More from Patrick Brzeski
‘Shogun’ Star Hiroyuki Sanada Delves Into Finale’s Deeper Message: “We Need the Hero Who Brings About Peace”
[This story contains major spoilers from the season finale of FX’s Shōgun.] It’s easy to picture Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada gazing toward the horizon with a beatific sense of satisfaction over everything he has achieved with FX’s smash-hit miniseries Shōgun. His character, Lord Yoshii Toranaga, enjoys several such moments in the show’s 10th and last episode, […]
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China Box Office: ‘Boy and the Heron’ Sails to $94M, ‘Godzilla x Kong’ Hits $110M
Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning anime The Boy and the Heron floated to an easy second-weekend win at China’s theatrical box office, earning $12.8 million from Friday to Sunday, according to data from Artisan Gateway. The Studio Ghibli blockbuster has now earned $93.8 million in China, with local ticketing app Maoyan projecting that it will soon sail […]
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Donald Trump Movie ‘The Apprentice’ to Premiere at Cannes: First Look and What We Know
It’s official: Donald Trump — or at least a fictionalized version of him — is heading to Cannes. The prestigious French film festival unveiled its 2024 official film selection Thursday in Paris, and Iranian-Danish filmmaker Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice was among the titles revealed for the event’s main competition. The biographical drama stars Sebastian Stan as […]
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‘Shogun’ Star Tadanobu Asano on Creating Fan-Favorite Samurai Yabushige
Veteran Japanese character actor Tadanobu Asano is having a very overdue breakthrough moment. The chameleonic film star has been a mainstay of Japanese cinema for nearly three decades, while also regularly appearing in prominent supporting parts in big Hollywood productions. But his irresistible performance in FX’s period series Shōgun is giving him an all-new level […]
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China Box Office: Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘The Boy and The Heron’ Soars to $73M Over Holiday Weekend
Japanese anime master Hayao Miyazaki is revered in China as much as he is anywhere. The 83-year-old filmmaker’s Oscar-winning swan song The Boy and the Heron opened last Wednesday in China to take advantage of the country’s Qingming public holiday and by Sunday it had earned $73 million — more than its totals in both […]
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Hayao Miyazaki’s ‘The Boy and the Heron’ Smashes Box Office Record in China
Japanese anime master Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning swan song The Boy and the Heron has taken flight at China’s box office in a major way. The enigmatic Studio Ghibli hit opened in China on Wednesday and soared to $13.7 million (RMB 99.1 million), nudging aside Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment’s prior box office champ Godzilla x […]
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Song Kang-ho’s Disney+ Series ‘Uncle Samsik’ Gets Release Date
Disney+ has reveled the release date for its ambitious Korean political drama Uncle Samsik, starring Song Kang-ho in his TV series debut. The show will launch with a five-episode premiere on May 15 exclusively on Disney+ internationally and on Hulu in the U.S. The 16-part series will then unfurl in batches of two episodes per […]
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How ‘Tokyo Vice’ Captured More of Japan’s Capital City on Camera Than Any TV Show Has Before
When the skies cleared above Tokyo’s historic Akasaka district late one evening in March 2023, no one in the city of 37 million people could have been more relieved than Masanori Aikawa, the tireless location manager employed by Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max and its hit TV series Tokyo Vice. The neo-noir crime drama was then […]
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‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ Makes Roaring Start in China
Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire made a suitably thunderous start at China’s theatrical box office Friday. The film had earned about $7 million (RMB 50 million) by 3 p.m. local time in Beijing, according to ticketing service Maoyan. Maoyan currently forecasts the monster movie to earn as much as […]
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‘Shogun’ Star Tadanobu Asano Joins Thai Director Pen-ek Ratanaruang’s Culinary Thriller ‘Morte Cucina’ (Exclusive)
The ever-busy Japanese character actor Tadanobu Asano — currently having a moment as one of the stars of Disney’s hit samurai series Shōgun — has joined the cast of Thai director Pen-ek Ratanaruang’s upcoming culinary thriller Morte Cucina. The actor and director last collaborated two decades ago on the romantic crime film Last Life in the Universe (2003), […]
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China Box Office: ‘Kung Fu Panda 4’ Opens to $25.9M During Quiet Weekend
Even a Hollywood hit with Chinese characteristics can’t seem to revive the U.S. studios’ diminished status at China’s box office. Dreamworks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 4 — the latest installment in one of China’s favorite long-running U.S. franchises, thanks to its Chinese culture-steeped story — opened to $14.7 million from Friday to Sunday, according to data […]
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James Zimmerman’s Acclaimed Nonfiction Book ‘The Peking Express’ Set for Movie Adaptation (Exclusive)
One of the world’s great true-life train heist stories is set to return to the big screen in China. Filmmaker DaMing Chen and veteran producer Chris Lee have partnered to develop a feature adaptation of James Zimmerman’s acclaimed nonfiction book, The Peking Express: The Bandits Who Stole a Train, Stunned the West, and Broke the […]
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