The above infographic, provided by the Gravity Group, is a brief summary of the hits and percentages that make up the Chinese box office totals for last year. more ›

In an effort to make the cinematic experience more accessible to China's moviegoers, China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) plans to set a maximum price for movie tickets in the near future. more ›

"For an explosion scene today, we laid over a kilometre of explosives and called up more than a thousand extras, as well as a Chinese aerial video company. The result was a catastrophe as they couldn't even maintain a steady hover height. This has taught me a lesson -- you may want to give domestic companies a platform, but they won't give you face, and eventually you'll still have to do a u-turn and get the laowais in. If you don't have the right techniques, you can practise, but what's frightening is that these guys will tell you they can do anything, and then mess it up when the big moment comes. Right, I'll just suck it up. Next time, I won't believe anyone again." more ›

Written by Singaporean playwright Alfian Sa'at and directed by Royston Tan more ›

Last night was the first of threefive Shanghai screenings of Red Light Revolution, a film from Australian director Sam Voutas that proudly proclaims itself "China's first ever sex shop comedy." The subject matter is definitely relevant to China today, where 70% of the world's sex toys are produced, and vibrators are sold next to the checkout stand at Family Mart (of all places.) The film has been shown all over the festival circuit, and lucky for us they are now touring China after receiving a grant to host private screenings in cities all over the country. more ›

Looking ever so epic and Gandhi-esque, The Lady traces the story of Nobel Peace Prize (aka Hideous Norwegian Insult to Chinese Sovereignty Prize) winner Aung San Suu Kyi, and her struggle to bring democracy to Myanmar in the face of the country's military junta. more ›

Get your eyeballs ready! IMAX will be installing another 15 of their highfalutin' theaters throughout China, in a new joint-venture with South Korea's CJ GGV Holdings Ltd. No doubt eager to cater to the country's growing numbers of cinema-goers that every silver-haired media bigwig worth their salt wants a piece of, IMAX will be installing the first of its theaters this year, with the rest to be rolled out between 2013 to 2017. more ›

Sohu Vice-President Liu Chun (刘春) laments in a post on his Sohu Weibo profile about the anti-Japanese propaganda productions that are shown every September 18, anniversary of the Mukden Incident in 1931, which subsequently led to the Japanese invasion of Manchuria:

September 18 -- I'd like to plead with China's film industry workers. Please stop making those obscene, mythological anti-Japanese films where a child destroys a dozen (Japanese) devils, a farmer hundreds, and a guerilla thousands. Are the (Japanese) short-legged or brain-damaged? Each scene requires hordes of cameos to act as (Japanese) corpses. Please, pay a bit of attention to history. Stop turning a 14-year-long brutal war which caused the death of tens of millions into a game. more ›

It seems like everybody is getting on the "Make a movie in China" train. There was John Cusack in Shanghai last year, then Hugh Jackman in Wendy Deng's Snow Flower & The Secret Fan. There's even a Disney reinterpretation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves that will take place here. So perhaps its not surprising that our favorite time traveler-turned-surf cop-turned-virtual reality messiah has jumped aboard as well. more ›

All the things you'd want to do this Monday through Thursday. On the schedule this week: Get your art groove on because this week we've got galleries ranging from JoneOne's street graffiti, Four Female Artists' paintings, Xiao Xuan's pictures of Wenchuan temples, and Louise Bourgeois. Read on (or check out our calendar) for more! more ›

Some of you, like us, may be feeling summer blockbuster withdrawals to the point where in your fevered, gasping delirium you may not have the fortitude to search out the dates of your salvation on your own. So just for you, here are the upcoming summer theater release dates for China: more ›

Okay, so we already knew propaganda birthday bonanza film Founding of a Party has been using pretty shady means to push box office numbers up (via delaying Transformers, making attendance mandatory, etc etc) but who knew they'd stoop to this? Circulating on weibo are photos showing the process whereby tickets to other movies are being sold as Founding of a Party, then simply manually changed to whatever movie the person wants to see. Here's the CDT translation: more ›

It will be three weeks tomorrow since China's mega-starry propaganda film The Founding of a Party (建党伟业, called "Beginning of the Great Revival" by international media) was released in Chinese theaters in the lead up to the CPC 90th Anniversary. Here's the story so far: more ›

The Founding of a Party (建党伟业), also known as Beginning of the Great Revival in English, was released last week as part of a 28-movie mega push for party revelry in the lead up to the 90th anniversary of the CPC. As with 2009's The Founding of a Republic, the CCP's latest propaganda picture features a parade of some of the biggest Chinese stars working in film today. Though you might know the faces (Look! It's that fellow from the cell phone/milk tea/moisturizer commercial!), we're sure there's some confusion about the names attached to them. more ›

The 5th Beijing Queer Film Festival, China's first full-fledged LGBT film festival founded 10 years ago, has concluded but not before demands by officials to shut down the event sparked off yet another round of cat-and-mouse which gay community organisers in China are by now so used to. more ›

All the things you'd want to do this Monday through Thursday. On the schedule this week: Swedish films, business networking, rooftop parties, French photographers, and some Latin spice! Read on (or check out our calendar) for more! more ›

Ahead of its release later this year, rumors have been confirmed that the remake of the 1984 classic Red Dawn has had to make some not-too-minor adjustments. Originally featured was an invasion of America by the Chinese Army. But in a desperate attempt to tap into the Chinese market, the enemy has been changed to North Korea. It would seem that Hollywood has come grovelling at the gates of Beijing, and its $1.5 billion box office. more ›

And because Chan has the biggest boner for the Chinese government, it's a historic epic that will coincide with the centennial of the Wuchang Uprising, when Sun Yat-sen's forces overthrew the Qing Dynasty and founded the Republic of China. Called 1911, it will be released simultaneously in China and the U.S. in October.
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It has been a year and a half since the WTO ruled China's restriction of U.S. books, music and film to be in violation of free-trade laws. Now, at long last, the ruling's implementation this March could possibly see an expansion of the foreign film quota, which is currently set at a flexible 20 per year. The operative word here is 'could.' more ›

China's first homegrown Jewish movie, "A Jewish Girl from Shanghai", screened last month at the 11th Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival, and is the first mainland China production to have received a nomination at the Jerusalem Film Festival for the Avner Shalev Award. A review of the movie at The Forward points out the odd way in which "it blends a little-known chapter of Holocaust history with the chipper naïveté of a Disney film". Watch the trailer below and you'll see what they mean by that:
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Trawling through Vimeo brought our attention to this China-made French movie called "Laowai," which from the trailer, looks to be about a French guy who plays at the JZ Club (and who just happens to be Lions of Puxi member Gauthier Roubichou) and his relationship with a Chinese girl. more ›

The weekend is here, hallelujah! For many, this weekend will be heavily focussed on Thanksgiving! Whether that’s taking advantage of all of the offers in the bars and restaurants, staying at home ‘Skype’-ing your loved ones, or chowing down on a Turkey sub from Subway, we’re sure there’s going to be some Thanksgiving influence in there. If you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, or if you do but you want something else, then here are our picks of the best goings on in Shanghai this weekend! more ›

Unless you touched down in Shanghai just a few hours ago, you know that a horrific fire broke out at an apartment block in Jing’An earlier this week. To raise funds for the Shanghai Red Cross Jiaozhou Lu fund, BEAN and Kaiba are holding a fundraising event this Saturday night and your attendance/contributions would be greatly appreciated. more ›

Ok, so Zhang Yimou's remake of Blood Simple wasn't exactly the greatest and to say Disney failed with their Chinese take on High School Musical when reportedly, only one person showed up to their Beijing screening, is kind of an understatement. But despite such an abysmal track record, the dream is still alive for big studio execs. more ›

A spaghetti western? Filmed in Shanghai? That's apparently what Shangdown: The Way Of The Spur is. Filmed completely in Shanghai and directed by Jakob Montrasio, it's calling itself a gritty western with an Asian twist. The trailer is above. more ›

Someone has heard our prayers! Not only has the China release of Christopher Nolan's Inception been pushed up from September 21 to NEXT WEEK (Sept. 2), but it'll be shown completely uncut lest nobody understand the already "confusing" plot. So come next Thursday, who's free for a Shanghaiist movie date? more ›

Considering how its release over here was panned as one of China's worst movies that year, I hope American audiences don't go into this thinking it'll be the next House of Flying Daggers or Hero. Say what you will about the quality of those movies, but at least they were entertaining. more ›

Awesome film news! Inception, one of the most highly anticipated (and then most highly rated) movies of the year, will be getting one of the coveted 20 spots reserved for foreign films here in China. That means it'll be coming to a theater near you! more ›

Hey mini movie makers! The Italian Pavilion at the World Expo is hoping to give YOU money if you win their "My Expo Movie" contest, open to anyone who visits over the month of August (technically June 30th to August 30th). more ›