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Sufjan Stevens has announced that he’s partnered with Third Man Pressings to release a new special edition vinyl honoring the 20th anniversary of his third studio album, Michigan. Featuring alternate versions of “Romulus” and “Vito’s Ordination Song,” as well as never-before-heard cuts like “Marching Band” and “Wolverine,” the new edition will expand on the sonic world Stevens created while honoring his home state. Each of the colored vinyl variants will hit shelves this upcoming week.

Coordinated with Third Man’s Detroit location, the new vinyl comes in three shades. A “Great Lakes Blue” edition will be released on June 13th at 10:30 a.m. Et, and will be available online as well as at Third Man’s physical stores. The “University of Michigan/Michigan State Akr” edition, released with Asthmatic Kitty Records, will be available at Asthmatic Kitty’s store beginning June 14th at 10:00 a.m. Et,...

As much as fans might crave it, Led Zeppelin won’t be making any new music. Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and John Paul Jones gathered to jam after their disastrous Live Aid show in 1985, but that reunion crashed before it took off. Their one-off 2007 performance at the O2 arena in London was the last time we saw Zep’s three surviving members playing together. Since they won’t be coming together to make new music, Led Zeppelin fans might want to explore the work of these four bands.

(l-r) Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin; Jack White of The White Stripes | Larry Hulst/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images; M. Caulfield/WireImage 1. Deep Purple

Page said the key to Led Zeppelin’s first album was having all four band members share the spotlight. Not many bands can have their drummer or bassist command the group, but Zep was one of them.

China’s government-backed Golden Rooster Awards honored Oscar-winning drama “The Father” with the event’s first-ever prize for best international film in the coastal city of Xiamen on Thursday.

Beijing hopes that its star-studded awards ceremony can rival and surpass the Taipei-based Golden Horse Awards, once known as the “Oscars of Asia” for Chinese-language content. This year, the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival, which kicked off Tuesday, added the international film competition category for the first time.

This year’s 34th iteration honors films screened theatrically in China between July 1, 2020 and July 15, 2021.

“The Father” beat out animation “Wolfwalkers,” World War II drama “Persian Lessons,” Italy’s live-action “Pinocchio” and the Thai drama “Happy Old Year.” The film grossed $4.14 million in China in June — nearly double the $2.12 million it earned in the U.S.

Veteran helmer Zhang Yimou was the most decorated of this year’s ceremony, with his...

China has released the list of nominees for its upcoming Golden Rooster Awards, a set of government-approved film industry prizes that it wants to be seen as rivaling the Taipei-based Golden Horse Awards, historically considered as the “Chinese-language Oscars.”

The winning Roosters will be announced amidst a film festival running Dec. 28-30 in the port city of Xiamen in coastal Fujian province, just a short boat ride away from Taiwanese soil. Established in 1981, the event was previously held biannually until China’s rift with the Golden Horse prizes occurred in 2018 following a pro-Taiwanese independence acceptance speech and prompted the Roosters to become an annual occurrence.

This year’s twenty different Rooster Awards will honor films screened theatrically between July 1, 2020 and July 15, 2021. As the event is backed by China’s propaganda department, only local and foreign titles that have received official censorship approvals will be considered.

“As we all know, the...

“Green Snake,” the Chinese animated sequel to the folktale adaptation “White Snake,” slithered past propaganda films to the top of the box office this weekend with a $29.7 million debut, according to Maoyan figures.

The platform currently predicts that “Green Snake” will go on to gross $77.5 million, which would make it more successful than its 2019 predecessor’s $61.6 million.

The new sequel brought in $2.6 million from Imax screens in China, which accounted for 9.1% of its total weekend sales. That makes it Imax’s highest indexing local animated title of all time in China, beating the 2019 breakout hit “Ne Zha.”

The film is the latest work from the ever-improving local animation studio Light Chaser, and once again employs a video game-like aesthetic to tell the constantly reprised fable dating back to the Tang dynasty. The tale recounts the story of two snakes who develop super powers after achieving immortality and become able to transform into women.

“Chinese Doctors” gave a shot in the arm to a sluggish weekend at the Chinese box office, coming in first with sales of $44.4 million, according to Maoyan data.

The patriotic tear-jerked had little competition: only other patriotic films, children’s animations and youth-centric programming are currently in theaters.

The Wuhan-set pandemic film from Bona Film is the most commercial of a slew of blockbusters intended to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party, and has grossed $138 million so far. Some $5.5 million of those sales came from Imax screens, $2.2 million of which rolled in this weekend, the company said.

In comparison, earlier frontrunner “1921” has grossed $71 million since its July 1 debut and “The Pioneer” just $18.9 million.

In a slow week with no breakout new releases, the latter two films nevertheless remained in the top ten, coming in fifth and tenth this weekend, grossing $2.6 million and $593,000, respectively.

In second place this...

The tear-jerking, patriotic pandemic film “Chinese Doctors” locked down a $53.5 million China opening weekend, according to Maoyan, setting itself up to become the most commercially successful political tribute film so far this year.

Such films have been helped along by a line-up cleared of competitors. This week, only political films, children’s content and a holdover rom-com grossed more than $1 million.

Produced by Bona Film, “Chinese Doctors” is inspired by the real experiences of medical personnel in Wuhan during the early days of the pandemic. It earned more than twice the three-day debut of fellow nationalistic tribute to the Communist Party, “1921,” which earned $21.4 million last weekend. Around $2 million of sales for “Chinese Doctor” came from Imax screens.

This week, “1921” came in second with further sales of $6.58 million, bringing up its cume so far to $64 million. Imax didn’t provide further data as to how much box office it earned from the title.

China’s two new propaganda films topped the box office over their first weekend in theaters, but it appears that the politically correct content may not prove popular enough to drive sales at blockbuster levels.

Most of the biggest local blockbusters set to hit China over the rest of the year are propaganda titles. Though analysts believe that China will keep its crown as the world’s largest film market this year, some question whether its annual gross may suffer from a surplus of “main melody” political films and fewer Hollywood tentpoles as the U.S. exhibition sector wobbles back on its feet post-covid.

China’s cumulative box office this weekend was just $44.9 million, down significantly from the comparable weekend of 2019, when Maoyan figures show it hit $120 million. Those heights were made possible by blockbusters “Spider-Man: Far From Home” and Herman Yau Hong Kong actioner “The White Storm 2: Drug Lords,...

Chinese historical drama ‘1921’ landed in second place worldwide.

Worldwide Box Office July 2-4 2021 RankFilm (Distributor) 3-day (World)Cume (World) 3-day (Int’l)Cume (Int’l)Territories 1 Fast & Furious 9 (Universal) $47.8m $491.5m $23.8m $374.4m 51 2 1921 (Various) $21.6m $45.7m $21.6m $45.7m 4 3 The Boss Baby: Family Business (Universal) $18.8m $18.8m $1.5m $1.5m 9 4 The Forever Purge (Universal) $16.3m $16.3m $3.5m $3.5m 23 5 Cruella (Disney) $11.5m $204.3m $9m $127.8m 44

Credit: Comscore, all figures estimates

‘Fast & Furious 9’ tops global chart with $48m weekend

Five new territory openings including Spain and Singapore took the country count to 51 for Universal’s Fast & Furious 9,...

Guangzhou, the capital of China’s top movie-going province Guangdong, announced Friday that cinemas there can now reopen after nearly a month of closures due to a rise in Covid-19 cases.

Theaters were shuttered in a number of districts in the city of more than 15 million on June 7 after an outbreak that authorities worried could be tied to new, more transmissible coronavirus variants.

Cinemas were closed for 25 days before local authorities declared that the outbreak has now been “effectively controlled.”

“Enclosed entertainment venues, enclosed indoor parts of tourist attractions, and indoor sports venues may operate at up to 75% maximum capacity if they implement reservations, staggered entries and other measures,” they said in a statements.

Patrons will be required to wear masks, scan their health Qr code to prove a clean bill of health, and have their temperature measures for entry, as well as maintain six feet of distance between each other in queues.

Big-budget mainland Chinese propaganda film “1921” is set for distribution across a raft of English-speaking countries, including the U.S. and U.K.

The film enjoyed a wide general release in mainland China from Thursday as part of the ongoing celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. It is primarily backed by Tencent Pictures and is co-directed by Huang Jianxin and Zheng Dasheng.

International rights sales are handled by Hong Kong-based Media Asia, and deals were confirmed at the end of the pre-Cannes week of online screenings. The company licensed “1921” to Smart Cinema for North America; Trinity Filmed Entertainment for the U.K. and Middle East; Purple Plan for Australia and New Zealand; and Clover Films for Singapore.

The companies’ different release dates have not been established.

Smart Cinema is a Chinese-owned tech firm which specialized in a form of distribution to...

Chinese propaganda film “1921” grossed $13 million on its opening day Thursday, outperforming debuts from Hollywood releases like “Cruella,” “A Quiet Place Part II” and “Peter Rabbit 2.”

Patriotic titles “1921” and “The Pioneer” kicked off China’s summer season with a nationalist splash with Thursday premieres. Both films were created as tributes to China’s ruling Communist Party on the occasion of its 100th anniversary.

Top earning “1921” is expected to be one of China’s biggest films of the year. It notched a $13 million (RMB84 million) opening day, according to Maoyan. Its cumulative box office has already reached twice that — $24.6 million (RMB159 million) — thanks to extensive preview screenings.

Its standalone opening day sales are nearly eight times that of the China debut for Disney’s “Cruella” ($1.7 million), more than 13 times that of “Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway” and more than three times that of “A Quiet Place Part II...

Star-powered propaganda flick “1921â€. hit number one at the Chinese box office this week, bringing in $11.6 million from pre-screenings ahead of its July 1 debut, according to Maoyan data.

The historical drama debuted earlier this month as the opening night title of the Shanghai Intl. Film Festival. Backed by Tencent Pictures and Shanghai Film Group, the film was created as a tribute to the country’s ruling Communist Party on the July 1 occasion of the 100th anniversary of its founding.

The drama is co-directed by Huang Jianxin and Zheng Dasheng. It features a long list of some 100 celebrities who star or appear in cameos as key figures in Communist party history,, including Liu Haoran, and many others.

The second most popular title this weekend was the holdover Taiwanese rom-com “Man in Love.â€. It grossed a further $5.35 million to bring its cume up to $27.6 million. Starring Roy Chiu and Tiffany Hsu, it...