Interpret Weekly: Asia Entertainment 06/21/2021

Maoyan Weiying CultureCalendar Studios / Zhong Creation Film CultureColumbia Pictures / Animal Logic

Two father-themed films debuted this weekend with the hope of capturing the Father’s Day atmosphere – local drama On Your Mark came in first with $8.8 million while Anthony Hopkins-starring Oscar winner The Father debuted in China to $1.2 million. Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway hopped up to third with a $3.8 million weekend, bringing its total China cumulative total up to $17.2 million.

Beleaguered Hong Kong comedy auteur Stephen Chow has inked an online film deal with Tencent Video, following his recent commitment to produce an animated Monkey King feature for Netflix. Chow’s announcement was made just days after updates of his legal tussle with Shanghai New Culture Media surfaced, for which he is being sued for $131 million over alleged breach of contract. While there are no details of the Tencent deal yet, Chow’s move to create content for streaming platforms is seen as a bid for career revival, after his recent films suffered long delays or turned in lackluster box office performances.

A Quiet Place Part II topped the South Korean box office on its first official weekend of release, scoring $2.43 million over the weekend. Including previews, it has accumulated $3.36 million over five days. Disney-Pixar’s Luca earned $942,000 over the weekend, ranking third.

The recent Vietnamese domestic hit, Bố Già, has surpassed $1 million in revenue after its first U.S showing on May 28. This is the first Vietnamese-produced movie to reach this milestone. Its performance is considered highly successful for a limited-release film with screenings available in just 19 theaters.

One Piece: The Voyage, a pirate-themed game developed by CMGE Technology Group and Nuverse, a game studio wholly owned by ByteDance, was launched on April 23 in China and quickly gained popularity, becoming the Beijing-based company’s first title to break into the top 10 list compiled by Chinese market app-tracking firm CNG. The game has reportedly earned more than $50 million in less than two months, providing a huge boost of confidence in the competition against Tencent.

Com2uS announced on June 16 that it will begin to recruit participants for Lost Centuria World Showdown (World Showdown), the first global event competition of Summoners War: Lost Centuria (Lost Centuria).

Lost Centuria is a game in which monsters form a real-time battle in the Summoners War. Even before its launch, it confirmed the possibility of developing into esports through the “World 100 Invitational,” an event competition involving 100 famous influencers from around the world.

ByteDance’s revenue in 2020 totaled $34.3 billion, up 111% year-on-year. Gross profit rose 93% to $19 billion. The company had 1.9 billion monthly active users by the end of 2020 across all of its platforms – which include its widely popular short video app TikTok, the Chinese version Douyin, and news aggregation app Toutiao, among others.

CJ ENM, the South Korean entertainment giant behind Parasite, has struck a strategic alliance with Japanese terrestrial broadcast group Tokyo Broadcasting System. The deal will see the joint production of content for the global market and cooperation in other new business areas. It also represents a further expansion of CJ ENM’s recently-announced plans for international expansion.

Tving, a video streaming subsidiary of CJ ENM, said Wednesday that the number of its monthly active users (MAU) hit a fresh record high last month, reaching 3.34 million in May – up from the 3.27 million record set in March.

Iervolino Entertainment’s star-studded female-driven anthology project Tell It Like a Woman is adding a Japanese dimension. Japanese filmmaker Mipo O will direct and write a segment for the film titled A Week in My Life, starring Anne Watanabe. Japan’s leading premium pay-TV broadcaster Wowow will produce the Japanese segment, while also taking all distribution rights for the finished film in Japan.