Headlines from China: Disney Releases Special Chinese New Year Posters

Disney Creates Special Chinese New Year Posters

February 5 is the first day in the Chinese New Year and Disney celebrates this most important Chinese holiday by releasing a series of special Chinese-style posters on Chinese social media Weibo. The posters promote seven upcoming films, including Captain Marvel, Avengers:Endgame, Dumbo, Aladdin, Toy Story 4, The Lion King, and Frozen 2. The posters thoughtfully combine elements from the films with traditional Chinese imagery to show genuine respect and appreciation of traditional Chinese culture. Read more on Mtime

Top 10 Chinese Celebrities by Commercial Value in 2018

Last year saw many young idols emerging in China thanks to several hit talent shows. These young idols also become darlings of brands for their ability to influence gen Z consumers. The emergence of new idols and some high-profile celebrity scandals have brought changes to the list of annual top 10 Chinese celebrities by commercial value. No. 1 on the 2018 list is Jackson Yee (易烊千玺) who is a member of boy band TFBoys. According to AdMaster CEO Maggie Wang, many brands want to collaborate with Jackson Yee because he successfully transformed himself from a child star to a teen idol. He enhanced his mature and cool image through his participation in this year’s hit talent show Street Dance of China. Lu Han and Wang Junkai, who appeared on last year’s top 10 list, are also on this year’s list, while Kris Wu dropped to No. 11. Two new stars that are worth noting on the list are Cai Xukun and Zhu Yilong, both rose to fame in 2018. Last year’s top 10 list includes four female stars, including Yang Mi, Fan Bingbing, Zhao Liying and Dilreba. This year, three of them stay on the list except Fan Bingbing who fell from grace due to tax evasion scandal. Read more on entgroup.cn

China Box Office: Day One of Chinese New Year Holiday

Eight Chinese new year films finally hit the theater today. As of 9:45 PM (Beijing Time), the eight films have raked in RMB 1.42 billion in total, setting a new single-day box office record. So far, Ning Hao’s Crazy Alien is leading the race with over RMB 400 million in ticket sales. Crazy Alien is followed by Han Han’s Pegasus, which has made RMB 310 million. Both films star Shen Teng who became known for his performance in comedy films produced by Mahua FunAge. Behind Pegasus are Stephen Chow’s The New King of Comedy and science fiction movie The Wandering Earth. Read more on NetEase