Arrival Opens Strong, But Doctor Strange Carries the Weekend

Arrival, the new science-fiction film from Sicario director Denis Villeneuve, earned an estimated $24 million in its opening weekend — not bad for a picture Paramount picked up at Cannes for a mere $20 million. It was a paltry take compared to that of Doctor Strange, which conjured another $43 million over the weekend in one of Marvel's most successful character introductions to date. And Almost Christmas opened with a decent $15.5 million from a 71 percent African-American audience. Meanwhile, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk did quite well in its HFR New York and L.A. engagements, with a $60k per-theater average, but it's hard to say what will happen with its 1,100-theater expansion this Friday. [Box Office Mojo]

Chinese Industrial Firm Buys Voltage Pictures

In yet another example of the financial ties binding China and Hollywood, Wuhu, Shanghai-based copper-processing firm Anhui Xinke New Materials now owns an 80 percent share of Voltage Pictures, whose titles have included Dallas Buyers Club and The Hurt Locker. The acquisition follows Dalian Wanda Group's $1 billion acquisition of Dick Clark Productions earlier this month. [Reuters]

DreamWorks Animation Shuts Down The Croods 2

Universal Studios and DreamWorks Animation ceased production on The Croods 2. After three and a half years in gestation, the project had about 30 staffers on board, some of whom are expected to take new jobs at the company. [Variety]

'Pall of Gloom' Falls on DreamWorks Animation's Indian Operations

It's not clear what's going on at the DreamWorks Dedicated Unit (DDU) at Technicolor India after word got out that employees had been told the DDU would shut down early next year. Officials at DDU and Technicolor are not confirming the news, and GM Damien de Froberville denied that DDU is "shutting down." [AnimationXpress.com]

Hayao Miyazaki May Have One More Feature in Him

Hayao Miyazaki

A television special that aired in Japan last night revealed that Hayao Miyazaki has spent part of his retirement working on a proposal for a new feature film that he hopes could be finished in 2019, before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The NHK program also showed the 75-year-old filmmaker learning some digital animation techniques for the first time, and musing on the possibility that he could die before the film is finished. [Kotaku]

Fox Innovation Lab Releases The Martian VR Experience

590_mars-vr

The Martian VR Experience, which was created while the 2015 Ridley Scott film was in post-production, is finally being released to consumers. The interactive adventure will be available tomorrow for the PlayStation VR and HTC Vive with a price tag of $19.99. The experience reportedly runs about 40 minutes in length. [Forbes]