In a four-hour ceremony, 435 film industry figures made up of directors, actors, producers and crew were flown to Manado to attend a star-studded ceremony that honored the year’s best cinematic works.

From a voting panel consisting of industry figures from 17 film associations and 18 independent voters, the year’s best film was awarded to thriller Night Bus, directed by Emil Heradi.

“It was an incredible night for us. None of us at Night Bus expected to win Best Film,” he said.

Meanwhile, Joko Anwar’s remake of horror classic Pengabdi Setan (Satan’s Slaves) won the most awards with seven.

It swept all sound-related awards, including Best Original Song, Best Musical Arrangement and Best Sound Design. However, 5-year-old Muhammad Adhiyat won the film’s only award for acting with Best Child Actor.

Teen drama flick Posesif impressed, winning three awards that night, including Best Lead Actress, won by Putri Marino, who made her acting debut in the film.

Meanwhile, Posesif also won Best Supporting Actor (Yayu Unru) and Best Director (Edwin).

Before the event, Posesif was wrapped in a minor controversy during the nomination process, as the film technically did not have an official censorship certificate when its nominations were announced, thereby threatening to make its nomination void.

According to Law No. 33/2009 on film, cinematic works and advertisements require a censorship certificate before it is allowed to be shown in theaters or on television. The Posesif nominations were announced one day before it officially obtained the certificate

Perhaps it’s a fascination with royalty or simply a testament to the quality of the productions, but period drama series about royal families are generally a hit with the small-screen watching public.

None though has taken the world quite as much by storm as “The Crown”. Released on Netflix last year, the big budget series from the UK tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II, starting with her marriage to Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in 1947.

The series was an enormous success thanks in part to Claire Foy’s superb portrayal of the monarch, director Stephen Daldry’s efforts to maintain accuracy and the production and costume design that brought the audience into Buckingham Palace of the 1940s.

The second season kicks off next Friday and Netflix recently handpicked media from around the world to join the premiere in London and chat with Foy, Matt Smith who plays Prince Philip and Vanessa Kirkby, who portrays the queen’s younger sister Margaret.

Whether by accident of design, the interview took place on the day the royal couple celebrated the 70th anniversary of their marriage, an event they chose to mark in private with close family and friends.

While acknowledging the deep affection the royal couple has for each other, Foy points out that divorce could never have been on the cards.

“She’s the head of the Church of England and in those days the church did not recognise divorced people,” she says.

“It’s about endurance and lasting the course as opposed to any secret ingredient or romantic love,” adds the actress, who won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for her role.

“I think they’ve continued to make each other laugh, which is really important in any relationship. And they stuck with each other through the good and bad times with grace and with humour. Seventy years is a massive achievement for any couple,” says Smith, who plays Prince Philip.

The first season offered an overview of the early years of the reign but the second season looks more closely at the couple’s married life while still highlighting the events of that time. These include the Suez crisis in 1956, the night when the Kennedys met with the Queen and Prince Philip at Buckingham Palace in 1961 and the rumours that her uncle, Edward VIII, who abdicated in favour of his younger brother, George VI was a Nazi sympathiser.

In parallel, viewers see the Queen and her husband facing crises in their relationship, their disagreement over raising their son Prince Charles, their arguments at Prince Philip’s apparent love for the wild life and also lifts the veil on the trauma Philip suffered in his family life as a child.

Princess Margaret (Kirkby) plays a more significant role in season 2 – covering her nervous breakdown after not being allowed to marry her lover Group Captain Peter Townsend and her new relationship with photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones (Matthew Goode) whose free-spirited life also adds to the royal scandals.

With the story based on historical fact and many of the characters still alive today, viewers inevitably wonder what is true and what has been fictionalised.

“This is a fictionalised version of her life and it’s a fictionalised vision of what she’s like,” says Foy.

“The beauty of human relationships is that you can’t dictate how someone else feels. I think Queen Elizabeth did get hurt by those around her and the experiences made her very strong.”

Kirkby agrees. “I think that’s what the series does so well. It gets behind that public image and allows us a glimpse of the human beings behind these icons of public life and to empathise with them. This is a woman in a really difficult situation. I might have judged her before but now I don’t. I can relate to the reality of her life.”

For his part, Smith says that it’s always difficult playing someone who’s still alive. “But it’s also a great privilege and as I have said before, once you’ve done the research and you’ve explored where they are coming from, you try to do your best,” says the actor who played the eleventh incarnation of Doctor Who is the classic British series of the same name.

“I love her and I think she’s incredible. I think she was a formidable sort of woman, a real-life force – fun, reckless and bold,” says Kirkby of Princess Margaret.

“We received a lot of help from a former royal adviser called Major David. His advice was invaluable. He would say, ‘no, she wouldn’t eat like this’ or ‘she wouldn’t do things that way’.”

Princess Margaret, says Kirkby, was incredibly angry at her sister. “She would let the anger out when she was alone in her bedroom, Princess Margaret wore her feelings on her sleeve and didn’t have much of a filter. The Queen is very different; one of the her best qualities is concealing how she really feels, Margaret just couldn’t do that.”

Foy adds that she worked on the Queen’s character without seeing it as a burden.

“I think I realised that they had cast me because they were confident I could play the part so throughout the series I’ve tried not to dwell on it. I’ve tried to trust their decision and just follow my instincts. You can’t try and temper your performance for anybody else because everyone will have their own opinion. In the end, you have to be true to yourself.”

This season will be the final one for the main cast as writer Peter Morgan will bring in new actors to fit the characters as they age. So far, only Olivia Colman has been announced to replace Foy as Queen Elizabeth II for Seasons 3 and 4.

“It’s always hard to leave characters that you have played behind but in this instance, it’s necessary to pass it on to someone else. I feel very lucky to have been the custodian for so long and will now return to the sofa as a fan like I did with Dr Who”,” says Smith with a smile.

Kirkby nods her agreement, saying all the cast had known from the off that they would only play two seasons.

“Ageing actors is always difficult and it breaks the illusion when we all know that they’re not really the age they’re playing,” she says.

For her part, Foy says she’ll always be grateful for the role.

“I was given an opportunity and a responsibility to play a character that required me to do all sorts of things as an actor. I’ve learned a lot about acting and the profession from it. And I’ve made friends for life. It’s been a wonderful experience and I will treasure the memories forever.”

The film, which tells the story of a 12-year-old Mexican, Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez), who longs to become a musician but faces a generations-old family ban on music, netted an estimated $50.8 million for the three-day weekend and $72.9 million for the Wednesday-through-Sunday period, said Exhibitor Relations.

“Coco,” which takes Miguel into the magical Land of the Dead, where trickster Hector (Gael Garcia Bernal) helps him unravel a deep family secret, received a rare A+ rating from audiences surveyed by CinemaScore.

Disney and Pixar now claim the top six Thanksgiving openings of all time, according to the Hollywood Reporter, led by “Frozen,” with a five-day opening of $93.6 million.

In second place this weekend was Warner Bros. film “Justice League,” with a three-day take of $41.1 million in its second week out. The superhero flick has an all-star cast of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Ben Affleck as Batman and Henry Cavill as Superman, joining to fend off supervillain Steppenwolf (Ciaran Hinds).

In third was Lionsgate’s feel-good film “Wonder,” with a better-than-expected net of $22.7 million. The movie, starring Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson and Jacob Tremblay, tells the story of a fifth-grade boy with a facial deformity who must deal with other children’s shock and bullying when he first attends a mainstream school.

“Thor: Ragnarok,” from Disney-owned Marvel, claimed fourth place with $16.9 million. The film features the self-effacing humor of Chris Hemsworth as the powerful Norse god and Cate Blanchett as death goddess Hela.

Fifth place went to Christmas comedy “Daddy’s Home 2” from Paramount, at $13.22 million. It stars Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as the less-than-competent co-parents of Wahlberg’s kids as they cope with their own visiting fathers (John Lithgow and Mel Gibson).

Rounding out the top 10 were:

“Murder on the Orient Express” ($13.17 million)

“The Star” ($6.9 million)

“A Bad Moms Christmas” ($4.9 million)

“Roman J. Israel, Esq.” ($4.45 million)

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” ($4.40 million)

The resort is hosting movie premieres, talks and masterclasses with filmmakers, producers and actors tomorrow (November 23) to December 3.

Christopher Doyle, the acclaimed cinematographer of “In the Mood for Love” (2000) and “2046” (2004) and revered Japanese actor Koji Yakusho of “Shall We Dance” (1996) and “Memoirs of a Geisha” (2005) are among guests attending festival events held at the Sands.

So is Shekhar Kapur, who directed the multiple-Oscar-nominated film “Elizabeth” (1998) and its sequel, “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (2007).

In addition to Yakusho, the 11-day festival is also drawing more big names in Japanese cinema, including actress Shinobu Terajima, who stars in “Oh Lucy!” – one of the festival’s Special Presentations.

Male stars in attendance will include Takumi Saitoh, who will show his feature-directing debut, “Blank 13”, and Joe Odagiri, who has the lead in “The White Girl”, another Special Presentation.

Marina Bay Sands global ambassador David Beckham has been invited to attend the Benefit Dinner on November 25 at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre.

As part of “ArtScience on Screen: In Conversation”, the resort and festival will host seven dialogue sessions and masterclasses led by industry insiders between November 24 and December 2 at the ArtScience Museum.

Through the resort’s CSR programme Sands for Singapore, it provides opportunities for youth and other beneficiaries to gain insights into the world of film, art and culture through the eyes of leading experts and celebrities.

This year’s speakers include Kapur, Yakusho, “The Song of Scorpions” director Anup Singh and star Waheeda Rehman, “The White Girl” directors and stars Odagiri, Doyle, Jenny Suen, Angela Yuen and Tony Wu, “Oh Lucy” director Atsuko Hiranayagi and star Terajima, Hong Kong director Clara Law and producer Philip Lee, who worked on Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”.

The festival’s other venues include Shaw Theatres Lido, National Museum, National Gallery, the Arts House, Filmgarde Bugis+, Objectifs and Scape.

The Oscar-winning executive, who oversees the output of Disney Animation and Pixar, went on a six-month sabbatical Tuesday after apologizing for making staff feel “disrespected or uncomfortable” over his behavior.

He apologized to “anyone who has ever been on the receiving end of an unwanted hug or any other gesture they felt crossed the line in any way, shape,or form,” in an internal memo forwarded by Disney to AFP.

The news will come as a huge blow to Disney, as Lasseter is widely credited with rescuing its animation division from closure when he arrived from its new stablemate Pixar in 2007 to become chief creative officer for both studios.

It hardly seems conceivable now — with “Frozen” (2013) among the 10 highest grossing movies in history — but Disney was reeling from the derision heaped on “Atlantis: The Lost Empire” (2001), “Brother Bear” (2003) and “Chicken Little” (2005).

Outgunned for years by Pixar, Disney’s animation division was on the verge of being put out to pasture when the studio regained its mojo under Lasseter and started producing classics like “Tangled” and “Wreck-It Ralph” that harked back its glory days.

“I grew up loving Disney films. They were meaningful to me, there was a magic to them, a beauty,” the 60-year-old told a gathering of international media at Disney’s D23 fan convention in July in Anaheim, California.

Lasseter’s impact on the world of animation cannot be overstated.

Pixar’s various achievements are well rehearsed but bear repeating: 13 Oscars and $11 billion in box office receipts from 18 movies since Lasseter’s “Toy Story,” the world’s first computer-generated feature film, opened in 1995.

Since Lasseter came on board, Walt Disney Animation Studios has picked itself spectacularly out of the doldrums to amass $5 billion across eight movies, picking up four Academy Awards.

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Raised in the city of Whittier, Lasseter was seduced by the Mouse House’s magic early on via regular trips to the nearby Disneyland and one memorable cinema visit to see a rerun of “The Sword in the Stone” (1963).

“Those moments, those feelings stay with me. Walt Disney, in his movies and Disneyland, entertained people like nobody else in the world,” recalled the filmmaker, who has two Oscars of his own.

Lasseter enrolled in the California Institute of Arts in 1975 and, with contemporaries Tim Burton and Brad Bird, was taught by Disney’s legendary “Nine Old Men” team of core animators.

After graduating, he was picked from thousands to join Walt Disney Feature Animation — but was fired soon after for working on an early version of computer animation without clearing it first with his bosses.

He joined Lucasfilm’s groundbreaking CGI team, The Graphics Group, in 1984 before it was sold to Apple boss Steve Jobs, who renamed it Pixar and transformed it with Lasseter’s help from an IT company into a fully-fledged animation studio.

The Walt Disney Company bought Pixar in 2006 and Lasseter has since overseen all output from both studios.

His directing credits include “Toy Story” (1995) and its first sequel, “A Bug’s Life” (1998), “Cars” (2006) and “Cars 2” (2011).

‘Brain trust’

Lasseter — whose successes have paid for a vineyard, a fleet of classic cars and a collection of 1,000 Hawaiian shirts — has developed a collaborative approach to filmmaking that sets him apart from other studio chiefs.

His creatives are part of a company-wide “brain trust,” each encouraged to generate ideas for one another’s films and help out with solving problematic plot points.

He fosters a culture of intensive research, granting filmmakers years to make sure they get their subjects right — especially on culturally sensitive projects like “Moana” and “Coco,” due to be released on Wednesday, which centers around Mexico’s Day of the Dead.

Perhaps the most striking innovation introduced by Lasseter was doing away with the old damsel-in-distress model of Disney princess in favor of a more interesting, unselfconsciously feminist version to which young girls could aspire.

“It’s hard work what we do, but we don’t take the easy route. We don’t just carbon copy another sequel with exactly the same story just to print money. We throw it out, we start from scratch and we get a new emotional heart,” he said.

“And we want to say something to the world that is meaningful. And right now, I’m so proud that we put joy out into the world.”

A bombshell Washington Post report said the women were employees or aspired to work on the “Charlie Rose” show and were in their 20s and 30s when the alleged harassment took place from the 1990s to as recently as 2011.

They complained that the unwanted advances included lewd phone calls, groping and walking naked in front of them. Three of them spoke on the record.

The report makes Rose, now 75, the latest senior male journalist accused of misconduct in the wake of the downfall of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, which opened the floodgates of sexual assault and harassment accusations in many industries.

Almost immediately, public broadcaster PBS moved to suspend distribution of the “Charlie Rose” show. CBS, where Rose co-hosts “CBS This Morning” and is a contributing correspondent for “60 Minutes,” followed suit.

“Charlie Rose is suspended immediately while we look into this matter. These allegations are extremely disturbing and we take them very seriously,” a CBS News statement read.

A spokesperson said PBS was shocked by the “deeply disturbing allegations.”

“Charlie Rose” is produced by an independent television production company.

“PBS does not fund this nightly program or supervise its production, but we expect our producers to provide a workplace where people feel safe and are treated with dignity and respect,” the spokesperson said.

In a statement he tweeted out, the divorced host said “I deeply apologize for my inappropriate behavior. I am greatly embarrassed.”

“I have behaved insensitively at times, and I accept responsibility for that, though I do not believe that all of these allegations are accurate,” Rose said.

“I always felt that I was pursuing shared feelings, even though I now realize I was mistaken.”

The newspaper said five of the women accused Rose of putting his hand on their legs.

Two said that while they worked for Rose, he emerged from the shower and walked naked in front of them. One said he groped her buttocks at a staff party.

Earlier, The New York Times confirmed that it had suspended a senior White House correspondent, Glenn Thrush, after news website Vox reported that he engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior on his previous job at Politico.

“The alleged behavior is very concerning and not in keeping with the standards and values of The New York Times,” a statement read. “We intend to fully investigate and while we do, Glenn will be suspended.”

The 76-year-old actor was honored for a career spanning five decades that has seen him lavished with acclaim, not to mention three Oscar nominations.

Sporting a business suit and a thick white beard, the famously gruff-voiced actor gave a shorter than usual acceptance speech celebrating the magic of Tinseltown rather than dwelling on his own career.

“There’s a reason why this street and this town is such a center to the United States and to the world, the center of filmmaking,” he told fans gathered on Hollywood Boulevard.

“That’s because they honored the street with these stars along the way, and that’s unlike any other street in LA.”

Nolte has made a name for hard partying off screen and playing brusque, unstable characters on screen, including a hard-nosed cop in “48 Hrs.” (1982) and a rapist’s lawyer in “Cape Fear” (1991).

He first gained fame for his starring role in the 1976 ABC miniseries “Rich Man, Poor Man,” which brought him an Emmy nomination for outstanding lead actor.

He has best actor Oscar nominations for his roles as a troubled man who falls in love with his sister’s psychiatrist in “The Prince of Tides” (1991) and as a small-town New Hampshire police officer in “Affliction” (1997).

He was also nominated for his supporting role as the father of battling brothers in powerful fighter movie “Warrior” (2011).

Nolte, who currently stars in Epix comedy “Graves,” was born on February 8, 1941 in Omaha, Nebraska, and moved to Southern California after graduating from high school, playing football at Pasadena City College.

He became interested in acting when he accompanied a friend to an audition for the ABC prime-time soap opera “Peyton Place” and ended being roped in to read a part.

After 20 years on the stage, Nolte’s first starring film role came in 1977 as a scuba diver whose discovery of artifacts from a sunken ship sets off a series of events in “The Deep.”

He had to wait another five years, though, for his big-screen breakthrough, starring opposite Eddie Murphy in “48 Hrs.”

Other memorable films include “Who’ll Stop The Rain,” “North Dallas Forty,” “Heart Beat” and “Cannery Row.”

Gavin O’Connor, who directed “Warrior,” described the actor in a poetic tribute as as “humble,” but “crazy to the bone” and “a master of his craft.”

“As an actor, Nick has one of the greatest listeners’ ears I’ve ever witnessed, and a voice that sounds like he swallowed a bag of nails,” he said.

AFTER MAKING the leap from indie director to major studio and making one of the most success-|ful films of 2015, the romantic |comedy “Freelance”, Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit returns to the independent stage for his new movie “Die Tomorrow”, a story, as the name implies, about death.

Yet while about death, “Die Tomorrow” is in many ways a celebration of life. Through six stories – which he chooses to call fragments – Nawapol present different situations in the lives of his characters the day before they die.

“Death is a reflection of how people see their lives,” says the director, who makes this point with the movie tagline: “how are you today?” This, he explains, is a reference to how death can happen anytime and to anyone – children, young people, the middle-aged and the elderly.

“The question is: do I get scared or feel sad when I’m going to die? Like everyone, I have felt both scared and sad when I’ve thought about it, but now I’m not sure how will I feel when the day comes. I think it will be like sitting in a dark room and even though I can see where the exit is, I don’t know when I have to leave the room. If I were not concerned about it, I would never see where the exit is,” says Nawapol.

For all its seriousness, Nawapol insists that “Die Tomorrow” is not a depressing drama talking about the moment of loss but rather a portrayal of everyday life.

“It’s not an omnibus either. It is more like an essay or a music album. It’s like we listen to the tracks on the whole album. We know that each song has its own story but all songs are connected with the singers or the band,” he says.

This “Die Tomorrow” album is shot through long takes in six fragments.

“Long takes have become my personal language and I have often used this technique in my previous films. The long take in this film is appropriate to the concept. Don’t you think that our everyday life is a long take … a real-time event that we can’t cut or stop until we die?”

In a way, he regards “Die Tomorrow” as his own funeral book, albeit one he has prepared alone. In general, the funeral book is made by those left behind in tribute a loved one.

He completes this idea by casting the actors he has worked with on previous films – Koramit Vajrasthira from his first feature film “36”, Patcha Poonpiriya from his independent hit “Mary is Happy, “Mary is Happy”, Jarinporn Junkiet from his short film “Maythawee” and Violette Wautier and Sunny Suwanmethanont from the commercial hit “Freelance”.

“It’s in keeping with the concept of how I want to do my ‘final film” in case I ‘die tomorrow’,” says the 33 year-old, adding that he is surely not too young to talk about death and doesn’t feel he it’s a jinx, as old beliefs would have us understand.

“As I get older, the more I realise that death is always close though we tend to ignore it when we are younger. Even at my age, death is in sight and we all think about it. We tend to go to funerals more often and our bodies start to show signs of deterioration like back pain. It hit me when my mother told me out of the blue where the land deed is kept,” says the director.

Death or near death has always hovered at the edges of his films. “Every movie has a personal element, it allows me to see myself at a certain age,” Nawapol explains.

Since finishing “Freelance Ham Puay Ham Phak Ham Rak More” (“Heart Attack”), he has worked less and been more choosy about the projects he wants to develop. “That’s not because I earned a lot of money from ‘Freelance’, more that I didn’t want to want to work myself almost to death like the main character Yoon (Sunny Suwanmethanon), he laughs.

He developed “Die Tomorrow” and submitted his proposal to the Ministry of Culture, who chose it to pitch at the Cannes International Film Festival. “My project was too small to get funding but it was good to go there and learn more experience about pitching,” he says.

He also knew he wouldn’t be able to make this low-budget independent project within the studio system so after returning from Cannes worked on a new project with GDH before turning his attention back to “Die Tomorrow” late last year.

“Die” eventually picked up financial support from different organisations including the Culture Ministry and LG. Nawapol didn’t attempt to raise funds overseas as he didn’t want to wait. “It takes a year or more to get funding so I opted for domestic support,” he says.

As with most independent directors, Nawapol donned several hats, most recently handling the promotion and marketing via social media, which he also used successfully in promoting both “36” and “Mary Is Happy”. And just like those two films, his Facebook and Twitter hashtag #dietomorrow went viral, with online shops giving it a twist to promote their products. From MacDonald to Tops Supermarket and even 11street.com, the hashtag turned into such slogans as “Eat Today before diet(t)omorrow” in online food promotions, “dry tomorrow” for a detergent, and even “shop today without fearing to die tomorrow” for the 11.11 online shopping campaign.

Nawapol admits he was surprised at the way the tagline was picked up by so many people. “I couldn’t buy ads because I didn’t have a budget, so I was very excited and surprised to see it,” he says with a grin.

Another gimmick, though one he dreamt up himself, was the film poster, which shows photos of each cast member with his/her real-life birth year followed by a hyphen and space to insert year of death. He even designed an app that allows members of the public to put their own photo and year of birth on the poster.

“Even though my promotion on the social networks was an overwhelming success for “36” and “Mary”, I didn’t expect that it would reach the same level for “Die”. It’s the only way I know and I enjoy doing it,” he says.

“But I have to pull myself away from the online world because I also have other work to do too,” he adds.

His box office success with “Freelance”, however, doesn’t change the fact that “Die Tomorrow” is still a low-budget independent movie, meaning that the major cinema chains are not picking it up for mass screenings.

“Die Tomorrow” goes on limited release Thursday with two show times a day at 3pm and 7.30pm at selected cinemas in Bangkok and upcountry. It’s screening at SF World Cinema, SFX Central Lat Phrao, SFX Central Rama 9, SFX Maya Chiang Mai, SFX Khon Kaen, SF Cinema, Laemtong Bang Saen and SFX Central Plaza Nakhon Ratchasima.

With an all-star cast including Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Ben Affleck as Batman and Henry Cavill as Superman, “Justice League” — based on the DC Comics superheroes team — sees a mash-up of classic characters fend off the threat of supervillain Steppenwolf (Ciaran Hinds).

The big-budget Warner Bros. production — which fared better internationally, taking $185 million — was forecast to earn $110 million in North American cinemas, according to Variety.

Writing on Twitter, industry analyst Exhibitor Relations — which released the estimates — said “Justice League” “may be the first film to debut w/ $96M that feels like a major disappointment.”

In at second — earning $27.1 million — was Lionsgate’s newly-released “Wonder,” according to the box office tracker.

Starring Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson and Jacob Tremblay, “Wonder” follows the journey of August Pullman, a young boy with facial deformities, as he enters the fifth grade at a mainstream school for the first time.

After thundering to the top spot last week, “Thor: Ragnarok” slipped into third place in its third weekend in cinemas, taking $21.8 million.

Featuring the self-mocking humor of Chris Hemsworth as the powerful Norse god alongside Cate Blanchett as Hela, goddess of death, “Thor” has raked in an impressive $247.4 million since its release in North American cinemas.

Paramount’s “Daddy’s Home 2” halved its earnings from last weekend, dropping to fourth place with $14.8 million.

The festive comedy stars Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as Brad and Dusty, who join forces to give their kids the perfect holiday — an effort challenged when their own fathers show up.

In at fifth was Fox’s “Murder on the Orient Express,” earning $13.8 million.

The fourth television or cinema adaptation of Agatha Christie’s classic detective novel, the murder mystery was directed by Kenneth Branagh, who also stars as part of an A-list cast including Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz and Judi Dench.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

“The Star” ($10 million)

“A Bad Moms Christmas” ($6.9 million)

“Lady Bird” ($2.5 million)

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” ($1.1 million)

“Jigsaw” ($1.1 million)

The first six instalments of the global phenomenon and epic space opera franchise are now available to stream and all of them are Thai subtitled and Thai dubbed.

Perfect for binge watching, punters can now watch “The Phantom Menace”, “Attack of the Clones”, “Revenge of the Sith”, “A New Hope”, “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi”, with Episode VII, “ The Force Awakens” set to be screened on iflix next year,

The movie saga, first shown on May 25, 1977 with Episode IV “A New Hope”, changed the face of cinema forever. An instant classic and an unparalleled box office success, the rousing “space opera” is equal parts fairy tale, western, 1930s serial and special effects extravaganza, with roots in mythologies from cultures around the world. From the mind of visionary writer/director George Lucas, the epic space fantasy introduced the mystical Force into the cultural vocabulary and it continues to grow, its lush universe ever-expanding through film, television, publishing, video games and more.

“Star Wars is the world’s most iconic and significant film series of all time. The incredible characters, worlds, and legends envisioned by George Lucas excite, enthral and inspire audiences of all ages and generations around the world. We are thrilled to share the Star Wars canon with fans in Thailand. At iflix, we are committed to delivering the best entertainment experience, completely on the users’ terms. The addition of Star Wars to our extensive library is a testament to that promise,” says iflix group chief content officer, Sean Carey.