn’t just for prestige dramas. Michael Schur is an especially excellent example of a showrunner and writer who understands world building and character development in comedy.

Eleanor’s search for Chidi (“Okay, Chidi, where are you? Or what are you? A type of soup, maybe?”) quickly upsets everyone’s specific roles, and the ways they attempt to right the failing experiment isn’t only funny, but also offers real stakes. What only Michael knows is that his boss, Shawn (Marc Evan Jackson), is giving him just one more chance to make his idea work. When Michael’s plan is foiled for the second time, he hides that failure, and his now third attempt, from Shawn. This not only increases the pressure on Michael, but also drives home the point that this fake Good Place is an outlier that no one really understands or believes in.

Reviews Of Dunkirk

Lean and ambitious, unsentimental and bombastic, overwhelmingly guy-centric, Christopher Nolan's World War II epic "Dunkirk" showcases the best and worst of the director's tendencies. The best win out and the worst recede in memory when you think back on the experience—provided that you want to remember "Dunkirk," a movie that's supposed to be grueling and succeeds. Less of a war film and more of a disaster (or survival) picture, it's an ensemble work that chronicles the evacuation of British soldiers who got trapped in the harbor and on the beaches of Dunkirk, France, in late May and early June of 1940, with the Germans, who had driven Allied forces practically out to sea, closing in for one last sweep.
From filmmaker Christopher Nolan (“Interstellar,” “Inception,” “The Dark Knight” Trilogy) comes the epic action thriller “Dunkirk.”
Nolan directed “Dunkirk” from his own original screenplay, utilizing a mixture of IMAX® and 65mm film to bring the story to the screen.
“Dunkirk” opens as hundreds of thousands of British and Allied troops are surrounded by enemy forces. Trapped on the beach with their backs to the sea they face an impossible situation as the enemy closes in.

“Dunkirk” features a prestigious cast, including Kenneth Branagh (“My Week with Marilyn,” “Hamlet,” “Henry V”), Cillian Murphy (“Inception,” “The Dark Knight” Trilogy), and newcomer Fionn Whitehead, with Mark Rylance (“Bridge of Spies,” “Wolf Hall”) and Tom Hardy (“The Revenant,” “Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Inception”). The ensemble cast also includes Tom Glynn-Carney, Jack Lowden, Harry Styles, Aneurin Barnard, James D’Arcy and Barry Keoghan.

Last week, North America shot oh statistics

With an estimated $10 million on Friday, Sony's The Emoji Movie is going to be in a tight race with WB's Dunkirk for #1 at the weekend box office. Dunkirk landed an estimated $8 million on its second Friday in release and both films are looking to gross over $27 million for the weekend. It will largely come down to how Emoji plays over the weekend as opening day audiences gave the film a "B" CinemaScore, though kids under the age of 18 gave it an "A-". 　

Focus' new release of Atomic Blonde landed in third place on Friday, bringing in an estimated $7.1 million with an expectation for an opening around $18-19 million. The film also received a "B" CinemaScore from opening day audiences 

　
Landing in fourth on Friday, but expected to finish third for the weekend is Universal's Girls Trip, which scored an estimated $6.2 million in its second Friday of release. The film is looking at an impressive 37% drop for the weekend and a three-day around $19.5 million should estimates hold. That's just a fraction less than the 35% average second weekend drop for films that opened in over 2,000 theaters and score an "A+" CinemaScore.

‘Wonder Woman’: Wonderful war movie

I’ve had lots of calls to review War Machine, but given that it is a Netflix exclusive, I regret I cannot supply that review. I can offer a worthy replacement, Wonder Woman.

Much has been made of the fact that Wonder Woman is on path to be the highest grossing woman-directed film, a successful woman-led comic book film, and the first feature-length movie honoring the 76-year-old character. But how does it stand as a movie, and a war film? Reviews are almost universally favorable and I can report it is an extremely enjoyable film. It’s slightly weaker as a war film, for reasons I will explain, but still an admirable effort to express some interesting ideas.

First, it is worth one’s while to watch Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice as preludes to this film. Reviewers haven’t been very kind to those films but I quite enjoyed Man of Steel and found BvS still serviceable popcorn fare. If one views the Ultimate Edition of BvS on DVD you get an additional 30 minutes which redeems some of the choppiness and inadequacies of the theatrical release.