The best films to catch in Beijing cinemas this January

The best general release films in Beijing this month

This month, more Hollywood blockbusters and local films are making their way to China's cinemas. Take a look at our picks of the best upcoming releases in January.

Legend of the Demon Cat (Yao Mao Zhuan)

On general release from Dec 23-Jan 31

This sprawling, special effects-laden spectacle follows a Chinese poet and Japanese monk who team up to investigate paranormal activity during the Tang Dynasty. After a talking demon cat appears, bringing with it death and destruction, the two men must work together to uncover the reason behind the feline's wrath. With its stunning cinematography and top-notch graphics, Legend of the Demon Cat is undeniably beautiful (even if the story can get a bit all-over the place).

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

On general release from Jan 5-31

Rolling up with the kind of intergalactic swagger that gives us a cosmically infuriating phone prank within the first five minutes, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a work of supreme confidence: witty, wild and free to roam unexplored territory. If J.J. Abrams’s franchise-rebooting The Force Awakens (2015) was the creation of a boy who lovingly dusted off old toys and put them through their expected poses, its superior sequel is made by a more inventive kid (director Rian Johnson).

Ballad From Tibet

In cinemas around Beijing on Jan 9

An early contender for 2018’s most earnest film, Ballad From Tibet hits Beijing cinemas in the first month of the year. Ballad tells the story of three blind Tibetan children who hear of a reality television talent contest taking place in Shenzhen and – led by their almost-blind friend and laoban Thupten – decide to hitch their way over and try their luck. Cue adventure, conflict and beautiful scenes of rolling Tibetan hills as the gang of four finds its way to Lhasa.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

In cinemas around Beijing on Jan 12

The plot of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle feels less like a sequel to the Robin Williams movie about the magical board game and more like The Breakfast Club, upgraded with body-switcheroo comedy and some retro Indiana Jones thrills. It follows four high-school stereotypes sentenced to detention – jock, popular girl, nerd, brainiac – who find an old video console that sucks them into its jungle hell. Trapped inside the game, the gang find themselves in the bodies of its avatars.

Suburbicon

In cinemas around Beijing on Jan 12

Half a movie we know too well and half that might have benefited from more attention, Suburbicon is a smart-alecky late-'50s-set crime comedy (when it’s not being a racially charged thriller). The part that's overly familiar comes from the rejects pile of Joel and Ethan Coen, who first hammered out a draft after the success of their 1984 debut, Blood Simple. Their tale concerns an uptight family patriarch (horn-rimmed Matt Damon) and his impulsive plan to run off with his sister-in-law (Julianne Moore) and a wad of insurance money after staging a home invasion. Retroactively, you’ll be glad the Coens shelved these ideas, developing them a decade later into the more nuanced Fargo; here, the scenario plays like a dull Raymond Chandler homage, goosed with seesawing Hitchcockian strings and murderous staredowns.

Jackie

In cinemas around Beijing on Jan 19

A biographical film about the aftermath of John F. Kennedy's 1963 assassination, Jackie (as the film's name suggests) follows Jackie Kennedy in the days immediately following her husband's death. Supported by a director (Pablo Larraín) who often places his camera mere inches from her nose, Natalie Portman excels in a portrayal that no First Lady has ever been blessed to receive onscreen (nor any American President, come to think of it).

Wonder

In cinemas around Beijing on Jan 19

Children don’t get to decide how pretty they are when they’re born, yet how they behave determines, to a large degree, how beautiful they become. So it goes in the sincere, unusually thoughtful Wonder, in which two unfairly attractive parents (Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson) bolster the confidence of their young son, Auggie (Room’s Jacob Tremblay, the real deal), born with a facial deformity that even his active imagination can’t fully overcome.

Ferdinand

In cinemas around Beijing on Jan 19

Ferdinand (John Cena) is not like other bulls. Growing up on a ranch in Spain, all Ferdinand’s stable-mates want to be fighters. Their ultimate goal is to face a matador and emerge victorious. Meanwhile, Ferdinand just wants to smell flowers and keep out of everybody’s way. One night he escapes the ranch and finds happiness on a farm with a little girl who loves him and shares his floral passion. However, that happiness is short-lived when the authorities discover and return him to his former captors.

Maze Runner: The Death Cure

In cinemas around Beijing on Jan 26

After being delayed for a year after Dylan O'Brien suffered injuries during filming, the third and final instalment in the young adult film trilogy finally hits cinemas this year. In Death Cure, we follow our intrepid protagonist Thomas as he embarks on a mission to find a cure for a deadly disease known as the 'Flare'.

Happy Death Day

In cinemas around Beijing on Jan 30

Jessica Rothe (La La Land) stars as Tree, the insensitive sorority girl trapped in this morbid variation on Groundhog Day. After being killed by a baby-masked attacker on her birthday, she then wakes up and faces that same day again…and again and again, suffering a different demise each time. Instead of arming herself, setting a trap or taking some other course of action that would end the story in about 30 minutes, Tree devotes her recurring days to deducing her stalker’s identity, to the accompaniment of a pop soundtrack.

To check out what else is currently screening in Beijing cinemas, hit 'Read more'.

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