Southeast Asian content earns 53% of its revenue overseas. South Korea earns 82%. Douglas Montgomery in Nikkei Asia on closing the gap.

The latest Spider-Man release looks like a genre reset. It is closer to a supply gap closing. Audiences in China had not seen a Spider-Man film in cinemas since 2019, and a significant share of that opening weekend was built by the wait rather than by the film. The number will get read the wrong way.

Dear You is capturing hearts and wallets across SE Asia. Now that it is successful the soft-powers that be cannot help themselves. Douglas Montgomery's Straits Times op-ed examines why Dear You, a US$2 million Teochew-language film, became China's biggest soft-power success in years — precisely because Beijing wasn't visibly involved. Drawing on cases from Wolf Warrior 2 to Ne Zha 2, he argues the qualities that make stories travel — ambiguity, criticism, emotional honesty — are the same ones...