The bad news about publishing a weekly industry newsletter is that inevitably you’re going to get a few things wrong. The good news is that, in the cinema business, you rarely have to wait long for the opportunity to apologize in person.
Such was the case when, in last week’s Marquee, I identified UNIC’s newly elected president, Jaime Tarrazón, as the head of Spanish exhibitor association Federación de Cines de España, better known as FECE.
Tarrazón kindly wrote to clarify that he is actually CEO of Cines Filmax, one of Spain’s most successful family-owned cinema circuits. He serves on FECE’s governing board, while the association’s director general is Almudena Fernandez-Golfin, who took up the role last September.
My apologies to all concerned.
Fortunately, I ran into El Presidente Tarrazón this past week at CineHamburg in Germany, giving me a chance to deliver my mea culpa directly.
This was the inaugural edition of CineHamburg in its namesake city. The event brought together the annual conferences previously organized separately by the Hauptverband Deutscher Filmtheater (HDF Kino), better known as HDF Kino, Germany’s cinema operators association, and AllScreens Verband Filmverleih und Audiovisuelle Medien, the trade body representing the country’s film distributors and audiovisual media companies.
For more than 50 years, HDF Kino held its KINO convention in the resort town of Baden-Baden, usually in the spring, as the largest annual gathering of German cinema operators.
Meanwhile, what began as Filmmesse Köln and eventually became Filmtage Köln was held in Cologne for at least 19 years. Organized by AllScreens, whose more than 50 members distribute films accounting for roughly 90% of annual German cinema attendance, it allowed distributors to preview their upcoming releases for theatre operators each summer.
Last year, HDF Kino and AllScreens decided to combine the two events in what amounted to a strong show of industry solidarity.
On paper, this may look like conference consolidation. In practice, it felt like something more significant: exhibitors and distributors acknowledging that they are stronger in the same room than they are operating on parallel calendars.
That new spirit of cooperation was evident throughout the week. If this year’s CineEurope presented a macro view of an international theatrical landscape on the rise, CineHamburg demonstrated the current strength of a single market on a micro level.
Approximately 1,700 attendees representing dozens of exhibition companies came to Hamburg, along with at least 70 manufacturers, suppliers and service providers. The trade show remained continuously busy throughout the four-day event, while panels and workshops addressed everything from audience development and cinema technology to programming, operations and the health of the German market.
I managed to visit every booth while attending most of the major sessions and workshops—a triumph of professional curiosity over sensible footwear. Keep an eye on Celluloid Junkie over the next two weeks for reports from several of those discussions.
The event was centered around the spacious, modern Congress Center Hamburg, commonly known as the CCH. Screenings and distributor presentations took place next door at the CinemaxX Hamburg Dammtor, where several distributors showed complete films in addition to their customary showreels.
Together with the neighboring hotel, the two venues transformed the area across from Hamburg Dammtor railway station into something of a temporary cinema industry campus for the better part of the week.
As I made my way around the continuously busy event, more than a few German colleagues seemed surprised to find me in Hamburg. What could I, an American, possibly be interested in at a German cinema industry trade show?
Quite a lot, as it turns out, and then some.
There are, of course, the standard conference sessions that reiterate broad industry thinking and familiar international trends. But within those sessions, workshops and hallway conversations are the nuances that give a particular theatrical market its distinctive identity.
International conventions tell you what the industry is talking about. National gatherings help reveal how those conversations are actually playing out on the ground: where exhibitors are investing, which challenges are universal, which are uniquely local and how the people working in that market believe it is changing.
Experiencing that, even when not entirely understanding every aspect of it, is priceless. Jaime Tarrazón clearly understands this as well. That is why he was in Hamburg.
All week, attendees kept asking whether I would be going to the “get-together” on the final evening of the conference. The question became a constant refrain during parting conversations.
What I did not quite understand was why.
I assumed the evening would involve a few drinks, some polite conversation and everyone sensibly leaving before the trains stopped running.
I had underestimated the German capacity for understatement.
What followed was undoubtedly one of the best closing parties I have attended at an industry convention, with CineHamburg participants dancing to the seemingly inexhaustible beats of DJ Frau Hoppe well into the early hours of the morning.
As hard as Germany’s cinema industry had worked to give birth to such a successful convention, it proved equally capable of celebrating the achievement.
After four days demonstrating that exhibitors, distributors and vendors could successfully share a conference, they finished the week by proving they could also share a dance floor.
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International Box Office Recovery Picks Up Speed,But Hollywood Isn’t Always Driving
A year ago, international box office recovery still felt like one of those forecasts everyone wanted to believe but nobody was quite ready to bet the concession stand on.
Six months into 2026, the picture looks considerably better.
Across selected markets in Europe, Asia and Australia, box office revenue or admissions increased in France, the UK and Ireland, Portugal, Australia, Hong Kong, South Korea and India. France admissions rose nearly 20%. Australia posted three consecutive AUD 100 million months for the first time. Hong Kong reversed several years of decline. Even Portugal managed to grow revenue despite slightly lower attendance and fewer operating screens.
Then there is China, which apparently did not get the memo. Its first-half box office fell 40.6%, making it the clear outlier.
The more interesting wrinkle is who is driving the rebound. Hollywood titles such as “Michael,” “Toy Story 5” and “Project Hail Mary” performed strongly in the UK, Ireland and Australia, while collecting huge grosses globally. Yet elsewhere, local productions were doing much of the heavy lifting.
“Marsupilami” led France, “Night King” powered Hong Kong’s comeback, “The King’s Warden” became a historic South Korean hit and India’s growth stretched across Hindi and regional-language cinema.
That is excellent news for exhibitors, who generally do not ask to see a film’s passport before selling a ticket. For Hollywood, it is simply a little more complicated. International cinemas are recovering. The question now is whether Hollywood is recovering with them in certain territories, or simply watching more local films take top billing.
Source: Celluloid Junkie
China’s Low-Budget “Dear You” Becomes $283 Million Box Office Hit
A Chinese family drama made for less than USD $2 million, shot largely in the Teochew dialect and performed by a mostly nonprofessional cast has become one of 2026’s most improbable box office successes. Lan Hongchun’s “Dear You” has grossed roughly USD $283 million in China and earned a 9.3 rating from more than 880,000 Douban users. After the extraordinary breakouts of “Obsession” and “Backrooms,” the film offers further evidence that 2026’s low-budget releases have apparently stopped waiting for permission to become blockbusters.
The film follows a debt-ridden grandson who travels to Thailand searching for the grandfather his grandmother waited decades to see again, uncovering a family history told through qiaopi — letters and remittances sent home by overseas Chinese. Its emotional restraint, regional specificity and largely unknown cast helped it stand apart in a market crowded with polished patriotic spectacles. After opening modestly, the film grew through audience recommendations before expanding into Hong Kong, Macao, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and other international markets including France, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Beijing has now decided it would like a little of that box office magic for itself. China’s foreign ministry recently screened the film for 150 diplomats and family members representing 74 embassies. Nothing says organic word of mouth quite like eventually landing on the diplomatic circuit. Officials have also embraced the film as a cultural bridge to the estimated 40 million ethnic Chinese living across Southeast Asia. That has sparked debate in Singapore over whether “Dear You” is heartfelt diaspora storytelling or unusually effective soft power. For exhibitors, the more useful lesson may be simpler: authenticity created the phenomenon; official endorsement arrived after audiences had already done the marketing.
Source: The Washington Post
Fathom Names Jason Brenek CEO as It Pushes Beyond Event Cinema
Fathom Entertainment has appointed Jason Brenek as chief executive officer, succeeding Ray Nutt following his previously announced retirement. Brenek takes charge as the AMC, Cinemark and Regal-owned company broadens its ambitions from event cinema pioneer to full-service specialty theatrical distributor—a transition that will require more than simply adding a few extra showtimes to the calendar.
Brenek arrives with an unusually well-matched résumé spanning content, technology and theatrical distribution. He previously held senior roles at Disney and IMAX before founding MetaMedia, the cloud-based cinema content delivery platform acquired by Qube Cinema in 2025. He also has a history of working with Fathom, giving him a running start at a company whose exhibitor owners collectively operate more than 19,000 screens across the United States.
His first major test will be turning Fathom’s expanded distribution strategy into a repeatable business rather than an occasional experiment. The company will release LAIKA’s “Wildwood” nationwide on October 23, a significant step beyond its traditional mix of concerts, classic films, anime and limited engagements. With exhibitors searching for programming capable of filling quieter periods, Brenek’s challenge will be to grow Fathom without losing the niche audiences and operational flexibility that made it valuable in the first place.
Source: Celluloid Junkie
mk2 Takes Cinéma Paradiso Inside the Eiffel Tower
French cinema group mk2 is taking destination programming to a considerably higher level—57 metres (187 feet), to be precise. From 24 to 27 September, the company’s free Cinéma Paradiso festival will occupy the Salle Gustave Eiffel on the monument’s first floor, pairing film screenings with panoramic views across Paris. The program, participating guests and lottery for free tickets will be announced on 8 September.
Launched in 2013, Cinéma Paradiso has previously transformed the Grand Palais, the Louvre’s Cour Carrée, La Seine Musicale, Villa Carmignac and even the 24 Hours of Le Mans circuit into temporary cinemas. The Eiffel Tower edition follows July’s sixth Cinéma Paradiso Louvre and may be the concept’s most audacious setting yet. Though Time Out called it an outdoor cinema, the screenings will actually take place inside the glass-walled Gustave Eiffel room—which is probably wise given Parisian weather’s longstanding refusal to respect showtimes.
Armani Beauty will sponsor a private opening-night event built around the launch of a new men’s fragrance, illustrating the commercial architecture beneath the cultural spectacle. For exhibitors, the lesson is not that every cinema requires a globally recognizable iron tower. It is that scarcity, setting and sponsorship can turn a screening into an event people actively compete to attend. The movie may remain the attraction, but sometimes the auditorium itself deserves top billing.
Source: Celluloid Junkie
Celluloid Junkie is the leading online resource dedicated to the global film and cinema business. The Marquee is our newsletter focused on motion picture exhibition; keeping industry professionals informed of important news, the latest trends and insightful analysis