International
Looper grosses $ 36 million in opening weekend
MUMBAI: On its foreign debut, the sci-fi film Looper did impressive business with a gross of $36 million over the weekend with most of the intake coming from China. Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis, Looper is a Chinese co-production between Jim Stern‘s Endgame Entertainment and China‘s DMG.
The film opened at No. 1 in China with an estimated $24 million, a lot, lot more than its US intake of $21.2 million.
Worldwide, Looper took in $57.2 million, the best number of the weekend. Sony‘s Hotel Transylvania debuted to $43 million domestically and $8.1 million internationally from 13 markets for a global total of $51.1 million.
The film also opened in Russia ($4.5 million), the U.K. ($3.6 million) and Australia ($2.9 million). Glen Basner‘s Film Nation Entertainment handled the film internationally, while Sony‘s TriStar is releasing it domestically in tandem with Film District and Endgame.
Placing No. 2 at the international box office over the weekend was Resident Evil: Retribution that grossed $20.7 million from 6,460 venues in 65 markets. This brings the total overseas gross for the fifth title in director-producer Paul S.W. Anderson‘s action/sci-fi series.
A No. 3 U.K. opening at 355 locations delivered $1.25 million while a No. 2 Italy debut came up with $1.4 million at 290 spots. Retribution opened No.1 in India, and held top rankings in Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Taiwan, Thailand and Venezuela.
The latest Resident Evil is being distributed in most foreign markets by Sony, which has tallied a cumulative of $127.1 million. Another distributor, the film‘s German co-producer Constantin, has raked in 9.9 million in all thus far.
International
Utopai Studios unveils 4K three-minute video generation for PAI platform
New Story Agent and editing tools aim to streamline AI-led filmmaking workflows
MUMBAI: Utopai Studios has announced a major upgrade to its PAI storytelling AI platform, introducing what it claims is an industry-first capability to generate three-minute videos in 4K resolution, alongside enhancements to its Story Agent feature.
The update, rolling out from April 15, expands the platform’s capabilities across the filmmaking process, from early concept development to post-production. The company said the new features are designed to help filmmakers maintain continuity across characters, scenes and visual styles, a key challenge in AI-driven storytelling.
At the heart of the release is a next-generation model that enables more structured narrative development, allowing creators to move more seamlessly from idea to execution. With tools such as multi-shot sequencing and multi-turn editing, the platform aims to give both studios and independent creators greater control over complex storytelling workflows.
Commenting on the launch, Utopai Studios co-founder and CTO Jie Yang said, “The next phase of AI in media will not be defined by isolated tools, but by systems that can carry story, continuity and collaboration across the full creative process.” He added that the update is a step towards enabling more practical, end-to-end narrative development at a professional level.
Echoing this, Utopai Studios co-founder and chief scientific officer Zijian He said, “Generative video is opening the door to a new production model, where creative ambition is less constrained by traditional cost and complexity.” He noted that the platform combines multimodal models with iterative editing to give creators more speed, control and consistency.
The company said PAI is already being used in professional film and television productions, particularly in Hollywood, for tasks such as pre-visualisation, scene design and post-production refinements. The latest update adds features including improved voice options, character consistency, unlimited editing and more flexible asset management.
Utopai also emphasised that its models are not trained on copyrighted material, positioning the platform as a cleaner alternative for creators and rights holders navigating the evolving AI landscape.
As AI continues to reshape content creation, Utopai’s latest push signals a shift from standalone tools to integrated systems, aiming to make high-quality filmmaking faster, more flexible and increasingly accessible.
