The state government of Queensland last week announced A$50 million ($35.8 million) in incentives funding for the next two years that is to be channeled through location attraction body Screen Queensland. It turns out that represents a cut of A$13 million ($9.31 million) in real terms.

(The state allocated A$42 million in 2025-26 and A$38 million two years earlier.)

According to state government figures, SQ generated more than A$541 million ($388 million) in “direct Queensland production expenditure” in the 2025-26 financial year and employed more than 6,600 people.

Trade association, Screen Producers Australia said that the effective cut could cost the state production and services business.

Screen Producers Australia chief executive Matthew Deaner said that the “relatively modest saving” could cost the state “many times that amount in small-business and economic activity”.

“Producers have chosen to locate their businesses in Queensland based on the stability and level of state investment,” he added.

On that point the Queensland government appears to agree. Though their conclusions differ.

“Only with multi-year funding certainty can the industry forward plan and support a pipeline of projects across two years, creating more jobs for Queenslanders and boosting our local economy,” said Queensland Arts Minister John-Paul Langbroek.

While the union warned that the state could lose business to New South Wales and South Australia, Langbroek and Screen Queensland itself said that subsidy is not the only reason to shoot in the state. These include the busy Gold Coast studios and a newly opened facility in the state’s Far North.

“Our revised incentives will also still be offered in combination with the federal government’s 30% offsets and rebates,” said Screen Queensland CEO Jacqui Feeney.

Trump Revives Federal Incentive Talk

US President Donald Trump said on social media on Monday that he is again considering the establishment of a nationwide tax credit system. While many individual US states offer film and TV subsidies, the country does not operate a federal rebate, credit or location incentive scheme.

Many productions have left California for other parts of the US or gone overseas, particularly to Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Hungary where subsidy systems make the cost of filming and post-production cheaper.

Previously Trump threatened to impose a 100% tariff on foreign-produced films, though it was not clear how this might work. An incentive scheme might draw more support from across the US political spectrum.

“A federal incentive would be a landmark step toward bringing more production to local communities in all 50 states, strengthening our nation’s economy and making our country a more competitive place to produce, create and tell great stories,” the Motion Picture Association chief executive, Charles Rivkin, said in a statement.

Japan Weekend Box Office: Old Name, New Leader

Anime franchise movie “Puella Magica Madoka Magica -Wahlpurgisnacht Rising” took the top spot at the Japan box office over the latest weekend.

It arrived in theatres some 13 years after the previous title in the franchise “Puella Magica Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion” and played in 291 theatres. It earned JPY939 million ($5.88 million) from 535,000 spectators over its opening three days.

That figure was some 230% higher than the JPY400 million opening for “Rebellion”, but the comparison requires caution. Even in famously-low-inflation Japan there has been a 16% increase in ticket prices since 2013. Also, the figures for the previous film cover only two days (Saturday and Sunday).

“Chiikawa the Movie: The Secret of the Mermaid Island” slipped to second place. It earned JPY547 million ($3.4 million) in its sixth weekend of release. It now has a 38-day cumulative of JPY12.2 billion ($76.6 million) from 8.49 million ticket sales. The total means it has now overtaken “Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway” to become the top-grossing Japanese film of the year and 37^th on Japan’s all-time list.

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day”, which was third in revenue terms and fourth in admissions, earned JPY192 million yen over the weekend with 117,000 admissions. Its cumulative total reached 3.21 million admissions and JPY5.2 billion ($32.5 million) in box office revenue.

“Toy Story 5” was fourth by revenue and third by admissions, and for now remains the biggest film of 2026. It earned JPY183 million over the weekend from 132,000 admissions. Its cumulative figures have surpassed 9.01 million admissions and JPY12.5 billion ($78.2 million) in gross revenue.

“Crayon Shin-chan the Movie: Very Bizarre! My Yokai Vacation”, the 33rd instalment in the “Crayon Shin-chan” anime feature film series, maintained its fifth-place spot in its fifth weekend.

Lower positions belonged to “Minions and Monsters”, “Kingdom: Tamashii no Kessen”, “Ano Hoshi ga Furu Okade, Kimi to Mata Dealtai” and two new releases – “Toki Niwa Zange Wo” and “The Dog Stars”.

• “The First Slam Dunk”, the sports action anime film that played in cinemas for some eight months from December 2022, is to make a return in April next year. The film will have a another ‘revival’ season from 20 March to 1 April 2027, distributor Toei announced. The film has earned JPY16.7 billion ($104 million at current rates of exchange), making it the 14^th highest ever at the Japan box office.

  

Australia Box Office: Quiet Weekend

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” retained its lead at the top of the Australian box office for a fifth weekend. It earned A$3.01 million ($2.16 million) ahead of “The Odyssey” with A$2.24 million ($1.60 million).

“Insidious: Out of the Further” placed third in its second weekend. It earned A$747,000 for a running total of A$2.28 million.

Despite starring Australians Jacob Elordi and Guy Pearce, the ill-fated Ridley Scott movie “The Dog Stars” landed only in fifth place. It earned just A$623,000 in its four-day opening run.

Korea’s Bumper August

Data from KOBIS shows that cinema business boomed in Korea through the month of August – driven by imported hit titles and a discount coupon scheme.

Gross revenues totalled KRW207 billion ($151 million) from 19.5 million spectators. That is a 52% revenue improvement compared with the same month in 2025. And, month-on-month, it is an 82% improvement on July 2026.

While that is good news for cinema operators, Korean producers may not be feeling the love. Market share for imported films climbed to 88%, up 52% from August last year and 50% in July 2026.

The month’s biggest titles were “The Odyssey” ($72.8 million) and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” ($65.2 million, of which $52.5 million came in August).

The upcoming Chuseok holidays at the end of September hold out more promise for Korean titles. The five leading contenders are the Korean remake of “The Intern”, starring Choi Min-sik and Han So-hee; starry drama “Portrait of a Family”; Lee Chang-dong’s “Possible Love”; political drama “The Assassin(s)” and crime franchise title “Tazza: Song of Beelzebub”.

China’s Hot Summer Season

Chinese state media reported that as of Sunday, the Chinese mainland’s summer movie season (1 June to 31 Aug) had surpassed RMB12.4 billion ($1.84 billion) in box-office revenue, exceeding the final tallies of RMB12.0 billion in 2025 and RMB11.6 billion in 2024, making 2026 the strongest summer season in three years, according to data from ticketing platform Maoyan.

In many previous years, a large part of the summer period was designated as Chinese film promotion month, in which only local films could achieve new releases. The Hollywood studios referred to the same phenomenon as “blackout month”, the longest of the typically three periods in a year when their titles were sidelined.

In the last couple of years, there have been little sign of regulators operating Hollywood blackouts or promotion seasons. In 2026, US films continued to open in China throughout the summer, many in day-and-date outings coordinated with US and international sorties.

Despite the lack of protectionism, the summer’s top four titles were all Chinese-produced with “Once Upon A Time in the Middle East”, “Dear You”, “All Wishes Come True” and ‘Kung Fu Soccer” heading the pack.

Relatively, two Hollywood films – “Spider-Man Brand New Day” and “The Odyssey” – also did stellar levels of business.

‘The Odyssey’s’ Box Office Standing

“The Odyssey” has joined the top 15 Hollywood films released in China since the beginning of the COVID pandemic. Riding high in third place on the latest weekend chart, it seems likely to go higher.

Top 15 Highest-Grossing Hollywood Movies In China Post-COVID

1. “Zootopia 2” — $657.8 million

2. “Avatar: The Way of Water” — $246 million

3. “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” — $225.7 million

4. “F9: The Fast Saga” — $215.3 million

5. “Godzilla vs. Kong” — $188.7 million

6. “Avatar: Fire and Ash” — $178 million

7. “Jurassic World Dominion” — $157.9 million

8. “Fast X” — $135.2 million

9. “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” — $134.3 million

10. “The Meg 2: The Trench” — $115.7 million

11. “Alien: Romulus” — $110.4 million

12. “Free Guy” — $95 million

13. “Venom: The Last Dance” — $94.6 million

14. “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” — $89.8 million

15. “The Odyssey” — $87.4 million

Korea got “The Odyssey” bug later than most other countries, but has nevertheless fallen hard for the big budget epic. It topped the chart over the latest weekend and accounted for nearly two-thirds of all cinema activity, on the way to establishing itself as the top-grossing foreign film of the year.

“The Odyssey” earned $8.71 million in its fourth weekend of release in Korea from ticket sales of 1.06 million – and a market share of 65%. The previous week it took $10.7 million from 1.32 million tickets for a revenue market share of 66%.) The latest performance took its cumulative earnings to $71.4 million and its ticket sales total to 8.86 million.

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day”, the summer’s second biggest phenomenon, earned $1.94 million in its fifth weekend of release. That elevated its revenue total to $64.7 million and its ticket sales total to 8.55 million.

Korean crime film “The Journey to Gyeongju” was the weekend’s highest place new release film. It earned $909,000 between Friday and Sunday and $1.36 million over its five-day opening run.

Another new release, “The End of Oak Street” took $475,000 over the weekend and $780,000 in total.

Korean-produced cartoon, “Heartsping: Legend of the Whale Heartstone” added $282,000 for a four-weekend cumulative of $5.75 million.

In its second weekend, “Insidious: Out of the Further” took sixth place with $169,000 from 22,100 ticket sales. Its two-week cumulative is $1.11 million.

“Detective Conan the Movie: Fallen Angel of the Highway” took $154,000 for a three-week cumulative of $2.93 million.

Korean comedy, “OK! Madam: Bon Voyage” earned $79,800 for a cumulative of $2.28 million.

“Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie” earned $60,100 for a three-weekend cumulative of $746,000.

Korean animated music film “Ghost Band” debuted with $41,000 between Friday and Sunday and $71,000 over its five-day opening run.

China Weekend: ‘Middle East’ Notches Third Weekend Success

There was no change in rank among the top five films at the mainland China box office over the latest weekend – but decent scores nevertheless.

Chinese-made action film “Once Upon a Time in the Middle East” hit $287 million in cumulative sales since releasing on 11 August. It enjoyed a $25.6 million (RMB174 million) third weekend and its third weekend on top.

In its second weekend, “V” earned $14.4 million to advance its cumulative to $59.6 million.

“The Odyssey” earned a further $10 million to advance its cumulative total to $87.4 million since releasing on 14 August. The running total is the second highest for a Hollywood film released this year in China.

Pearl Studios’ “All Wishes Come True” earned $7.9 million in fourth place. Its long run, since 18 July, extends its cumulative to $270 million.

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” added $2.9 million in fifth place. Its cumulative since releasing on 29 July is now $226 million, making it the leading import film of $2026.

The aggregate weekend box office was $70 million, giving a year-to-date total of $4.14 billion. That is 28% below the same point in 2025, according to calculations by consultancy firm Artisan Gateway.

Indonesia: ‘Insidious’ Dominates in Second Weekend

“Insidious: Out of the Further” dominated the Indonesia theatrical box office market with 236,000 admissions in its second weekend of release. After 12 days in cinemas, it has racked up a cumulative total of 1.20 million admissions.

New release, Indonesian heist drama “Operasi Pesta Copet” landed in second place with 115,000 admissions over the weekend proper and 141,000 over its full opening run. The story involves four young pickpockets who plan a massive pick pocketing operation in the middle of a very crowded and lively music festival.

Another new release took third. “Paket Santet” attracted 81,500 admissions over the weekend and 116,000 over its four-day opening run.

The next two films were almost tied. “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” took 78,700 admissions between Friday and Sunday. Its cumulative now stands at 6.87 million admissions.

Comedy horror title “Harusnya Horror” took in fifth place with 78,400 admissions over the weekend and now has a cumulative of 555,000 ticket sales since opening on 20 August.

Japanese hit animation “Chiikawa the Movie: The Secret of Mermaid Island” opened on Friday and attracted 36,400 admissions over three days.

American action film, “Mutiny” sold 35,300 tickets over the weekend and extended its cumulative to 181,000 ticket sales.

Local romance-drama “Dan Bandung” sold 23,000 tickets over the weekend. It now has a cumulative of 154,000 ticket sales.

US survival drama, “The Dog Stars” opened in ninth place. It sold 18,400 tickets over a three-day debut session.

The phrase ‘strategic partnership’ is used so frequently that it has largely lost its meaning. However, the deal announced on Monday between Japanese media group U-Next and the US’s NBCUniversal may live up to the ambitious billing.

The agreement extends beyond the licensing of films and television series to also incorporate the launch of Universal+ – NBCUniversal’s international streaming brand – in Japan, future experiences at Universal Studios Japan, joint marketing initiatives and the global expansion of Japanese content.

That said, no financial value was ascribed to the deal nor any equity investments disclosed.

NBCUniversal is having a strong year theatrically, especially in markets outside north America. This weekend Rentrak said: “Universal became the first studio in 2026 to cross $3 billion at the international box office, powered by global standouts including ‘The Odyssey’, ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ and ‘Michael’. This marks only the third time since 2019 that any studio has reached $3 billion internationally and the third time Universal has achieved the milestone as a studio.”

Universal and U-Next confirmed key theatrical releases dates later this year. Christopher Nolan’s latest film, ‘The Odyssey’ and Steven Spielberg’s latest film, ‘Disclosure Day’, will open in Japan on 11 September and 1 October, respectively.

Three Key Areas Include:

• U-Next, which has 5.2 million paying video subscriptions and is second in the streaming market behind Netflix, will be the exclusive Japanese home to Universal+. The service will begin rolling out in October 2026.

In addition to making NBCUniversal’s portfolio of films and television series available on U-NEXT, the service will begin offering major theatrical releases shortly after their cinema runs, as well as major first-run series produced by NBCUniversal, exclusively and on a rolling basis from Spring 2027 onward.

• Universal Studios Japan, which we last week reported is looking to expand, will work with U-NEXT “to create innovative customer experiences”. The companies will explore opportunities including:

Joint development of live music events and other entertainment experiences;

Exclusive experiences and benefits for U-NEXT members;

Planning and production of special video content featuring USJ.

• Distribution of Japanese content. “U-NEXT will extend the reach of Japanese television dramas, anime, films, and U-Next original productions by leveraging NBCUniversal’s owned and operated services in the U.S. and Latin America on Peacock and Universal+, respectively. U-NEXT will leverage its strong, long-standing relationships with Japanese television networks, film companies, anime studios, and creators to make the global expansion of Japanese content a new area of growth.

What They Said

“While continuing to build on the service and trust we have cultivated to date, we aim to evolve U-NEXT beyond a service for simply watching video content into a platform where people can discover entertainment, become passionate about it, connect with real-world experiences, and bring Japanese content to audiences around the world.

There are unique possibilities that can only be realized by bringing together NBCUniversal, with its world-class content, IP, global network, and theme parks offering real-world experiences”, said Tsutsumi Tenshin, president and representative director, U-NEXT Co., Ltd.

“For NBCUniversal, it brings together our film and television catalogue, our theme park experiences through Universal Studios Japan and our global distribution network – all under one roof for Japanese audiences [..] this ambitious partnership [..] includes the first fully-loaded Universal+ launch in Asia Pacific – reinforcing the importance of the Japanese market to our overall business. [..] And, as we see the growing popularity of Asian content around the globe, we’re also thrilled to have the opportunity to extend the reach of U-Next’s quality Japanese drama and anime to other markets”, said Chris Taylor, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, TV Distribution and International Networks & Direct-To-Consumer for NBCUniversal.

Edited boilerplate extracts:

“In addition to the over 480,000 movies, live-action, and animated series available for on-demand streaming, U-NEXT also provides a variety of real-time live streaming of music concerts, stage productions, and top-level sports events ranging from soccer, baseball, golf, to martial arts. With a selection of over 1,330,000 manga, e-books and e-magazines. U-NEXT provides a unique entertainment experience amongst Japan’s digital platforms, giving subscribers the opportunity to seamlessly enjoy electronic publications, video content, sports, concerts, and more within a single application. Through the service integration of Paravi in July 2023, a vast selection of the latest, best, and most-watched local variety and scripted dramas from Japan’s leading terrestrial channels TBS and TV Tokyo as well as an extensive library of terrestrial TV programming was added to U-NEXT’s lineup, further solidifying the service’s position in the market for strong local content.”

Universal Studios Japan’s current 16 million visitor total is the highest among Japan’s theme parks and the third highest worldwide. It is wholly owned by Comcast NBCUniversal. Located in Osaka, [ the park offers] attractions, shows, and seasonal events based on Hollywood blockbusters, Japanese anime and entertainment brands popular around the globe. Universal Studios Japan has continued to evolve since its opening in 2001. It most recently launched SUPER NINTENDO WORLD. It also offers premier entertainment experiences such as The Wizarding World of Harry Potter featuring Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, the Jurassic Park area with its state-of-the-art Flying Dinosaur coaster, and Minion Park.

Thailand has been set as the inaugural ‘Country of Honor’ at the ACFM, the rights market attached to the Busan International Film Festival.

During ACFM 2026, Thailand will host a dedicated pavilion featuring promising companies from its film and content industries, providing a focused setting for business and international co-production discussions. In addition, highlight its newly launched ‘Remake IP’ section, presenting five feature film IPs with strong remake potential at the ‘Busan Story Market Pitch & Match - Thailand Remake IP’ session.

Thai producers will [also] take part in Producer Hub to explore practical avenues for international co-production with producers from around the world. The Market Conference will also present a seminar on stories, IP, and co-production for the global market.

The Busan Story Market (previously known as ‘book to film’ and later ‘E-IP Market’) has unveiled nine additional titles; five Thai titles in its new Remake IP lineup and four Hong Kong IP selections.

“’Midnight Incense’ is a horror mystery built around the midnight incense ritual. Its emotionally psychological horror aligns well with global demand for Asian occult narratives. ‘Happy Monday(s)’ is a coming-of-age comedy about a teenager trapped in a time loop who helps a friend he likes get through an exam. It offers a localization model based on a globally proven format. ‘Home for Rent’ follows a series of strange events that unfold around a family after a new tenant moves in, tapping into anxieties rooted in everyday life. ‘My Boo’ blends horror and romance in the story of a gamer who inherits an old house and forms both a business partnership and a romantic bond with the ghost who remains there. ‘Congrats My Ex!’ is a romantic comedy about a wedding planner on the brink of bankruptcy who takes on her ex-boyfriend’s Indian wedding. The film draws on marriage, a universal theme that lends itself to varied interpretations across cultures,” Busan said.

• Separately, Busan said that it had selected Chinese actress Fan Bingbing and Korean filmmaker Kim Jee-woon and cinematographer Hong Kyung-po to front its Carte Blanche section. Each gets to programme one film that will play at this year’s edition of the festival.

Kim selected “Mad Max”. Hong selected “Three Colours: Blue”. Fan selected “The Handmaiden”.

The Busan festival runs 6-15 Oct. The ACFM runs 10-13 Oct. Its full line-up will be announced on Tuesday.

Theme Park Expansion

Osaka-based Universal Studios Japan is preparing to undertake a major expansion, with investment expected to total between JPY200 billion and JPY300 billion ($1.26 billion and $1.88 billion), the Nikkei Asia newspaper reported.

The operating company plans to use a 60,000-square-meter site that was a Nippon Steel factory, adjacent to and north of the current theme park to build new attractions. The expansion will mark the first time the venue has grown its footprint since it opened in 2001.

With more overseas tourists coming to Japan, USJ aims to boost its annual attendance. Its current 16 million visitor total is the highest among Japan’s theme parks and the third highest worldwide.

Duchovny Joins Taiwan-Set Crime Thriller

Hollywood’s David Duchovny is reported to have joined the cast of “The Exiles”, the first English-language film attempted by Taiwan-based director Midi Z. The “X-Files” star joins a previously announced cast that includes Sam Worthington and Taiwan’s Wu Ke-xi.

The film is in early stages of post-production and is expected to be delivered in 2027.

Its story, said to be partly based on factual events in Southeast Asia, sees a western man relocate to Asia in search of a better life. But greed, ego and rivalry lead to murder. The film also boasts Ed Lachman as cinematographer, Hank Corwin as editor and Lim Giong as music composer.

Midi Z was previously based in Myanmar and has made films set in Southeast Asia, including “Ice Poison” and “The Road to Mandalay”, before turning to Taiwan for “Nina Wu” and to mainland China for “The Unseen Sister”.

Micro Drama Ads Follow Usage Upturn

Advertising revenues on micro drama sites has soared as downloads of consumer micro drama apps has ballooned, according to a new report.

Data from Mintegral shows that year-on-year downloads of micro drama apps grew by 96% and reached 1.45 billion in the first half of 2026.

FreeReals was the most downloaded with 195.8 million downloads ahead of closest competitor NetShort (98.9 million) in H1 of 2026.

Advertisers increased by 132% and ‘creative output’ increased by 151%.

The micro drama category had approximately 3 million pieces of creative output, it had the highest creative density, or the number of ads divided by the number of activating advertising apps, at 1,887, according to Mintegral’s “H2 2026 Global Non-Gaming App Trends Report, and reported by Marketing Dive.

Global Games Growth

An upcoming report from research firm Newzoo is expected to show that the global gaming market will grow by 6.1% this year to $214 billion.

Mobile games dominate, while PC’s growth slows after a recent surge. (China accounts for one third of the global PC gaming market.)

Asia-Pacific is worth $101 billion or 47% of the global total. The Middle East and Africa is the fastest growing, with a forecast expansion of 10.3%.

A copy of the free-of-charge report can be pre-reserved.

India Wants Creative Economy Growth

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has identified animation, VFX, gaming, and digital content as important components of India’s soft-power ambitions.

In his Independence Day address earlier this month, Modi said that soft power is among the seven streams of strength that he said would drive India’s next phase of economic growth.

“India can actively show its incredible dominance inside the creative world, and we will absolutely have to develop it as a global capability,” Modi said.

BL and GL Genres Succeed Despite Restrictions, Economics

Thailand’s readiness to operate at scale in the premium entertainment space was keenly debated at the beginning of the second day of the ContentAsia Live conference.

Speakers were largely optimistic – the country leads the world in production of Boys Love (BL) and Girls Love (GL) content, its location services industry is flourishing and there have been recent hits from film and T that have been export successes -- but they felt more could be done by government.)

(Discussions were held under Chatham House rules, meaning that media reporting should not identify individual speakers. However, the event organisers helpfully published the conference agenda and list of speakers online if readers wish to connect the dots.)

Despite being described by one speaker as “Thailand’s superpower”, the BL and GL categories bring complications. While they are to have good travelability, some shows may need to be cut or self-censored for distribution in Thailand and near-to-home export markets. Speakers talked of free-to-air and streaming versions.

GDH, arguably Thailand’s hottest production studio, thanks to hit films “How to Make Million Before Grandma Dies” and series including “The Evil Lawyer” that and “Mad Unicorn” that were made for Netflix, says it identifies primarily as a feature film company.

However, it will pursue opportunities in coproduction. Most likely in the Southeast Asia region first, and an emphasis on the skills brought to a production by a potential partner company, rather than its ability to deliver equity funding.

In a later session, True Visions Now (part of the giant CP Group conglomerate that stretches from streaming and mobile services to convenience stores) said that it is preparing to greenlight a massive 35 films and TV series this year. These will roll out at the rate of one every two or three weeks. This production boom involves commissioning multiple local firms and is in addition to its existing co-production pact with Korea’s CJ ENM.

In a session that focused entirely on BL and GL shows (and largely on GL titles), speakers picked apart some of the genre’s peculiarities.

Distribution is largely via free channels and platforms, with revenue coming largely from sponsorship, cast appearances and overseas rights sales.

With the majority of consumption outside of Thailand and driving fierce fandoms, that is a business model that currently seems to work.

One speaker said that the factors determining the success of any particular GL show are little different from those in the BL category, though another said that the number of smiling, beauty scenes needs to be higher.

Speakers touched on the question whether GL actors, who often become famous as a couple, can also sustain solo careers. They largely agreed that while directors can easily make the transition to other genres, it is harder for the actresses. How easily they can also take on role outside the LGBT scene was not touched on in depth.

(It might be worth noting that Thailand sees many studios doubling up as talent managers, in what was once described as the Hollywood studio system, and which lives on in much of East Asia. Moreover, Thailand has a very high burnout rate, with on-screen talent considered no longer fresh by the time they reach age 30.)

Awards Recognise Asian Diversity, Perseverance

Thai Girls Love (GL) series “Heart Code, mainland Chinese period drama “Swords Into Plowshares” and 1950s-set Taiwanese drama “Black Tide Island” were among the titles to win multiple prizes at the ContentAsia Awards on Thursday.

The ceremony took place at the Cloud 11 creative space in Bangkok and was hosted by actress and model Cindy Bishop, with Utt operating as red carpet host.

Organisers report that over 500 entries were submitted for the awards in 35 categories and were vetted by over 100 jury members (Disclaimer: I was a juror in one category.)

The event was increasingly interactive: Voting by the public was expanded to four categories. And the festivities were live-streamed via Facebook.

“The quality of Asia’s original production continues to go from strength to strength. The industry in Asia has not been immune to global shifts, which are challenging everyone in multiple ways. However, producers, storytellers and platforms clearly remain committed to serving a wide range of consumers, continuing to develop their creative voice and muscle with authentic Asian stories across a broad range of genres and formats”, said ContentAsia Awards’ president, Janine Stein.

After the prize ceremony Stein was presented with a birthday cake, marking ContentAsia’s 20^th anniversary.

ContentAsia Awards 2026 Winners list

Vidio x Reelshort (Indonesia)

Indonesia’s largest streaming platform Vidio unveiled an acquisition and production partnership with US-based micro drama operator ReelShort.

The alliance involves vertical drama acquisitions as well as co-productions involving Indonesian production houses and talent. The resulting co-productions will play on both Vidio and ReelShort.

ReelShort titles will begin releasing on Vidio on Tuesday (1 Sept.) on a dedicated short drama tab as part of existing premium subscription packs. Some 200 licensed titles will be available dubbed into Bahasa Indonesia from launch.

The slate includes romance, billionaire romance, fantasy, and family drama series and Mark Francis, Vidio’s chief content and strategy officer, said that the slate slightly will lean into US content in the early stages.

The deal, which took nearly a year to negotiate and was brokered by Anne Chan of AR Global Media Network, is clearly seen as an urgent but also experimental step into a fast-growing sector. “We were not sure how to curate micro dramas within a long form platform,” Francis said on Wednesday. He also explained that Vidio expects to pick up casual viewers. “We are not trying to be there for the micro drama super user,” he added. Heavy users are more likely to pay for subscriptions directly with consumer-facing micro drama platforms.

However, the deal is also hoped to encourage and expand Vidio’s own production efforts in the sector. These coproductions co-prods could possibly use Vidio parent company Emtek’s facilities directing and soap opera on-screen talent and IP.

“IP could start from micro drama and then evolve into other media,” Francis said.

COL x CP (Thailand)

China’s COL Group and CP Group, owner of massive Thai media assets, announced a strategic partnership in micro drama.

• Talent: CP Group and COL Group will jointly develop a Short-Form Drama talent incubation program with a leading academic institution in Thailand. This will support industry engagement around short-form drama creation, production and creative capability.

• Production: They will also collaborate on a Thai remake collaboration, adapting selected popular and flagship titles from COL Group and FlareFlow, its Singapore-based direct-to-consumer platform, for local audiences.

“Rather than simply translating existing titles, selected stories will be reimagined with Thai characters, settings, language and other locally relevant creative elements, creating versions designed specifically for audiences in Thailand,” the pair said in a statement..

The collaboration will incorporate AI-generated content production capabilities to support the localisation and production process.

• Distribution: From September, Thai consumers will see the launch of FlareFlow Mini, a dedicated FlareFlow-branded content corner within TATANG by TrueID, CP’s existing short-form drama platform,

In addition to being Thailand’s largest agricultural corporation CP operates the 7/11 convenience stores and the leading supermarket chain. In media, it owns the True Corporation cluster that ranges from internet service provision to TV channels. It also offers digital payments systems.

The content offering will be localised for Thai audiences, complementing TATANG’s focus on curating international short-form drama for local viewers and making content more accessible through Thai-language experiences.

“Building a sustainable short-form entertainment industry requires us to invest beyond content and into the next generation of Thai creative talent,” said Patsakorn Laohrenu, director of business development of content & media group, CP Group.

“This partnership brings together the different pieces needed to grow short-form entertainment in a meaningful way, from developing the next generation of creators to localising proven stories for Thai audiences and creating new ways for those stories to reach viewers,” said Timothy Oh, GM of COL Group and CMO of FlareFlow.

Micro Drama Upfront (Singapore)

COL Group, VIRTUE Asia andV47 Entertainment will operate Inside Microdramas, which they pitch as the world’s first upfront event dedicated to microdramas and the vertical entertainment economy.

The first edition will take place in Singapore on 27 October 2026, and is expected to bring together senior leaders from entertainment, advertising, technology, platforms and consumer brands.

The event will combine industry insights, brand perspectives, cross-industry discussion, project previews and one-to-one partnership sessions.

The initial presentation will showcase approximately 10 projects available for development and production with brand partners, giving participating companies the opportunity to engage with projects before they are fully financed or produced.

Following the main programme, invited guests will take part in dedicated ‘Greenlight Sessions’ with the creators, producers and strategists behind the slate.

Inside Microdramas will draw a clear distinction between micro drama as a specific short-form, serialised storytelling format and vertical entertainment as the broader evolution of mobile-first entertainment. This growing category can encompass scripted series, reality, factual entertainment, creator-led formats, interactive storytelling, commerce and branded intellectual property.

“The next evolution of branded entertainment will not come from placing brands into stories after they have already been developed. It will come from bringing brands, creators and producers together at the very beginning,” said David Webster, chairman of V47 Entertainment. “This upfront creates a marketplace for that collaboration, where original ideas can find the right partners, funding and distribution to become entertainment audiences genuinely choose to watch.”

Loomi Expands Into Korean Language Content

Singapore-based Loomi Entertainment used the convention to launch its “The Nine-Tailed Fox’s Revenge Marriage” series. The show, which will upload from September, is its first Korean-language original.

It will be made available on its Loomi app and also distributed in South Korea through KT Studio Genie, building on LEG’s existing relationship with the Korean content company. Loomi has previously produced English and Chinese-language productions.

“Combining romance, revenge and fantasy, ‘The Nine-Tailed Fox’s Revenge Marriage’ draws on proven audience preferences while introducing LEG’s distinctive approach to scalable, technology-enabled production,” the company said.

The company leans heavily into artificial intelligence for production. Loomi led a panel session at ContentAsia Live, sharing insights into how emerging technologies are transforming the way stories are created and produced.

“We are excited to work with more IP owners, writers and creative talents across Asia to transform locally inspired ideas into stories that can travel across markets. By combining human creativity with innovative production capabilities, we hope to unlock more opportunities for original storytelling at scale,” said Sharon Tse, Group CEO of Loomi Entertainment Group.

Within the space of 48 hours, four Asian territories announced their chosen contenders for the Best International Feature Film category at the upcoming 99^th edition of the Academy Awards. In doing so they have blasted open the Oscars race from this region.

Korea picked the yet to be premiered “Being Human” from Netflix and four-time Oscars contender Lee Chang-dong. Japan and Thailand picked titles that premiered at Cannes: Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s “All of a Sudden” and Sompot Chidgasornpongse’s “9 Temples to Heaven”, respectively. Cambodia picked a fantasy about an old cinema that hits local cinemas later this week.

They join the previously announced “A Foggy Tale” from Taiwan.

Thailand: “9 Temples to Heaven”

Dir: Sompot Chidgasornpongse

Producers / prod cos: At A Time Pictures and Kick the Machine Films (Thailand) E&W Films (Singapore), Petit Chaos (France), Needle in the Haystack (Norway), La Fonte (China), Square One Film (Hong Kong) and Qun Film (Indonesia).

Rights sales: Playtime (France)

Synopsis: Despite being brought together by differing beliefs and perspectives, the nine members of the family,i ncludingthe grandmother, her two sons, daughter, daughter-in-law, two grandsons, granddaughter and grandson’s girlfriend decide to visit nine temples in a single day to make merit and offer alms on the grandmother’s behalf to ward off bad luck and prolong her life.

Notes: The family drama had its world premiere in Cannes in May and opens in commercially in Thai cinemas from 17 September. Previous Palme d’Or-winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul is among the producers.

Imdb Pro: https://pro.imdb.com/title/tt37740247/

Japan: “All of a Sudden”

Dir: Hamaguchi Ryusuke

Producers / prod cos: David Gauquié, Julien Deris, Jean-Luc Ormières and Renan Artukmaç of Cinefrance Studios (France); Hiroko Matsuda, Kosuke Oshida and Yuji Sadai at Office Shirous (Japan) and Bitters End (Japan); Bettina Brokemper at Heimatfilm (Germany) and Joseph Rouschop Tarantula (Belgium).

Rights sales: Cinefrance International (France), Bitters End (Japan)

Synopsis: Marie-Lou runs a nursing home near Paris and strives for more humane elder care. Her friendship with Mari, a Japanese theatre director facing terminal cancer, deepens her commitment to residents’ dignity.

Notes: By Oscar-winning “Drive My Car” director Hamaguchi, “All of a Sudden” is a bilingual drama that premiered in competition in Cannes this year and has since been to a stack of international festivals. It had its Japan release in June and kicks off in the US, via Neon, from 25 Nov.

Imdb Pro: https://pro.imdb.com/title/tt36834996/

South Korea: “Possible Love”

Dir: Lee Chang-dong

Producers / prod cos: Pinehouse Film, Nowfilm (Korea) and Anonymous Content (US).

Rights sales: Netflix

Synopsis: Two married couples — a laid-off worker and his wife, and a documentary director and her husband — who cross paths while making a film together, bringing both marriages face to face with their different lives and hidden desires.

Notes: Backed by Netflix, the film represents Lee’s fourth time as director of Korea’s Oscar contender. It has its world premiere next month at the Venice festival and follows that with one in Toronto. Brief theatrical releases in Korea, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Japan precede upload to Netflix on 6 Nov.

Imdb Pro: https://pro.imdb.com/title/tt37803364/

Cambodia: “Becoming Human”

Dir: Polen Ly

Producers / prod cos: Daniel Mattes, Anti-Archive (Cambodia).

Rights sales: Lights On (Italy)

Synopsis: A ghost guardian of an old theatre must choose between rebirth and her growing connection to a living man, while their city changes around them

Notes: The drama-fantasy had its world premiere at last year’s Venice’s Biennale Cinema in August 2025 before travelling to the Busan, London, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taipei Golden Horse film festivals. It won the top prize at Indonesia’s Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival (JAFF). Its commercial release in Cambodia launches on 27 August.

Imdb Pro: https://pro.imdb.com/title/tt37651659/

Vertical Video Star Cindy Bishop to Host ContentAsia Awards

Cindy Bishop, Asian modelling icon and the face of FlareFlow’s first vertical reality show, “SupermodelMe: Make It Or Break It”, is set to host the ContentAsia Awards in Bangkok on Thursday this week.

The awards, which will be streamed on Facebook Live, are the concluding act of the ContentAsia LIVE & Awards conference event (26-27 August). For details of the agenda and speakers click here.

“SupermodelMe: Make It Or Break It” is based on the Refinery Media original format, “SupermodelMe”. The vertical adaptation is to be followed by the male version, “SupermodelMe: The Runway Kings”, which releases in Q4 2026.

Bangkok-born Bishop (aka Sirinya Burbridge) represented Thailand in the Miss World pageant in 2003. She has twice been nominated for acting prizes at the Suphanahong Awards and has become a social activist in favour male respect for women.

Japan Box Office: ‘Chiikawa’ Holds Strong

“Chiikawa the Movie: The Secret of Mermaid Island” held on to its number one chart place in Japan over the latest weekend. It attracted 825,000 admissions and earned JPY1.242 billion between Friday and Sunday, giving cumulatives of 7.66 million ticket sales and JPY11 billion of gross revenue.

Although it is the first film based on the “Chiikawa” IP, it is the second highest-grossing Japanese anime this year and the 19th ranked anime feature of all time in Japan.

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” added 168,000 admissions and JPY285 million of revenue to remain second in monetary terms. It has 2.96 million admissions to date and revenues of JPY4.8 billion.

“Toy Story 5” held second place in ticket sales terms, with 173,000 admissions and JPY240 million of revenue. After eight weeks, its cumulatives are 8.74 million admissions and JPY12.1 billion of revenue.

“Minions & Monsters” added 146,000 admissions and JPY193 million of revenues. That gives it running totals of 1.35 million admissions and earnings of JPY1.79 billion.

“Crayon Shin-chan: My Yokai Vacation”, the 33rd film in the “Crayon Shin-chan” series, climbed one place to fifth, in its fourth weekend of release.

Similarly, “I Want to Meet You Again on the Hill Where the Stars Fall”, in its third week of release, climbed one position to sixth.

Australia Box Office: ‘Insidious’ Debuts Third

First and second places at the weekend edition of the Australian box office were unchanged week-on-week, with “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” in first place, followed by “The Odyssey”. Sony horror thriller “Insidious: Out of the Further” opened in third place as the highest new release title.

“Spider-Man” earned A5.31 million to extend its cumulative to A$76.8 million. “The Odyssey” earned A$2.87 million for a running total of A$56.9 million. “Insidious 6” earned A$1.16 million.

“The End of Oak Street” earned A$766,000 for fourth place and a two-week cumulative of A$2.83 million.

There were plenty of other new releases in the lower order.

US comedy with Australian actor Isla Fisher, “Spa Weekend” opened with A$541,000 over its first weekend. Including previews, it finished Sunday with A$1.09 million.

“Mutiny” debuted with A$541,000. “Tony” earned A$382,000 over the weekend and A$486,000 including previews. India’s Malayalam-language “Bethlehem Kudumba Unit” earned A$303,000. And “Kung Fu Soccer” debuted with A$204,000.

‘La Gradiva’ Wins in Melbourne

The Melbourne International Film Festival handed its top prize on Saturday to “La Gradiva” directed by Marine Atlan.

The French-produced drama with an ensemble cast, depicts a group of high school students setting off on a school trip to discover the ruins of Pompeii. There they allow themselves to be overwhelmed by desire and anger. It debuted thus year in the Critics’ Week section of the Cannes film festival.

The Uncle Jack Charles Award, which recognises an outstanding Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander screen creative, went to director Talia Liddle for Protest on the Dance Floor.

The flagship MIFF Bright Horizons Award is supported by VicScreen and pays the winner A$140,000. The Uncle Jack Charles Award is supported by the MIFF Lumiere Patrons. The winner receives a A$20,000 cash prize

MIFF 2026 ran in-cinema from 6-23 August. MIFF Online runs 14-30 August as a limited selection of festival highlights and short film packages that are available on demand via ACMI’s dedicated streaming platform Cinema 3.

MIFF AWARDS 2026

• Bright Horizons Award supported by VicScreen
  La Gradiva directed by Marine Atlan

• Blackmagic Design Best Australian Director Award
  Dario Russo, The Fox

• The Uncle Jack Charles Award, supported by the MIFF Lumiere Patrons
  Talia Liddle, Protest on the Dance Floor – film direction

• Intrepid Audience Award
  Hard as Puck directed by Isaac Elliott

• MIFF Schools Youth Jury Award presented by Collarts
  Sad Girlz directed by Fernanda Tovar.

Tokyo IP Market Showcase Companies

Eight leading Japanese companies, straddling publishing film production and studio, will take part in the Tokyo IP Market as part of the TIFFCOM market (in 28-30 October) that accompanies the Tokyo International Film Festival.

They are: Amuse Creative Studio, Kadokawa, Nihon Bungeisha, Nippon Animation, Shochiku, Shufu to Seikatsu Sha, Square Enix and Toei.

TIFFCOM launched Tokyo Story Market in 2023, as a platform dedicated to matchmaking for screen adaptation rights of original Japanese IP, including manga and novels. In 2025, the initiative evolved into the Tokyo IP Market: Adaptation & Remake (TIPM) by expanding its scope to include film studios and production companies holding adaptable IP. For its inaugural rebranded edition last year, six major Japanese IP holders participated.

Screen Queensland Gets Cash Commitment

The Queensland state government has committed A$50 million over two years to location attraction body Screen Queensland to secure a supply of locally made screen productions. The move is aimed at reinforcing the state’s position as one of Australia’s leading film and television hubs.

The funding, announced by state Minister for the Arts John-Paul Langbroek, is part of the government’s broader ten-year arts and culture strategy known as “Queensland’s Time to Shine”.

“In 2025–26, Screen Queensland supported 117 projects and generated an estimated A$541.8 million in direct Queensland production expenditure and more than 6,600 employment opportunities for Queenslanders,” he said.

The cash also sits alongside A$9.8 million in annual base funding for Screen Queensland’s capacity building and A$9.9 million over three years to 2028-29 for the operation of Screen Queensland Studios Brisbane.

The government estimates the investment will help support more than 6,600 employment opportunities across the state’s screen sector. The state has studio complexes that include the Village Roadshow Gold Coast facilities, Screen Queensland Brisbane Studios (which are eight years old and have hosted “Deadloch” and “Love and Monsters”) and the recently-opened Screen Queensland Studios in the state’s ‘Far North’ in Cairns.

Japan’s ‘Rock Paper Landmine’ Heads to Prime Video

Japanese production company The Seven has unveiled details of “Rock, Paper, Landmine”, drama series that will begin airing on Amazon’s Prime Video from November.

The show is a live-action adaptation of mystery novel “Rock, Paper, Landmines” by Aosaki Yugo which uses popular games such as Red Light, Green Light as the basis for a strategy and deception game. The cast is headed by two rising young actresses. Nana Mori plays Mato Imoriya, a seemingly carefree and easy-going high school girl who reveals sharp instincts and a gift for strategy. Aju Makita plays Mato’s best friend—a caring and protective presence as Mato takes on dangerous challenges.

The series is produced by executive vice president and COO of The Seven, Morii Akira (“Alice in Borderland and Yu Yu Hakusho) It is directed by Seki Kazuaki (“Kakukakushikajika” and “Beethoven Forgery”.

“I was drawn to the potential of this story, where the essence of human nature is revealed through simple games. It’s a new kind of entertainment—one that keeps you on the edge of your seat without a drop of blood being spilled,” said Buddy Marini, head of Amazon MGM Studios, Japan.

Alibaba Wants More AI, Raises $10 Billion

Just days after revealing financial results that were shaded by its technology investment, Chinese tech giant Alibaba says that it is seeking yet more capital that it will plough into Artificial Intelligence infrastructure.

On Sunday, it said that it is planning to raise HK$80 billion (US$10.3 billion) through a share placing in Hong Kong. On Monday, it said that the issued shares would be sold at HK$112.70 apiece, a discount of approximately 9.0% to share price over the previous five days.

It “intends to use 100% of the net proceeds from the Proposed Placing to invest in its full stack AI capabilities.”

On Thursday last week, Alibaba revealed a 9% increase in April-June revenues, to RMB269 billion ($39.6 billion) and a big tumble in profitability. “Net income was RMB10.4 billion (US$1.54 billion), a decrease of 75% year-over year, primarily attributable to the decrease in income from operations, decrease in net gains from disposal of investments, and the decrease in net gain from mark-to-market changes of our equity investments,” the group said.

Free cash flow in the quarter was an outflow of RMB44.7 billion (US$6.58 billion), compared to an outflow of RMB18.8 billion in the same quarter of 2025. The [change] was mainly attributed to the increase in cloud infrastructure expenditure. As of June 30, 2026, cash and other liquid investments were RMB475 billion (US$69.9 billion).

The changing mix of Alibaba’s businesses and new categories of presentation mean it is now harder to determine the performance of Alibaba’s media interests. These are still considerable and include cinema investments, ownership of the South China Morning Post newspaper, the Youku video streaming platform and various film and music ticketing and distribution service companies. Only some of these are contained within the Damai Entertainment (formerly Alibaba Pictures) business that has a separate share listing in Hong Kong, and which generally reports its financials some days after the parent group.

Nicole Kidman Revered as Trailblazer

Australia’s Nicole Kidman is to be presented with the 2026 Trailblazer Award at September’s Australian Women’s Film Festival in Sydney. The prize recognises her contribution as both an actor and as a producer.

Causeway Films co-founders Kristina Ceyton and Samantha Jennings will also be recognised at this year’s festival. They have produced films including “The Babadook”, “The Nightingale”, “Talk to Me” and “Bring Her Back”.

Box office milestones were passed in both China and North America during the latest Friday to Sunday weekend, continuing a strong summer season in the world’s two largest cinema markets.

Mainland China year-to-date box office passed the $4 billion mark and reached $4.004 billion, according to data from Artisan Gateway. Similarly, Chinese media noted the RMB27 billion milestone.

The North American market (i.e. US and Canada, often referred to as ‘domestic’) reached $7.07 billion, according to Rentrak (formerly ComScore).

There are differences, however. The North American market is running more than 20% ahead of last year, and 7.1% behind 2019 pre-COVID levels. Rentrak reports the summer season as achieving $4.45 billion, which it calculates as 26% ahead of last year and 6.4% ahead of 2019.

China’s YTD figure is $28.6% below the running total for 2025. But some comfort can be had from a sixth weekend out of seven with aggregate revenues above $100 million. And state-media report that the summer movie season, which began on 1 June, has seen 43 consecutive days with daily box office revenues above RMB100 million ($14.9 million).

In the latest weekend session, “Once Upon a Time in the Middle East” earned $43.9 million, advancing its three-weekend cumulative to $232 million.

New release title, “V” (aka “Empty Gun”, aka 《空槍》), a crime drama co-production between China and Hong Kong, opened in second place with $18.9 million over the weekend and $30.7 million over the five days since its 19 Aug debut. It is a 1990s-set crime drama in which the police forces of the two jurisdictions close in on criminals operating in Southeast Asia. Directed by Han Yan, the film’s expansive cast includes Zhu Yilong, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Michelle Wai, Kara Hui and Cecilia Yip.

“The Odyssey” earned $15.9 million in third place, down from its $28.4 million second-place opening a week earlier. Its total now is $68.7 million.

Hit animation film “All Wishes Come True” earned $9.8 million over the latest weekend. That lifts its cumulative total to $256 million.

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” took $4.9 million in fifth place. That lifted its cumulative to $220 million, the highest score for an imported title so far this year.

The China performances were strong enough to make an impact on the global weekend chart prepared by Rentrak.

Korea: ‘The Odyssey’ Sailing Into Friendly Territory

Korean audiences have previously been seen to reward films that are impressively mounted and well acted. And so it should not be a surprise that “The Odyssey” has taken the Korean box office charts by storm.

What is more surprising is that over the latest weekend, its third weekend session after a belated 5 Aug release, should increase its market share – from 59% to 67% in the latest session.

The film clocked $10.7 million between Friday and Sunday (down from $13.6 million previously) and equalled its opening weekend session. In 19 days, it has accumulated $56.9 million, the third highest performance by any film this year, behind only “The King’s Warden”, with an exceptional $118 million, and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”, with $61.4 million.

Over the latest weekend, “Spider-Man” placed second with $2.96 million, down from $5.85 million. It has been on release since 29 July.

“Insidious: Out of the Further” was the weekend’s highest new release title. It managed $547,000 over the weekend and $706,000 over its full five-day opening cycle.

It also gave Hollywood imports a top-three chart lockout and solidified imported titles’ lock on August. Data from Kobis shows that imports have accounted for 89% of ticket sales so far this month.

Korea’s top home grown title this weekend was kids’ animation title “Heartsping: Legend of the Whale Heartstone”, with$480,000 and a $5.39 million cumulative since releasing on 5 Aug.

Japan’s “Detective Conan the Movie: Fallen Angel of the Highway” placed fourth with $380,000. Its cumulative since releasing on 12 Aug. is $2.59 million.

Lower positions belonged to: “OK! Madam: Bon Voyage” with $239,000 for a cumulative of $2.08 million; “Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie” with $144,000 for a cumulative of $671,000; and “Hope” with $130,000 for a cumulative of $35.1 million.

“The Secret World of Arrietty”, the 2010 Japanese animated adaptation of classic English-language children’s novel “The Borrowers”, enjoyed a reissue in Korea. It earned $82,000 and took ninth place.

A24’s “Warfare” opened in tenth place with $58,000 over the weekend and $109,000 over its opening cycle.

Indonesia: ‘Insidious’ Leads Pack of Newcomers

Indonesia had five new releases among the top seven titles and a new chart leader, “Insidious: Out of the Further”.

“Insidious 6” attracted 385,000 spectators between Friday and Sunday and a healthy 594,000 over its five-day opening.

Indonesian comedy-horror, “Harusnya Horror” attracted 190,000 spectators over the weekend and 297,000 over five days.

Previous leader, “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” managed 157,000 ticket sales in its latest weekend of release, giving a cumulative of 6.65 million since opening on 29 July.

Action film “Mutiny” sold 83,000 tickets in its three-day opening weekend.

“Romantic drama film “Dan Bandung” sold 48,600 tickets over the weekend and 74,8000 over its five-day run.

New release thriller “Ayah, Aku Mau Cerita” sold 32,900 tickets over the weekend and 62,500 over five days.

“The Odyssey” slipped to seventh place with 18,500 new ticket sales over the weekend. Since its debut on 15 July, it has sold 1.99 million tickets.

Australian Screen Industry Needs to Keep up With Pace of Change, Report Shows

Australia has published its “Screen Currency 2026” report exploring how audiences engage with Australian screen and digital games and how local content is created, financed and made available.

The research confirms Australian stories and games continue to matter deeply to Australians and increasingly resonate with audiences globally, but also show that the screen sector growth has lagged the wider Australian economy.

“The sector is growing, contributing over A$11 billion ($7.81 billion) to the economy in financial year 2023/24 and directly employing nearly 70 thousand people in FY 2024/25. With exports totalling A$1.6 billion ($1.13 billion) in FY 2023/24, the report also highlights a significant opportunity for international expansion, particularly for the games sector, which has seen exports increasing by an average of 15% year-on-year and contribution to the local economy more than doubling since FY 2016/17,” the report said.

Key takeaways:

• Australians value local screen and games content, even if they don’t always consume it

• Discoverability is now as important as production

• Local content creates significant economic and cultural value

• Global markets are a major growth opportunity

• Future success lies in building on strong foundations

“While audience choices become increasingly global and algorithm-led, Screen Currency 2026 confirms local TV, film, direct-to-audience content and games matter deeply to Australians and clearly resonate around the world.

Australia has extraordinary talent and internationally recognised capabilities, but there is no doubt we are in a pivotal moment of transformation for the sector. We want our communities and experiences reflected on all screens, but ensuring we reach people is now as important as producing that content.

Future success will require support for Australian businesses to build enduring intellectual property, strengthen audience relationships, improve discoverability and compete confidently in global markets. This is a creative industry worth investing in,” said Screen Australia CEO Dierdre Brennan.

The overall survey breaks down into four segments – audience, industry, economic and global – each of which has a separately downloadable report, and 16 different case studies covering film, TV and games.

The overview, dedicated website and downloads can be found here:

https://screencurrency.screenaustralia.gov.au/

Busan Sets ‘Table’ as Opening Night Meal

“The Table: Day and Night” has been set as the opening night title of October’s Busan International Film Festival.

Directed by Kim Jong-kwan, the film follows four couples as they experience different moments of love at a single café, from summer to autumn. It unfolds “through lively, understated, and tender conversations. [..] Emphasizing the café’s inherent nature as a space where strangers continuously come and go, the film captures each character’s story, personality, mood, and nuances through brisk pacing and a thoughtful gaze”, festival selectors said in a statement.

The cast includes: KIM Minha, JOO Jong-hyuk, HAN Sun-hwa, CHANG Ryul, SHIM Eun-kyung, LEE Hee-jun, JEON So-young and KIM Dong-hwi.

“Making his debut with the acclaimed short film ‘How to Operate a Polaroid Camera (2004), Kim Jong-kwan directed numerous short films that won several awards at domestic and international film festivals. Following his feature debut ‘Come, Closer’ (2010), he directed a series of celebrated features, including ‘Worst Woman’ (2016), ‘The Table’ (2017), ‘Josée’ (2020) and ‘Shades of the Heart’ (2021). He has also contributed to collaborative omnibus projects, directing ‘Walking at Night’, one of the segments of the Netflix original series ‘Persona’ (2019), as well as ‘Vestige’ (2022) and ‘The Killers’ (2024). He is preparing for the Korean domestic release of ‘Frosted Window’,” the festival said of the film’s director.

The 31st Busan International Film Festival runs from Tues 6 to Thurs 15 Oct.

Don Lee Joins ‘Extraction 3’

Korean action star Ma Dong-seok (aka Don Lee) has joined the cast of “Extraction 3”, the Netflix action film that is now in production, Ma’s agency Big Punch Entertainment reported on Tuesday.

He will appear alongside Chris Hemsworth and Idris Elba in a new mission pitching mercenaries against international crime syndicates. The film is directed by Sam Hargrave from a screenplay by David Weill.

Ma achieved fame through “Train to Busan” and huge commercial success as producer and actor behind “The Roundup” action film franchise. Yonhap News reports that his latest “The Roundup 5” is now in production and sees his character Ma Seok-do promoted to lead a metropolitan police investigation unit. The completed film is scheduled for release next year.

Taiwan Makes Asia’s First Oscars Pick

Taiwan has selected “A Foggy Tale” to represent the territory at the Oscars in the Best International Feature Film Category.

Directed by Chen Yu-hsun and set during the 1950s ‘White Terror’ era, the film depicts a young woman from the countryside trying to find the body of her older brother, who is presumed dead in Taipei.

The film was the opening title of last November’s Golden Horse Film Festival and soon afterwards collected four major prizes at the Golden Horse Awards. It enjoyed its commercial release in Taiwan at the end of the same month.

This year it won five prizes at the 28th Taipei Film Awards and has been selected for festival play at events in Udine, Hong Kong, Seattle and the Singapore Chinese Film Festival.

APSA Honours for Jack Thompson

Australian film legend Jack Thompson is to be honoured with a special opening night tribute at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards on 28 October. He will be 86 at the end of this month.

The event will include a screening of “Burke & Wills”, presented by the National Film & Sound Archive of Australia at Event Cinemas Pacific Fair in Gold Coast, Queensland.

Thompson will introduce the film before joining the audience for a special on-stage conversation reflecting on a remarkable career spanning more than five decades and his enduring contribution to Australian and Asia Pacific cinema. In addition to appearing in more than 50 Australian films, he was a founder and champion of APSA and president of the APSA Academy for nearly to decades.

This year, the APSA Awards will be presented at a ceremony on 30 Oct.

“Chiikawa the Movie: The Secret of the Mermaid Island” held on to its place at the top of the Japanese box office over the weekend.

The film earned JPY895 million ($5.6 million) from 602,000 admissions in its fourth weekend on release. After 24 days on release, it has earned JPY9.28 billion ($58.2 million) from an aggregate 6.45 million ticket sales, according to Oricon News. That ranks it as the third highest grossing film to open in Japan this year and 69^th in Japan’s all-time list.

The box office success of the film appears to suggest the birth of a significant new anime film franchise. It is the first feature film developed from a manga that had its origins in 2020 on Twitter / X and was subsequently developed as an anime TV series in 2022. Its story pitches small and cute characters against a harsher world.

Its theatrical performance stands comparison with “Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway”, the latest film from much more established “Conan” franchise. After 23 days in cinemas, “Fallen Angel” had accumulated JPY9.31 billion from 6.28 million spectators. It has subsequently gone on to reach JPY13.7 billion after 116 days on release, which sites it as the 27^th highest grossing film of all time in Japan.

In its second weekend of release, “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” stayed in second place when ranked by revenue, but slipped to third in ticket sales volume. It earned JPY541 million from315,000 spectators. After two weekends, it has earned JPY4.2 billion ($26.3 million) from 2.6 million admissions.

“Toy Story 5”, which is in its seventh week of release, climbed from fifth to third place in the 14-16 August weekend chart when ranked by revenue. In ticket sales terms, it stood as second. It earned JPY442 million from 321,000 spectators, lifting its cumulative to JPY11.6 billion from 8.35 million ticket sales.

That figure is the highest in the “Toy Story” franchise and the highest for any Pixar film in Japan.

Another Hollywood animation, “Minions & Monsters” was in fourth position in its second weekend in Japan. It earned JPY347 million from 259,000 admissions and has a cumulative of JPY1.3 billion from 1.02 million ticket sales.

The highest-ranking new release title of the weekend was “The End of Oak Street”, which opened in eighth.

Australia Box Office: ‘Spider ‘Web Still Strong

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” earned A$9.36 million between Thursday and Sunday in its third weekend atop the Australia box office. Its cumulative total is A$69.3 million.

“The Odyssey”, in its fifth weekend, earned A$3.65 million. Its cumulative is also impressive, at A$52.8 million.

“The End of Oak Street” debuted in third place with A$1.57 million in four days. US rom-com “One Night Only” earned A$423,000 over the weekend and has a cumulative of A$587,000 including previews.

Concert documentary, “KATSEYE: Wild Hearts” was fifth with A$359,000 in its opening weekend, taking its cumulative total to $454,000 including paid previews.

Two new-release Indian titles also placed in the top ten. Tamil title “Vishwanath & Sons” debuted with A$225,000. Hindi-language title “Awarapan 2” came tenth with A$180,000.

Losses Double at China’s iQiyi

Quarterly losses at Chinese streaming firm iQiyi expanded to RMB288 million ($42.4 million), up from RMB134 million in the same April-June period last year. Revenues were 5% lower, year-on-year, at RMB6.29 billion.

On a six-month or half-year basis revenues dipped 9% to RMB12.5 billion ($1.84 billion), while net losses of RMB582 million ($85.7 million) replaced net profits of RMB48 million ($7.1 million).

“In the second quarter, we reinforced our content leadership and advanced our strategic transformation. According to Enlightent, we maintained the No. 1 [Chinese] market share across long-form dramas, films and children’s content during the quarter, while our short-form dramas claimed the top domestic market share for the first time in June,” said Gong Yu, founder, director and CEO.

The company no longer discloses its subscription numbers and does not provide a breakdown of its mainland Chinese and international membership numbers.

Membership services revenue was RMB4.01 billion (US$591.6 million), decreasing 2% year over year. Online advertising services revenue was RMB1.25 billion (US$183.7 million), decreasing 2% year over year. Content distribution revenue was RMB681.5 million (US$100.4 million), increasing 56% year over year,

“The strategic transformation toward a decentralized social media ecosystem and our all-in approach to AI are yielding encouraging initial results. We look forward to further leveraging AI to empower our content ecosystem and enhance our financial performance.,” said Gong.

• iQiyi’s parent company Baidu saw its profits retreat in the April to June period, which similarly represents its second financial quarter and its six-month interim figures.

Revenues for six months were fractionally lower at RMB63.4 billion ($9.34 billion), but net income tumbled from RMB15.0 billion to just RMB5.76 billion (850 million).

“While our online marketing business remains under pressure, the growing momentum in our core AI-powered Business reaffirms Baidu’s transition from an internet-centric company to an AI-first company, and strengthens our confidence in our long-term growth potential”, said co-founder and CEO Robin Li.

Busan Hands out $100,000 of Co-Production Grants

The Busan festival and its Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM) have revealed three recipients of funding from its Asian Cinema Fund.

Payouts from its 2026 Co-Production Support Fund go to the majority-Korean film “Grateful” from Japanese director Fukada Koji; and two minority-Korean projects “Rhizome” from Thailand’s Jakrawal Nilthamrong; and Singaporean director Boo Junfeng’s “Trinity”. The first receives KRW60 million ($42,000), while the minority co-productions collect KRW40 million ($28,300) each.

“‘Rhizome’ is a co-production with Thailand as the majority co-production country and Korea, France, Laos, and Singapore as minority co-production countries. It addresses Asia’s shared historical experience of war and was recognized for its potential to capture the voices and vision of Asia, grounded in the deep trust and affection shared by its production team,” selectors said..

“’Trinity’ is a co-production with Taiwan, France, Singapore and eight countries, including Korea, as minority co-production countries. It addresses a provocative theme rooted in religion.”

“It is encouraging to see support for co-productions expanding since the launch of the Co-Production Support Fund last year, including the resumption of the Korean Film Council’s international co-production support program,” said Ellen Kim, ACFM director.

Locarno Winners

The Locarno Film Festival wrapped up on the weekend with significant awards for South Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo and his muse Kim Minhee.

Hong’s latest film “Nowhere to Lay My Eyes” was rewarded for best direction and collected CHF20,000 prize. The Leopard for best performance went to Kim in the same film, and was shared with Monica Bellucci in Italian film “Kettice”.

“Nowhere to Lay My Eyes” depicts the rare visit of a woman and her brother to their mother and step-father, living in Jeju Island. The woman and the step-father both make films of different kinds.

What a hot summer 2026 is turning out to be. And that is not a reference to the weather.

Hollywood and local films are both enjoying a heatwave in China, while the Korean summer is turning out to be a scorcher, but not for the usual reasons.

And just for good measure, Indian films took two of the top four chart spots worldwide over the latest weekend.

So, here goes:

China: ‘Once Upon a Time’ and ‘The Odyssey’ Push Box Office to Year’s Highs

The head-to-head openings of “Once Upon a Time in the Middle East” and “The Odyssey” lifted the mainland China box office to $133 million over the Friday to Sunday weekend. That figure is narrowly higher than the weekend of 31 July-2 Aug ($132 million), which was the second highest-grossing weekend of the year and the biggest non-holiday weekend of 2026.

“Once Upon a Time in the Middle East” is a war-drama film from director Wen Muye of “Dying to Survive” fame, and the Dirty Monkeys studio. It earned a thumping $70.3 million in its official opening weekend and already has a cumulative total of $134 million including last week’s wide release tease.

The Odyssey, which has also enjoyed extensive previews, earned $28.4 million between Friday and Sunday, for second place. That is the second-highest opening weekend this year for a Hollywood film, behind “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”. Including the sneaks, “The Odyssey” finished the weekend with $35.9 million.

Imax reports that $13 million of the film’s weekend total came from its massive large screen network in China, bringing its Imax cumulative to $19.3 million (including the previews). The company says that is the biggest opening weekend ever for a Christopher Nolan film in China, both in IMAX box office and IMAX indexing.

“Once Upon a Time” scored $2.1 million in IMAX box office.

Pearl Studio’s animation film “All Wishes Come True” earned $13.1 million in its fourth weekend of release. That gives it a strong $236 million four-weekend cumulative.

“Spider-Man” slipped to fourth place. It earned $9.9 million, down from $28.9 million a week earlier. Its cumulative since releasing on 29 July is now $209 million. That is by far the highest this year for a Hollywood film in mainland China.

Ticketing agency and data tracker Maoyan forecasts the following for the big three movies. It expects “Middle East” to achieve gross revenues of RMB2.53 billion or $375 million. It forecasts that “The Odyssey” will hit RMB738 million or $109 million. And it predicts that “Spider-Man” will manage a further $18 million and reach RMB1.61 billion of $237 million before its career closes.

Korea Box Office: ‘The Odyssey’ Expands, Lifts Weekend

“The Odyssey” improved in its second weekend in South Korea, taking $13.3 million from 1.69 million ticket sales between Friday and Sunday. That compares with $10.4 million, earned from 1.33 million spectators, in its opening weekend.

It benefitted from an expanded screen count (coming largely at the expense of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”) and managed to increase its share of the market to 59%, up from 45%.

After playing for 12 days, the film has accumulated $35.3 million from 4.54 million ticket sales. That ranks it as the fourth highest film of the year in Korea, behind “The King’s Warden”, “Spider-Man” and “Colony”, and ahead of “Hope” ($33.9 million).

“Spider-Man” itself continued to hold second place. It dropped 39% in its third week to take $5.71 million and hold a 25% market share over the latest weekend. Since releasing on 29 July, it has amassed $53.7 million.

The powerful performances of the top two films kept overall box office very strong. The weekend aggregate was $22.5 million, only a couple of percentage points below last week’s $22.9 million total which was the highest weekend of the year.

Significantly, neither of these films are Korean horror titles, the usual staple of the Korean summer season. Trade lore says that folks flock to cinemas for the air conditioning and that horror films aid the cooling process further by producing cold sweats.

The latest “Teenieping” movie held third place for a second weekend. The Korean animation earned $908,000 for a 12-day cumulative of $4.23 million.

The highest new release of the week was “OK! Madam: Bon Voyage”, a comedy sequel to the 2020 original film about a family’s adventures on holiday. The original earned some $9.3 million.

Other new releases included “Detective Conan the Movie: Fallen Angel of the Highway” with $833,000 over the weekend and $1.59 million since its Wednesday opening; and “Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie” with $272,000 over the weekend and $331,000 since its Thursday debut. Pre-COVID hit film “Bohemian Rhapsody” enjoyed a tenth-place reissue with $33,000 from 69 screens.

Indonesia: ‘Spider-Man’ Holds Steady on Busy Weekend

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” continued its clear domination of the box office in Indonesia, despite the challenges of multiple new release titles.

It sold 354,000 tickets between Friday and Sunday, extending its cumulative to 6.04 million admissions since releasing on 29 July.

Indonesian horror film “Perumahan Laddaland” earned 85,630 admissions in its three-day opening run and took second place.

US sci-fi mystery “The End of Oak Street” scored 70,254 admissions over the weekend and 92,761 since releasing on 12 August.

Chinese sports comedy “Kung Fu Soccer” took fourth place. It scored 53,740 admissions over the weekend and 72,871 admissions since also kicking off on Wednesday (12 Aug).

Propelled by a big Sunday performance, “The Odyssey” attracted 45,172 admissions over the weekend. It now has a 1.90 million ticket sales haul.

Chinese melodrama “Dear You” attracted 42,125 spectators over the weekend in sixth place. It now has a cumulative of 152,000 admissions since releasing on 7 Aug.

Indonesian comedy-drama “Ketok Mejik” sold 38,400 tickets after picking up momentum over the weekend. In contrast, Indonesian drama film “Seni Merayu Tuhan” had a third-place opening day on Friday, but it drifted thereafter. It sold 37,100 tickets in its opening three-day session.

Ninth place belonged to “Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie” with 20,200 admissions over its three-day opening.

Also of note:

• In Thailand, the opening weekend of horror adaptation “Confessions Of A Shaman” delivered $125,000 in IMAX receipts.

• Indian crime action film “Awarapan 2” ranked No. 6 worldwide with $13.25 million globally this weekend from 15 territories, including $470,000 in North America. The Vishesh Film production comes nearly 20 years after the NH Films predecessor from 2007. Both star Emraan Hashmi.

• Dream Warrior Pictures’ “Vishnawath & Sons” ranked number eight worldwide with $12.3 million. That figure included $1.64 million in North America.

• Trafalgar Releasing’s K-pop concert movie “KATSEYE: WILD HEARTS” grossed an estimated $7.55 million worldwide across 61 countries. That included $4.01 million in North America from 724 venues and $3.540 million internationally from 992 venues.

  

Kim Dong-ho, co-founder and former director of the Busan International Film Festival, is this year to be honoured by the festival with its Korean Cinema award.

The award, for Kim’s “relentless dedication to Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) and his pioneering role in bringing Korean cinema to the global stage” will be presented at the festival’s opening ceremony on 6 Oct.

Having previously worked within the still censorious Ministry of Culture and Information (now the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), and then as president of the Korean Motion Picture Promotion Corporation (now the Korean Film Council), Kim helped defy the country’s rigid and inward-looking climate and joined with three film critics to launch the festival in 1996.

“During his tenure, his decision to uphold freedom of expression and the festival’s independence in the face of the prevailing practice of pre-screening films for censorship played a decisive role in earning the trust of filmmakers around the world and establishing BIFF as a hub of the Asian film network,” the festival said in a statement.

While BIFF has expanded to become Asia’s largest and most influential and Korean screen culture developed to become the region’s most influential, Kim has occasionally been a controversial figure. After a bitter feud broke out in the mid 20-teens between the festival, which he was no longer running, and the Busan city authorities, Kim was called back as a peacemaker chairman in May 2016. But actions that included facing down a boycott by nine professional organisations and going to great lengths to ensure that the festival did not miss a year, were divisive at the time. Kim left his second stint with the festival after less than two years and later threw his weight behind the Gangneung International Film Festival.

Born in 1937, Kim has kept active as a globetrotter, author and as a filmmaker.

‘King’s Warden’ Staff Reteam for Netflix’s ‘Dochabi’

Netflix has confirmed the production and cast of a new period action drama film, “Dochabi”, from the screenwriter and production company behind mega-hit film “The King’s Warden”.

“Dochabi”, whose title is drawn from the Korean word for goblin, depicts a former soldier living in hiding in the countryside fight back against forces that are uprooting the mountain farmers. After he is falsely accused of being part of a band of masked operative who use daring tactics to defend the villagers he develops a fearsome reputation and becomes the guerrillas’ leader.

The film is being directed by An Tae-jin (“The Night Owl”) and scripted by Hwang Sung-gu (co-writer of “The King’s Warden”). It will star Kim Do-hoon (“Moving”) in the lead role, alongside Jun Jong-seo (“Ballerina”) and Lee Joon-gi (“Flower of Evil”), Lee Sang-yi (“Bloodhounds”) and Bae In-hyuk (“Under the Queen’s Umbrella”).

The film is produced by Ondaworks, one of the producers behind “The King’s Warden”.

Tencent Financials Reveal Massive AI Investment Cost

Tencent announced its second quarter and half year financial results that somewhat troubled investors. Revenues and profits increased year-on-year, but the group registered negative free cash flow as it invested heavily in AI infrastructure.

Revenues for the January to June period were up 10% at RMB401 billion and net profits increased a similar amount to RMB114 billion, giving EPS growth of 11% at RMB12.6 per share.

The group no longer discloses subscription numbers or a domestic-international breakdown for its streaming video platforms, but said, “Video accounts’ total time spent grew more than 20% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2026, benefitting from enriched content for younger users, upgraded interactive features and a new multi-variable content ranking system.”

Its games businesses also did well. “Our domestic evergreen games, ‘Delta Force’ and ‘VALORANT PC’, achieved lifetime highs in average DAU in the second quarter of 2026. Our new game, ‘Roco Kingdom: World’, ranked first by average DAU4 and by gross receipts among all new mobile titles released in China year-to-date. Miniclip attained breakout success in international markets as ‘Arrows – Puzzle Escape’ became the most downloaded mobile game globally in the second quarter of 20266, generating robust in-app advertising revenues.”

Management trumpeted the arrival of “a new, AI-empowered Tencent in terms of intelligence, applications, and infrastructure,” but this has not yet filtered through to performance.

“We recorded negative free cash flow of RMB13.8 billion for the second quarter of 2026, as net cash generated from operating activities of RMB52.7 billion was more than offset by capital expenditure payments of RMB59.3 billion, media content payments of RMB5.0 billion and lease liability payments of RMB2.2 billion. Included in our operating cash flow were large AI-related prepayments to provide infrastructure to support our Hy model enhancements, WorkBuddy and CodeBuddy inference needs, Weixin AI initiatives, and development of AI capabilities across our products and services, as well as to meet growing external demand for our cloud services. Excluding the prepayments for compute procurement, our free cash flow would have been RMB37.6 billion,” Tencent said.

The group’s shares closed at HK$440 apiece on Friday, down 8.3% on the week.

Tencent Music Entertainment

NYSE- and Hong Kong-listed subsidiary Tencent Music Entertainment fared somewhat better with investors, though its results were just as flat.

Its revenues rose 6% in the second quarter to RMB8.93 billion ($1.32 billion), driven by increasing demand for its music services. That contrasts with a decline in its social entertainment and other services businesses. Net profits were RMB2.47 billion ($364 million), up 2%.

The company no longer discloses the number of subscribers it has for its streaming platforms. And it no longer breaks out the operating profits for its once highly lucrative social entertainment side.

Instead management said: ““Our second-quarter results reflect the continued strength of our content-and-platform strategy. Concerts, merchandise, and other IP-driven experiences drove another quarter of solid growth in our marketing and consumption services, underscoring our ability to unlock greater value from premium music IP. Our expansion into digital audio through the integration of Ximalaya broadened our reach and enriched our ecosystem.”

The Chinese government conducted a nearly year-long enquiry into TME’s proposed acquisition of Ximalaya, which runs China’s most popular long-form audiobook and podcast platform. The deal was proposed in June last year with TME paying US$2.4 billion in cash and stock to transition Ximalaya into its wholly-owned subsidiary.

In May this year, China’s market regulator, the SAMR, imposed significant conditions before allowing the deal.

“The companies must not raise service fees for the online audio platform and must maintain the current portion of free content. They are also prohibited from entering into exclusive copyright deals or bundling audio and music services for carmakers. Additionally, the parties are barred from restricting creators from joining rival platforms,” according to the SCMP.

The SAMR said it would “strictly supervise” the deal to ensure that Tencent and Ximalaya fulfil their commitments.

Viu Viewers in SE Asia to Get View of Thai Series

Thailand’s TrueVisions Now is to supply Thai series to multi-territory Asian streaming service Viu under an agreement that takes effect from 20 Aug.

Slotting into a TrueVisions Now branded zone, six series will play on Viu in Malaysia, Indonesia and The Philippines. They will be available to all Viu users via its ad-supported free tier and its premium subscription tier.

The series available at launch are:

• Comedy, “A Sample Family”, starring Puak Pongsathorn Jongwilas, Cris Horwang, Neen Neenara Boonnithipaisit’

• Romantic comedy, “Oops, I’m the Concubine”, starring Emma Panisara Yang, Peterpan Tadsapon Wiwitawan;

• Romantic comedy, “My Wife’s Gunslinger God”, with Aom Sushar Manaying, Mew Suppasit Jongcheveevat;

• Comedy, “The Cops Spy on Stage”, with Nichamon Kham-in, Atchariya Sritha, Somchai Saiutha ;

• Horror-drama, “Mui Fei the Medium” with Pat Chayanit Chansangavej, Offroad Kantapon Jindataweepol;

• and, romance “To Love and Cherish”, with Film Thanapat Kawila, Bua Nalinthip Sakulongampai.

‘Border’ Joins San Sebastian Competition

“Border” (aka “Bian Jing”), directed by Biao Ah, has been selected as one of six new additions to the main competition section at the upcoming San Sebastian International Film Festival.

The festival says that the film is a co-production between firms in Hong Kong, Korea and the US. And that it stars Li Zheyan, Qi Feng, Han Sanming, Zheng Gang and Guo Tao.

An official synopsis reads: “In a forgotten town where men have learned to survive by keeping their feelings buried and their words few, a broke young miner quietly drifts through a life he barely feels. His numb routine fractures with the arrival of an enigmatic young woman, who sparks a dormant curiosity and the promise of something new. He follows her down a dark path, leaving behind the quiet safety of the only world he knows, unaware that this stranger is not all she seems to be.”

Crunchyroll, the Sony-owned anime operation, has picked up worldwide distribution rights outside Asia, but including India, to the untiled new film by Shinkai Makoto. Sony Pictures will partner with it on the distribution.

Plot details, title and timing of the film were not disclosed.

Shinkai has previous directing credits include “The Place Promised in Our Early Days” (2004), “5 Centimeters Per Second” (2007), “Children Who Chase Lost Voices” (2011), “The Garden of Words” (2013), and major hits “Your Name (2016), “Weathering With You” (2019) and 2022’s “Suzume”.

Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures previously partnered on the release of “Suzume” and enjoyed a $300 million worldwide gross haul. The film was third in a row to attract more than ten million spectators in his native Japan. It also premiered at the Berlin film festival and was nominated for best feature film at the Golden Globes.

Shinkai’s “Weathering With You” was named as Animation of the Year at the 43rd Japan Academy Film Prize. It was also selected as Japan’s contender for best international feature film at the Oscars.

Jim Queen Set as Adelaide Party Night Gala

Gay animated feature “Jim Queen” has been set as the Saturday Night Party film, a centrepiece of the Adelaide Film Festival, which takes place 14-25 October.

The festival will unveil its full lineup next month, but it has already revealed that it will screen four titles that were previously supported by the Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund.

Set to premiere in Venice in September, “Agata The Writer” is the debut feature film from Polish-born visual artist and filmmaker Kuba Dorabialski. The film is produced by Alex White (“Babyteeth”). Mia Wasikowska (“Leviticus”, “Club Zero”) stars as a Polish-Australian satirical novelist who travels from Sydney to Sarajevo to write a war novel but finds herself within a startling mystery, forcing her to question her role as a storyteller.

“KUMARANGK: Sacred Women’s Business” is a documentary feature directed by Tracey Rigney” which that charts the Hindmarsh Island bridge affair of the 1980s, when Ngarrindjeri women’s sacred knowledge collided with powerful development interests, forcing the courts to rule on what they were never equipped to comprehend. Its producers are Josh Trevorrow and Carolyn Johnson.

“Aftermath” is a psychological portrait of two lives intertwined by trauma and obsession. It is co-directed by Jared Nicholson and Ben Lawrence (“Hearts & Bones”, “Ithaka”) and produced by Rebecca Barry and Scott Baskett.

In “The Forbidden Aunt”, noted actress and filmmaker, Bojana Novakovic, travels from Australia to rural Serbia to explore the life of an eccentric and tormented aunt she never knew, unravelling the truth of how violence and trauma shaped the lives of four generations of women. Novakovic writes, produces and directs, with Milan Stojanovic and Danielle Redford also producing.

Toronto’s (Final) Additions

In what it insists is its final programming announcement, the Toronto film festival added 11 more titles to its Centrepiece and Special Presentations sections. The include Nanni Moretti’s “It Will Happen Tonight” and Werner Herzog’s “Bucking Fastard” as well as four titles from the Asia-Pacific region.

• “Closing Night” | Cody Fern | Australia, Canada (World Premiere | Special Presentations)

• “It’s My Time”| Bai Xue | China (North American Premiere | Gala)

• “The Road Not Taken”| Peter Ho-Sun Chan | China (World Premiere | Special Presentations)

• “Trees are Watching”| Bahman Ghobadi | Turkey (World Premiere | Centrepiece)

Peter Chan Pickup

Hong Kong-based sales agent Moebius Entertainment has picked up the international rights to Peter Chan Ho-sun’s “The Road Not Taken”, which will premiere in Toronto.

The film is a drama about early-onset Alzheimer disease that reflects on what remains when our understanding of the world begins to disappear. It stars Zhou Xun, Wen Qi, Tian Zhuangzhuang and Wang Xiao

Moebius previously represented Chan’s “She Has No Name”, which debuted in Shanghai and travelled to Toronto last year.

Moebius principal Fred Tsui is poised to become the executive director of the Hong Kong IFF Society from 23 Sept. But the film is described as a prior Moebius commitment.

Wayne Wang Pickup

China-based Rediance has picked up most international rights to “Diary of a Mad Old Man”, directed by Wayne Wang. The film will have its premiere as a gala in Toronto.

Based on a novel by Japan’s Tanizaki Junichiro, the film focuses on a man who forms an intimate relationship with his caregiver’s daughter-in-law, who is a former hostess. It stars Lily Franky and Fan Bingbing.

The Japan-US production is by Ichiyama Shozo through Fourier Films and Francey Grace, with additional financing from Cinetrain (Switzerland), Berjaya Entertainment (Malaysia), Nobu Pictures and Tannpopo (Japan). US-based Melograno Films is handling North American rights.

ReelShort is now the world’s biggest app serving micro dramas directly to consumers outside China. But it seems that is not enough.

As profitability approaches, the US-registered company wants to sever any remaining association with COL Group, the Chinese company that is one of the largest and longest-standing in the digital publishing, games and vertical video sector.

To achieve that, ReelShort’s parent company Crazy Maple Studios has filed suit for declaratory relief in California. While that might sound tame, the stakes are high for both companies.

This article will cover:

Media Partners Asia’s recent assessment of the Micro Drama Market

Chronology of Events

COL Stock Market Moves

ReelShort Legal Action

COL Statement on Competition

ReelShort Statement

Interview With Reelshort’s Joey Jia

Document archive

MPA: Key Players and Measures of the Maturing Micro Drama Market

Research and consultancy firm Media Partners Asia last week set out the big picture view of the micro drama industry and ReelShort’s significant place within it.

“Micro-drama has begun to be an earnings story rather than a growth story. Marketing costs are coming down as hit franchises bring audiences in without paid support, platform fees are falling as operators move billing onto their own web stores, and advertising is entering the mix at high margin. ReelShort is showing that the model can scale and make money at the same time,” says Vivek Couto, CEO and executive director at MPA .

Category scale. Micro-drama revenue outside China reached US$2.7 billion in 2025 and is forecast to reach US$3.6 billion in 2026 and US$9.5 billion by 2031, a 21% compound average growth rate (CAGR). The US grows from US$1.5 billion to US$3.7 billion over the period. Asia Pacific ex-China triples to US$2.4 billion.

A five-player market. ReelShort leads on an estimated 29% share, ahead of DramaBox on 21%, DramaWave on 13%, NetShort on 10% and GoodShort on 6%. The remainder is spread across some 300 smaller apps.

• Revenue and profitability. ReelShort revenue grew from US$97 million in 2023 to US$400 million in 2024 and US$785 million in 2025. MPA forecasts US$1.05 billion in 2026, up 34%, followed by US$1.4 billion in 2027 and US$1.7 billion in 2028. After an estimated US$12 million net loss in 2025, MPA projects US$63 million of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) and around US$40 million of net profit in 2026, rising to US$306 million of EBITDA at an 18% margin and US$225 million of net profit by 2028.

• Marketing costs are falling. User acquisition and marketing declines from 55% of revenue in 2025 to 44% by 2028, a shift worth around US$10.5 million of EBITDA for every percentage point. MPA identifies five reasons: (1) Hit franchises and their sequels draw a growing share of demand without paid support, and supply much of the advertising creative used to acquire the rest; (2) Telco and strategic local market partnerships add subscribers at little acquisition cost; (3) More billing is moving to ReelShort’s own web store and direct channels; (4) Faster creative testing and a hit rate MPA expects to improve raise the return on each dollar spent; and (5) The paid social auction is maturing after several years of new entrants bidding up prices.

• Revenue mix. Consumer payments and subscriptions remain the majority of the business, contributing 85–90% of revenue throughout the forecast period, with subscriptions already making up 60–70% of what viewers pay.

Two shifts within that mix drive profitability. Advertising, a small stream before 2024, grows to around 15% of revenue by 2028 — and because it pays no app-store commission, roughly 65–70 cents of each advertising dollar flows through to earnings. At the same time, more consumer billing is moving to ReelShort’s own web store, reducing platform and payment fees. Together these two shifts account for close to half of the projected margin expansion.

Chronology of Events at COL and Crazy Maple Studios

2000: COL predecessor, Chinese AllCulture Development launches as a digital library for schoolbooks.

2015: COL listed on Shenzhen stock market.

2016: Crazy Maple Studios established by Joey Jia, while he is working for COL. CMS’ initial focus is on visual novels called Chapters.

2018 (July): COL reduces its previously 100% shareholding in CMS.

2021: COL launches its first micro dramas

2022 (Aug): CMS launches ReelShort and first micro dramas, leveraging stories from Chapters.

2023: Reorganisation of CMS cuts COL voting rights to 48%, shareholding to 49%. COL deconsolidates CMS in its accounts.

2023 (December): COL launches Sereal+ (B2C micro drama platform)

2024 (November): COL launches UniReel (B2C micro drama platform)

2025 (April): COL launches Flareflow (B2C micro drama platform) in Singapore.

2026 (February): COL files draft prospectus ahead of secondary share listing in Hong Kong.

2026 (March): COL and CMS appear to agree new shareholder and director agreement

2026 (May): CMS says the agreement was coerced and sues COL in California.

Stock Market Moves

• Since their listing on the Chi Next exchange in 2015, COL shares have increased by some 955% to their present RMB25.22. At that price the group has a RMB19.6 billion ($2.86 billion) market capitalisation.

  

COL’s share price has increased by more than 300% since January 2023, which CMS says is partly due to its success.

Despite revenue growing, COL has been loss-making in each of the past four quarters, which it blames on the launch costs of Sereal+ and FlareFlow. In a mid-May 2026 filing, COL revealed that it had provided RMB 344 million (approx. US$50 million) of financial guarantees to FlareFlow.

• COL is looking to Hong Kong for a secondary share listing, which it says is to:
  (i) solidify [its] content ecosystem,
  (ii) develop and improve [its] AI technologies empowering content creation and distribution, and
  (iii) build an overseas micro drama ecosystem. At this stage it does not specify how much additional funds it wants to raise.

The Hong Kong stock market permits new listings for companies that are not profitable. It is also more open to investors from outside mainland China (most of whom cannot easily access Chinese stock markets).

COL’s February listing documents contain a description of CMS’s deconsolidation, but does not account for the May lawsuit. Such a dispute would need to be addressed in a future listing prospectus and might ideally be settled before COL attempts to raises fresh capital.

• Crazy Maple Studios hates to be described as Chinese-owned, fearing that this puts it in the crosshairs of US and other regulators and perhaps that such a description might degrade the value of its content or suggest that it is derivative.

Unlisted, CMS is 49% owned by COL and 39% by Jia’s Chapters LLC. As it approaches profitability in a red-hot sector, a stock listing is likely to have appeal. So far, CMS has not announced any such plans or indicated where it might IPO.

It has options. Stock markets in the US have significantly deeper pools of tech sector investors and regulators tolerate start-ups and currently unprofitable ventures. And CMS is US-based. However, US governments and regulators have cooled on Chinese-owned companies. — another reason for CMS to distance itself from COL. So, while some IPOs have continued, many Chinese firms have sought secondary listings in Hong Kong (where mainland investors can also have access), something that made Hong Kong the world’s top IPO market in 2025.

CMS wants to set-up an employee share ownership scheme. (This is currently blocked by COL and is part of the legal dispute.) While many private companies also have ESOPs, a public share listing would allow CMS executives and employees a straightforward exit route.

Legal Dispute Breaks Out Months After Settlement Agreement

In May 2026, CMS filed for declaratory relief in a California court.

The (partially-redacted) filing claims that the three COL directors on its board of directors have leaked confidential information on ReelShort that COL then handed to Sereal+ and Flareflow; that the three directors blocked the establishment of an ESOP; and that in March this year Jia was “fraudulently induced” into signing a dispute settlement agreement (one that CMS now describes as “unconscionable”).

CMS also argues that COL failed to countersign the documents and that CMS has since revoked Jia’s agreement to the deal.

COL Response

COL has declined to speak to me about the dispute, but issued a 1 August statement, responding to some aspects of the CMS lawsuit.

COL says that the March 2026 ‘Settlement and Governance Agreement’ between the two companies “was concluded voluntarily and on equal terms following thorough negotiations between the parties”. COL says the agreement remains legally valid and that courts are the right place to judge this.

It says that the dispute with CMS is not hurting. “The company’s business operations remain normal. This commercial dispute is not expected to have any material adverse impact on the company’s day-to-day operations, financial condition or long-term development.”

“Our core businesses continue to demonstrate strong growth momentum, while our globalization and AI strategies are progressing steadily.”

“The growth and international success of China’s micro drama industry has been hard won. We have also consistently recognised and highly valued the entrepreneurial spirit and tireless efforts of the core team at Crazy Maple Studio.”

CMS Rejoinder

On 7 Aug CMS came out with its own statement, defining the scope of the legal action against COL, clarifying its corporate distinction from COL, and warning that it will not further comment while the litigation is proceeding.

Key takeaways:

“The complaint outlines governance provisions that the company believes do not align with California corporate law and create an imbalance in rights and obligations.”

“Crazy Maple Studios is an independent California-based company with its own management team responsible for daily operations, strategic planning, and corporate governance. COL is a shareholder of Crazy Maple Studios. COL is a separate legal entity, and its shareholding does not grant it control or authority over the company’s management or operations.”

“The company continues to operate normally and remains focused on serving its users, supporting its employees and creators, and advancing its business.”

“ReelShort, the company’s flagship micro-drama platform, continues to perform strongly across major international markets.”

Interview With CMS’s Joey Jia

I spoke to CMS founder Joey Jia in June. We did not address the legal dispute, but still covered aspects of corporate development, profitability and development of the micro drama and movie industries.

Here are some extracts, in the correct order, but edited for brevity and comprehension.

Q: How has the company grown?

Jia: “Crazy Maple Studio was grown from a single linear product grow into a product matrix. I treat the company like a product and we too are evolving.

“When you have a product, you need to look at the retention, monetization, and also ability to drive traffic. When you’re handling an organization it is the same thing. You need to retain people, you need to bring more people in, you need to make people become more efficient.

“[..] The entire organization has become more robust and also can handle different challenges. We didn’t have an algorithm engineer, but now we so. We didn’t have a great backend engineer, now we have one. And the content team is continually growing. Once we only understood how to do romance stories, but now we run to fantasy and young adult.”

Q: What are the challenges?

Jia: “In business, you want to avoid competition. And the best way to avoid competition is not to compete, but to innovate. For that to happen your team needs to be constantly ready to try something new.

“[..] In the early days, I was constantly focusing on survival. Do we have enough cash? Now we have grown up a little bit and have a buffer. That means I can think more than 24-hours ahead.”

Q: When will the company be profitable?

Jia: “The company has always been cash flow positive. We are now aiming for [net] profitability. We know it’s a profitable business, and have high confidence in using our own cash to support new initiatives and grow the business.

“[..] Until today, the company’s growth is still 100% organic.”

“[..] For this year we’ve predicted over $1 billion revenue.”

Q: How have business models evolved?

Jia: “ReelShort has always stuck to the IP model. People have often asked why we don’t launch a monthly subscription model. But that is a very luxurious dream for a startup company. The payback period is about 10 months, which we cannot afford. We have been focused on cash flow. It doesn’t mean we wouldn’t want to do that, but we don’t have the deep pockets for that.”

“We launched with the pay-as-you-go model. Once we have the fan base we can launch weekly and monthly passes. It has worked fantastically well. And yes, our weekly pass is very expensive, $19 per week. But we will decrease it with better scale. When we are retaining people for longer the price of weekly and monthly passes will decrease. Then we’ll embrace the next level of scale.”

Q: Do you expect to see established feature film directors crossing over into the micro drama space?

Jia: “I look at this the other way around. I don’t expect the feature film directors will do same things. However, I do anticipate a good micro drama director will do a feature film in the future.

“In China, we have seen that high frequency applications always kill low frequency applications. Once people get used to the mobile phone, they naturally absorb your content. Today’s content creators will benefit and they will become next generation to produce new content in the future.

“I feel pretty good about it because we’re in the high frequency usage side.”

Q: Is there hope for the wider movie business?

Jia: “I think that movies are a great business in the future still. And maybe the definition, of a good story will have to be different from the old one. But the judgment of that will come from the audience and the market, not from the directors and screenwriters, nor from the high executives in Hollywood.”

Documents:

Media Partners Asia assessment of the micro drama market and ReelShort’s position

Link to COL’s HKSE 27 Feb 2026 filing.

Link to CMS lawsuit against COL

Extract from the draft prospectus explaining the deconsolidation of CMS from COL

COL Group’s 1 Aug Statement (in Chinese) (translatable online version also here)

CMS’s 7 Aug statement

“Chiikawa the Movie: The Secret of the Mermaid Island” retook the top position at the Japan box office, overtaking “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”.

Between Friday and Sunday, the film’s third weekend of release, “Chiikawa” added JPY1.67 billion ($10.7 million), lifting it to a total of JPY6.77 billion ($42.5 million) after 17 days on release.

“Spider-Man”, in its second weekend, earned JPY629 million ($4.03 million) from 363,000 admissions. It now has a JPY2.9 billion ($18.6 million) cumulative total in Japan.

“Minions & Monsters” opened in Japan in third place. It earned JPY424 million ($2.72 million) in its first three days.

Fourth place belonged to “I Want to Meet You Again on the Hill Where the Stars Fall”. The film is a sequel to 2023 hit, “If I Could Meet You Again on the Hill Where the Flowers Bloom,” a live-action film adaptation of Natsue Shiomi’s bestselling novel. “Toy Story 5” slipped one place to fifth.

“Crayon Shin-chan the Movie: Very Bizarre! My Yokai Vacation”, the 33rd installment in the “Crayon Shin-chan” anime film series, fell three spots to sixth in its second weekend. The film’s ten-day gross adds to JPY1.1 billion ($7.05 million) from 950,000 admissions.

“The Clash of Souls”, the fifth installment in the “Kingdom” live-action film franchise, slipped two places to seventh in its fourth weekend. The film has a cumulative total of JPY4.9 billion ($30.8 million) from 3.18 million admissions.

“Blue Lock”, a live-action adaptation of the football manga series of the same title by Kaneshiro Muneyuki, debuted in eighth position. It earned JPY278 million ($1.74 million) from 188,000 admissions. The remaining positions in the top ten were filled by “Moana”, in its second weekend, and “Michael” in its ninth.

Australia BO weekend: ‘Spider-Man’ Stays Strong

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” retained its position at the top of the Australian box office, earning A$17.14 million ($12.1 million) between Thursday and Sunday, its second weekend of release. After 11 days in cinemas, it has accumulated A$55.6 million ($39.3 million), the highest score by any film this year.

According to Sony Pictures, the film’s first week numbers were the biggest box office result ever recorded on a Saturday (A$9.3 million, US$6.57 million) and a Sunday (A$8.18 million, US$5.78 million) by a single title.

“The Odyssey” remained in second place over the latest weekend. It earned A$5.21 million ($3.68 million), expanding its cumulative to A$47.2 million ($33.3 million).

“Toy Story 5” was a long way behind in third place. It earned A$436,000 ($308,000). Disney’s live-action “Moana” earned A$353,000.

Australian-produced new release “Holy Days” opened in fifth place and earned A$331,000 ($234,000). It stars Miriam Margolyes, Judy Davis and Jackie Weaver.

“Minions & Monsters” earned A$226,000 ($160,000) in sixth. “The Invite” earned A$217,000 ($153,000). New releases, “Super Trooper”, “Ice Cream Man” and “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” earned A$175,000, A$142,000 and A$135,000 respectively.

Ann Hui to Be Awarded at Busan

The Busan International Film Festival has named Hong Kong filmmaker Ann Hui as the recipient of its 2026 Camellia Award. The prize is given to filmmakers who have made significant contributions to elevating the status of women in the film industry.

“Hui has played a pivotal role in shaping the Hong Kong New Wave as a director, screenwriter, and producer,” the festival said.

A six-time best director winner at the Hong Kong Film Awards and a three-time best director winner at the Golden Horse Awards, Hui achieved the rare feat of sweeping best film, best director, best actor, and best actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards with “Summer Snow” (1995) and “A Simple Life” (2011).

“Her films chronicle the everyday lives of ordinary people while weaving intimate personal stories into broader social realities. Her nuanced portrayals of women, particularly those often pushed to the margins, have resonated deeply with audiences across cultures and generations,” Busan said.

“In my previous years I felt unwilling to receive such taking-stock prizes because I wished to continue making movies. Now that I’m nearly eighty and find it difficult to make a film, I think the prize comes just in time for me to appreciate it more”, said Hui.

The 31^st edition of the festival will run Tues 6 Oct.-Thurs 15 Oct. Its accompanying Asian Contents & Film Market will run 10-13 Oct.

Jump, Official New Zealand-Australia Coproduction, Wraps

Principal photography has wrapped on “Jump”, the latest feature from acclaimed New Zealand filmmaker Tearepa Kahi (“Muru”, “Mt. Zion”).

Starring Bella Shepard (:Star Trek: Starfleet Academy”) and Luciane Buchanan (“The Night Agent”, “Chief of War”, “Evil Dead Rise”), the film follows young traveller whose search for adventure in Southeast Asia becomes a brutal fight for survival. Pythons, tigers, giant centipedes and drug runners stand between her and any hope of returning home.

Written by Glenn Standring (“6 Days”, “The Dead Lands”) from an original story by Matthew Metcalfe and Standring, “Jump” is produced by Metcalfe (“Ash”, “The Dead Lands”, “6 Days”) for New Zealand’s GFC Films, alongside Tom Blackwell (“Never Look Away”, “Stylebender”) for Australia’s Fightertown.

The film is an official New Zealand-Australia co-production, with creative and production input from both countries. It was able to access domestic funding and incentives in both, including the New Zealand Screen Production Rebate (NZSPR). The film is supported by the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) and the Queensland Government through Screen Queensland’s Screen Finance Fund, with additional support from the Gold Coast Film Commission, Invest Gold Coast and investment group Align Media Capital. US rights sales are being handled by WME Independent.

It was another huge weekend for cinema operators around the world as heatwaves gave people a reason to seek out cinemas and two Hollywood blockbusters gave them reason to sit tight.

In Asia’s biggest theatrical markets “The Odyssey”-“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” juggernaut is not yet at full speed as “The Odyssey” has still not opened in either China (14 Aug) or Japan (11 Sept). “The Odyssey” opened top in Korea over the latest weekend and performed strongly. China also had a clutch of new local titles that kept turnstiles whirring.

China: Previews Add to the Fun

“Spider-Man” incurred a week-on-week drop of 58% in its second weekend of release in China, but still managed to head the box office chart. It earned $28.9 million (RMB197 million) between Friday and Sunday and now has a cumulative of $185 million since opening on 29 July. That makes it far and away the biggest import title of 2026.

The film is doing particularly well on IMAX screens. These accounted for 16% of the film’s opening weekend.

In second place, Chinese animation film “All Wishes Come True” earned $20.4 million in its third weekend of release. That gives it a stellar $211 million cumulative since releasing on 18 July.

“To Your Island”, a Chinese animation fantasy about childhood memories, was the highest -ranked film getting a full release over the weekend. Distributed by Enlight Pictures, the studio behind “Ne Zha 2”, it earned $7.9 million in three days and ranked fourth in the weekend chart.

Paramount’s US animation, “Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie” opened in seventh spot with $5.5 million.

Curiously, the third and fifth places in China’s weekend chart belonged to films that are still officially in preview.

Dirty Monkeys and Damai Entertainment’s “Once Upon a Time in the Middle East”, a war drama film from Wen Muye, director of “Dying to Survive” earned $15 million from previews. It officially opens on Tuesday (11 Aug) and does not appear in the Rentrak global weekend data..

“The Odyssey” also enjoyed wide previews ahead of its conventional Friday release. These added $6.9 million over the weekend and give the Christopher Nolan epic some $7.5 million in the bank before its official outing.

Artisan Gateway reports that the weekend revenue total in China was $97.3 million, ranking as the sixth biggest this year. The year-to-date revenue total now stands at $3.56 billion, some 32% behind last year’s comparable total. The huge performance of a string of Hollywood hits on their home turf means that the North American market is widening the gap with China. Rentrak calculates the US and Canada total as more than $3 billion ahead, at $6.61 billion.

Korea Weekend Beats 2026 Record (Again)

Powered by the dual blockbusters “The Odyssey” and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” Korean cinemas enjoyed their busiest weekend of 2026. That weekend high bar has been raised three times in the last month.

Opening a week or two later than in most major territories, but supported by recent cast and crew visits, “The Odyssey” snatched the weekend top spot and powered its way past “Spider-Man”, which is only in its second week of release.

The Christopher Nolan-directed epic earned $10.36 million from 1.33 million ticket sales and accounted for 45% of total cinema activity over the weekend. Over its full five-day launch period, the film earned $14.5 million from 1.87 million ticket sales.

“Spider-Man” was not far behind. It earned $9.27 million between Friday and Sunday with a 40% market share. While its share dropped steeply, the film’s week-on-week revenue decline was a slightly more modest 45%. After 12 days in Korean cinemas, it has racked up aggregate revenues of $43.7 million, from 5.91 million ticket sales.

That figure means that “Spider-Man” has overtaken “Hope” to become the third highest-grossing film of the year and puts it narrowly short of “Colony” (with $44 million). It is also the top-scoring foreign film of the year, having passed “Toy Story 5” in its first week. (In revenue terms, “The Odyssey” is already the tenth biggest film of the year in 2026 and the fifth-ranked import.)

“Spider-Man” earned $2.4 million of its total from IMAX screens.

The third place was taken by “Catch! Teenieping: Legend of the Whale Heartstone”, a Korean animated film aimed at kids. It is the second of three planned feature movies spun off from SAMG Entertainment’s children’s fantasy TV series. It opened with an impressive $1.94 million and 9% market share over the weekend and $2.9 million over its five-day opening run.

Behind the lead trio only one film, “Hope”, made any impression on the chart. It earned $749,000 to edge its cumulative, earned since 15 July, to $33.2 million.

For the year-to-date, Korean films have a 57% market share (by revenue), ahead of US movies, with 38%. But summer is swinging Hollywood’s way, accounting for chart toppers in six of the past weekends and the latest two records. In August so far, imported films have claimed 86% of total cinema business. That may not have been what the Korean government had in mind when it launched its recent ticket discount voucher scheme.

Indonesia: ‘Spider-Man’ Second Weekend, Same Strength

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” crushed all competing titles at the Indonesian box office for a second weekend.

It sold 1.1 million tickets between Friday and Sunday and accounted for 78% of nationwide audiences. That compared with 2.12 million tickets and an 87% share in its first weekend.) Since opening on 29 July, it has amassed 5.34 million ticket sales.

“The Odyssey” held on to second place in its fourth weekend of release, with 84,000 additional ticket sales. That gives the film a cumulative ticket sales total of 1.81 million.

“Kado Untuk Ibu”, an Indonesian drama film about two children looking for their lost mother, took third place on its debut. It scored 84,000 ticket sales over the weekend and 119,000 over its full five-day opening run.

Chinese drama film “Dear You” opened on Friday and landed in fourth position with 61.4 million sales on the weekend chart.

Shark-survival thriller “Deep Water” opened on Wednesday and scored 80,000 admissions over five days. Over the Friday-Sunday weekend, it managed 56.3 million ticket sales.

Weekend fun factoids

• Rentrak reports that “Spider-Man” became India’s biggest ever Hollywood title, after a $10.6 million second weekend lifted its tally to $52.8 million.

• Japanese title “Chiikawa the Movie: The Secret of the Mermaid Island” earned $11.950 million in weekend two in 3 territories and now has a cume to date of $45.1 million. (More on Japan tomorrow.)

• Focus Features’ “Obsession” opened in Taiwan this weekend to reach a total of 80 markets where it is handled by UPI. It earned $5.88 million in markets outside North America and has a worldwide cumulative of $488 million, Hollywood’s seventh biggest horror film of all time.

Before he died last month, New Zealand star Sam Neill is understood to have performed a role in the Sony-backed live action film “The Legend of Zelda”.

The film completed its principal photography in April, but details of Neill’s role have not yet been disclosed.

The film is directed by Wes Ball (“Planet of the Apes”) and is derived from a Nintendo game, that has sold over 150 million copies. It was created by Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka and follows the elf-like warrior Link and Princess Zelda as they fight to save the magical land of Hyrule from Ganon, an evil warlord-turned-demon king.

The film adaptation also stars Uli Latukefu, Dichen Lachman (“Severance”, “Animal Kingdom”) and Yvonne Strahovski (“The Handmaid’s Tale”).

‘Starman’ Fleshes out Cast

Additional cast members have been revealed for “Starman”, a sci-fi thriller with US stars Brendan Fraser and Jeff Daniels, that is now shooting in New South Wales, Australia.

Claudia Karvan, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Huw Higginson, Oliver Aldrich and Heather Mitchell join the previously announced Aisling Bea, Ewen Leslie and Stephen Curry.

Principal photography began in June, with filming taking place across Sydney locations, in the Blue Mountains and at Sydney’s Disney Studios Australia.

“Starman” is a Grace: A Storytelling Company production, produced by Eddie Vaisman of Sight Unseen, with writer-director Josh Wakely and Rebecca Graham of Grace: A Storytelling Company.

The film is financed by Sherif, Graves and Tedder. Screen NSW is supporting the film through its Made in NSW Fund and says it is expected to generate more than A$23 million in expenditure for the state’s economy.

David S. Goyer executive produces alongside Tarek Sherif, Ryan Graves, Matt Tedder and Sight Unseen’s Julia Lebedev. Anton is handling international sales.

Crowe and Chopra in ‘Bluefly’

Australia’s Russell Crowe and India’s Priyanka Chopra-Jonas are set to co-star in sci-fi action film “Bluefly” being backed by the US indie Highland Film Group. Production is to begin later this year on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

It is to be directed by Nimród Antal (“Predators”) from a screenplay written by David Frigerio (“Beast”), William Eubank (“Underwater”) and Carlyle Eubank (“Muzzle”).

An official synopsis reads: “Deep in the Congo, a grieving UN translator is pulled onto a black-ops mission to recover a downed aircraft that isn’t supposed to exist. As a Special Operations team pushes upriver through militia-held territory, the recovery becomes a descent — and the closer they get to the craft, the clearer it becomes that they were never meant to bring it home.”

The film is produced by Michael Jefferson for Polite Society, David Frigerio for Broken Open Pictures, Deborah Glover for G2 Dispatch, Arianne Fraser and Delphine Perrier for Highland, and Vanessa Yao Guo. Executive producers are Lia Buman, Guy Davies, RuthAnne Frigerio, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Jason Kringstein, Katie Leary, Scott Levenson and James Norbury.

Antal described the film as, “an intense, character-driven thriller wrapped inside a bold science-fiction premise”.

‘The Odyssey’ Rivals ‘Spider-Man’ on Korea Debut

“The Odyssey” has opened strongly in South Korea, where star Matt Damon and director Christopher Nolan recently visited.

It opened on Wednesday on a screen count roughly equal that of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and earned $2.21 million, compared with “Spider-Man’s” eighth-day score of $1.92 million. The feat was repeated on Thursday, with “The Odyssey” adding $1.88 million, compared with “Spider-Man’s” $1.67 million.

After two days, The Odyssey” has accumulated $4.12 million and is reported to have pre-sold a further 70,000 tickets for the coming weekend. After nine days, “Spider-Man” has already amassed $34.4 million.

Toronto Taken With Asian Genre Titles

The Toronto IFF has fleshed out its Midnight Screening genre section with a special screening of Korean hit “Hope” (on the festival’s eve, on 9 Sept.) and a cast of other recent titles.

Midnight Madness (Asian films)

• “Arrested Memory” | SABU | Taiwan, Japan North American Premiere

• “HALF” | Samjad | India World Premiere

• “Kick On” | Nick Kozakis | Australia World Premiere

• “Vintage Violence” | Eugene Kotlyarenko | USA, Japan World Premiere

• “Hope” |Na Hong-jin |Korea

Horizontal Shorts at iQiyi

Chinese streamer iQiyi is launching horizontal, short-form drama label Undercurrent Theatre.

Its debut slate includes three titles spanning crime investigation, classic IP revival and suspense mystery. “Dead of Winter” is a hard-hitting crime suspense drama rooted in social realism, set in a small northeastern Chinese city in the late 1990s, following two former friends – a community police officer and a criminal investigator – who reunite to crack a series of major criminal cases, ultimately exposing an eight-year family tragedy. The show is now streaming on both the China and international versions of iQiyi’s platform.

Upcoming titles include “The VI Group of Fatal Case”, which revives a beloved crime franchise through a fast-paced prequel. “The Murder Truth” tackles the subject of serial crime through a layered blend of suspense, psychological investigation, and interconnected cases, unravelling the truth behind 18 horrific cases.

The launch comes as short-form drama emerges as a consequential shift in Chinese entertainment. The company says: “Audiences increasingly demand content that is both high in quality and fast in pace.

Its “Rose Finch”, a short-form drama blending folklore with scientific investigation, became a standout success in China, topping the short drama market for six consecutive days and enjoying a peak viewership share of 44%, according to Enlightent.

Acting star Michelle Yeoh has been named as Asian Filmmaker of the Year at the upcoming Busan International Film Festival.

The award will be presented at the festival’s opening ceremony on 6 Oct., ahead of a special programme of three Yeoh-starring films.

“With exceptional charisma, Yeoh forged a new image of the action heroine while continually exploring works ranging from genre films and art-house cinema to musical comedies. Transitioning seamlessly from grounded, relatable everyday characters to a powerful, timeless persona, Yeoh possesses a remarkable versatility, delivering performances with delicacy but never fragility,” the festival said in a statement.

“Her dynamic and memorable characters continue to inspire new generations of actors and filmmakers. Through consistently nuanced performances that defy boundaries of age and convention, her singular body of work proves how an actor can expand the very imaginative horizons of cinema.”

Yeoh selected the three films in the special section: “Reign of Assassins”; “Everything Everywhere All at Once”, for which she won an Oscar; and “Sandiwara“ (2026). In a separate section, the festival will also play her latest film “It’s My Time”.

She is also known for films including Hong Kong classics “Yes, Madam!”, “Police Story 3”, “Supercop”, Wing Chun”, global hits “Tomorrow Never Dies” and “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” and Hollywood’s “Crazy Rich Asians” and “Wicked”.

It is also Yeoh’s birthday today. So, double congratulations!

The Busan festival will make its full lineup announcement on Tuesday 1 Sept. The festival runs 6-15 Oct.

Keely Hired as SPA COO

Screen Producers Australia (SPA) has announced the appointment of Chris Keely as its chief operating officer (COO). He joins SPA with extensive executive experience spanning media, telecommunications, law and government, bringing a wealth of strategic, commercial and organisational leadership expertise to the organisation. He was previously executive director of CreateNSW and deputy director of a non-profit organisation advocating for LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workplace.

As COO, reporting to CEO Matthew Deaner, Keely will be expected to oversee SPA’s operations, finance, people and organisational performance, strengthen member services and ensure that the organisation is well positioned to deliver its strategic objectives.

‘Meet Me There’ Docu-Reality Format Gets Second Spin in Singapore

“Meet Me There”, a Japanese docu-reality TV format from Nippon TV has been given a second spin in Singapore. Produced by CNA, the English language news and current affairs brand of state broadcaster Mediacorp, the show will air later this month in time for Singapore’s annual National Day events.

“Meet Me There” is an unscripted format which begins with a handwritten note containing just three words, “Meet me there.” Without any other clues, the recipient of the note - or target - must find this mysterious location where the sender would be waiting.

Sender and target visit places where friendships could have been built or marriage proposals made. Emotions run high and even wrong turns can be bittersweet, making the eventual reunion more moving, and meaningful.

The cast will include Mediacorp artistes Zoe Tay and Aileen Tan, the first “Singapore Idol” Taufik Batisah and, chef and “MasterChef Singapore” judge, Bjorn Shen.

The first episode of the new season is scheduled to air on CNA on 10 August, before the full season is aired on 16, 16, 17 Aug. and streamed on YouTube.

Season 1 premiered in March and reached 366,000 Singapore viewers aged 15+ with an average of 200,000 viewers per episode.

The Toho-backed franchise film “Godzilla Minus Zero” will have its world premiere not in Japan but in the US, it emerged on Tuesday. The sequel to 2023 breakout hit “Godzilla Minus One” will make its debut on 26 September at the New York Film Festival, thus depriving the Busan (October) and Tokyo (October and November) film festivals of that honour.

The US theatrical release is set for 6 November, trailing its commercial debut in Japan, which has long been pegged as 3 November.

The 2023 film earned $114 million worldwide, including $57.1 million in North America, where it now stands as the third highest grossing foreign-language film. (That compares with $48.2 million in Japan itself.) Notably, “Minus One” also won the Oscar for VFX at the 2024 Academy Awards ceremony.

The decision to premiere the sequel outside Japan may be a bow to something in the storyline – the trailer that was released last month includes a fleeting shot with New York’s Statue of Liberty – though the official synopsis remains mute on the point.

Or it might be a bolder commercial decision to make the Toho “Godzilla” less Japanese and more of a universal franchise and thus a challenge to the slate of Legendary Entertainment-produced and Toho-licensed films made in English.

And it might also take advantage of having US distributor as a wholly-owned Toho subsidiary. That was not the case last time around. The film was released by Gkids in December 2023. Toho’s acquisition of Gkids went ahead in October 2024. That could also help position the film in the current year Oscars race.

Grace Chang, Iconic Actress of the Late 1950s, Dies at 93

Grace Chang, the iconic star of late 1950s and early 1960s films including “Mambo Girl”, “Spring Song” and “The Wild, Wild Rose”, has died. No cause of death was disclosed. She was 93.

Chang, better known as Ge Lan and Ko Lan, was born in Nanjing in 1933, spent her early years in Shanghai and emigrated in 1948 to Hong Kong with her father.

Chang got her first movie role when she accompanied a friend, who did not speak Mandarin fluently, to a casting call. Chang got the job instead, did three months of training and made “Seven Sisters” with experienced director Bu Wangcan.

Chang initially worked out of necessity as her family could only afford to fund the studies of her brother. Her dreams were to study classical music in Europe.

She made several more films with Bu before being introduced to Loke Wan Tho, the head of the MP & GI Studios, a predecessor to the Cathay Organisation and signed a multi-film contract.

That period included “Mambo Girl” which required a 51-day shoot and for Chang to sing all but one of the songs. (The other was performed by Mona Fong, who later married Run Run Shaw of the Shaw Studios, and who became a founder of Hong Hong broadcaster TVB). The film spawned multiple spin-offs including stage appearances and a cha-cha competition where the winner could dance with Chang.

Chang’s convent education in Shanghai was very different from her on-screen persona, which was confident and room-commandingly sexy. With her wide eyes and sashaying moves, Chang was renowned for her looks, acting, dancing and singing abilities. Her 11-year acting career yielded 33 films, several of which became enduring classics.

Chang married a wealthy banker in 1961 and retired from the screen at the height of her career in 1964.

Her songs “Carmen” (in Chinese) and “Ja Jambo” were significant hits and several of her recordings endured. Chang has two song credits, for “Wo Yao Ni De Ai” and “Wo Yao Fei Shang Qing Tian”, on the soundtrack of Hollywood-produced “Crazy Rich Asians”.

Higashino Keigo, ‘Suspect X’ novelist dead at 67

Higashino Keigo, the prolific Japanese novelist behind the film “The Devotion of Suspect X”, has died. Local sources say report that his death occurred on 23 July and that the cause was colorectal cancer. He was 68.

Born in a working-class part of Osaka, Higashino began working at an engineer until his writing career took off. An early stepping stone was a successful mystery story submission to the Edogawa Rampo literary prize. By 2026, Higashino had published 78 novels, 24 short story collections, four essay collections, one children’s book, one manga and one original audiobook.

A vast number of his books have been adapted for the screen, including “The Devotion of Suspect X” and “The Miracles of the Namiya General Store.” By one count, 28 have been adapted as Japanese feature films, three as Korean films, one as a French film (“The Secret”), two as Indian movies and one as a Chinese film (2017’s “Namiya”). Additionally, 11 were adapted as Japanese TV dramas.

A Japanese-Korean series adaptation of “The Miracles of Namiya General Store” is currently in production for Disney+.

YRF Aims to Roar With Raah, Aman

Indian movie and TV studio Yash Raj Films is launching Raah Records, a company that it pitches less as a record label than as a musical talent developer.

Its first example is the 5 Aug. release of debut single “Jaadugari” by singer-songwriter Aman. It follows a year of “creative collaboration that helped shape and refine his artistic voice.”

“As India’s independent music ecosystem enters a defining phase of growth, we believe great artists need more than distribution they need belief, time and long-term creative partnership. Raah Records is built around careers, not campaigns, bringing together world-class A&R, artist development, marketing and distribution to help original artists build lasting careers,” said Akshaye Widhani, CEO, Yash Raj Films.

Raah Records will be led by Nakul Sharma, senior general manager - music management, Yash Raj Films, who has previously been involved in shaping the label’s artist development philosophy.

‘Artful’ Again

Disney+ Australian premium scripted Hulu Original series “The Artful Dodger” has been greenlit for a third and final season. The high-octane Season 3 will premiere on Disney+ and on Hulu in the U.S.

The all-star cast, which includes Thomas Brodie-Sangster (“The Queen’s Gambit”, “Wolf Hall”), David Thewlis (“Landscapers”, “Avatar: Fire and Ash”) and Maia Mitchell (“Good Trouble”, “Never Goin’ Back”), are returning in their respective roles as Dr. Jack Dawkins, Norbet Fagin and Lady Belle Fox.

Sony Pictures Television’s Curio Pictures’ Jo Porter and Rachel Gardner return as executive producers/producers with Chris Martin-Jones (“A Place to Call Home”, “Home and Away”) as series producer. Ben Young (“The Twelve”, “Clickbait”) and Ben C. Lucas (“The Survivors”, “High Country”) return as directors.

Andrew Knight (“Hacksaw Ridge”, “Jack Irish”, “Rake”), will return to lead the scripting as executive producer, alongside Dan Knight (“Irreverent”) as script producer, who has written across all three seasons. Andrew Knight was also the first season’s co-script lead and co-executive producer.

Filming on Season 3 will take place in Sydney, Australia and start in the coming months.

Disney says the show is its most-viewed Australian original title. Season 2 has been nominated for best scripted comedy programme at the Logie Awards.

Toronto Additions

The already huge Toronto International Film Festival has finally unveiled most of the remaining parts of its wide-ranging line-up. Among the Asian additions are the world premiere of Kamila Andini’s “Four Seasons in Java” and the Guneet Monga-produced “Dorothy”.

Centrepiece (Asian selections only)

• “A Girl Unknown” | Zou Jing | China (North American Premiere)

• “Ah Girl” | Ang Geck Geck Priscilla | Singapore (North American Premiere)

• “Dorothy” | Karthik Subbaraj | India (World Premiere)

• “Elephants in the Fog” | Abinash Bikram Shah | Nepal, France, Germany, Brazil, Norway (North American Premiere)

• “Four Seasons in Java” | Kamila Andini | Indonesia, France, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore (World Premiere)

• “Future Tense” | Jenna Cato Bass | South Africa, Australia (World Premiere)

• “God Bless You, Mr Kopu” | Alex Liu | New Zealand, Australia (World Premiere)

• “Intermission” | Yonfan | Hong Kong (North American Premiere)

• “Light Pillar” | Xu Zao | China (North American Premiere)

• “Long Long Night” | Kyu Bock Youm | South Korea (World Premiere)

• “We Are All Strangers” | Anthony Chen | Singapore (North American Premiere)

Wavelengths Programme

• “The Remotes” | John Torres | Philippines (World Premiere)

Classics Programme

• “Report to Mother” (“Amma Ariyan”) | John Abraham | India | 1986 (North American Premiere of 4K restoration, courtesy of Film Heritage Foundation)

• “Spring in a Small Town” (“Xiao cheng zhi chun”) | Fei Mu | China | 1948 (World Premiere of 4K restoration, courtesy of the China Film Archive)

• “Ten Dark Women” (“Kuroi jûnin no onna”) | Kon Ichikawa | Japan | 1961 (North American Premiere of 4K restoration, courtesy of Kadokawa Corporation)

The 51st edition of the Toronto International Film Festival runs September 10–20, 2026.

TIFFCOM Expanding Industry

The Tokyo IFF is busily expanding its industry section. After debuting a trail version in Cannes, the Tokyo IP Market, which handles adaptation rights for manga and novels as well as remake rights for audiovisual works, is to be expanded.

The Tokyo Gap-Financing Market, its project market for feature films, will support international co-productions with a focus on genre projects, , through its partnership with Frontières, the project market of the Fantasia International Film Festival in Canada.

TIFFCOM, which runs 28-30 Oct., alongside the festival that operates 26 Oct. to 4 Nov., has released a charming poster image.