André Rieu Sets Event Cinema Record; ‘Zootopia’ Wins Kids’ BAFTA – Global Briefs
André Rieu has done it again. The Dutch violinist’s CinemaLive holiday special, André Rieu: Christmas With André, has topped his own previous box office record, becoming the highest-grossing single-day music concert event of all time at UK and Irish turnstiles. Screening at 480 locations on Saturday, the concert grossed £1.162M ($1.45M), beating Rieu’s 2015 Maastricht concert which had sold £1.034M in UK/Ireland tickets. Saturday’s event featured a never-before-seen recorded Christmas concert, a personal live tour of Maastricht and a live Q&A with Rieu, aka “The King of Waltz,” who’s known for his energetic and festive live performances. The concert also screened in 223 cinemas across Europe, including in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. On November 27, encore screenings will be held at 290 cinemas across the UK & Ireland, plus 57 more in Europe and at select dates in Australia and New Zealand. Canada celebrates Christmas with André on December 1.
BAFTA held its Children’s Awards this weekend with two prizes going to Cartoon Network’s The Amazing World Of Gumball, for Best Animation and Writing. The Comedy prize went to CBBC’s Horrible Histories Special: Sensational Shakespeare. Winning the International award was Cartoon Network’s We Bare Bears; and the Feature Film prize went to Disney’s Zootopia (Zootropolis in the UK). Britain was the 4th largest box office market on Zootopia with $34.2M. It’s the No. 3 movie of the year worldwide and No. 2 overseas.
Chinese entertainment group Huayi Brothers has led a $29M series D funding round on Magilm Pictures, a Beijing-based film marketing and distribution company, China Money Network reports. Busy Huayi is involved in a film production joint venture with electronics giant Xiaomi; holds a stake in eSports company Hero Entertainment; and has a substantial deal with STX, among other interests. The company will help Magilm expand its film, television and animation production, marketing and distribution businesses, the local report says. Founded in 2009, Magilm’s previous investors have included Shenzhen Co-Win Venture Capital, Tianxing Capital, Alpha Group and Tianfeng Securities.
Factual indie Atlantic Productions has made a series of key hires and promotions to bolster the UK team. BAFTA-winner and Emmy nominee Mike Davis has been named Associate Creative Director; Ian Syder has been named Head of Production; and Emily Smith has come on board in the newly created role of Director of Marketing and Business Development. Davis’ credits include Great Barrier Reef With David Attenborough and David Attenborough Meets President Obama. He produced the BAFTA-winning David Attenborough’s Natural History Museum Alive. His new role will see him across Atlantic’s TV, IMAX, theatrical and VR slate. Syder’s credits include Big Brother, Deal Or No Deal, the BBC’s Life and Spring Watch. Smith previously worked at London’s Natural History Museum and has held marketing and communications roles at the Royal Court Theatre, London Philharmonic Orchestra and National Gallery.
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