[ad_1]
- The Chinese war film “The Battle of Changjin Lake” grossed more than $ 200 million over the weekend.
- The Chinese box office is now the biggest in the world thanks to the success of local blockbusters.
- Experts say that in the future, the relationship between China and Hollywood will be very different.
“Venom: Let There Be Carnage” may have exceeded US box office expectations, but the biggest movie of the weekend was the Chinese blockbuster “The Battle of Changjin Lake”.
The epic of the war grossed $ 203 million over the three-day weekend and $ 235 million Thursday-Sunday, marking the start of China’s week-long National Day, which is usually a godsend. for the box office.
The film’s success is another victory for Chinese-produced films in the region, which have helped the Chinese box office overtake the United States as the world’s biggest during the pandemic.
The sequel to “Venom” got a pandemic best opening of $ 90 million nationwide over the weekend, but no US debut has come close to the number of local films in China, where the theatrical market. rebounded faster. Other Chinese blockbusters like “Hi, Mom” and “Detective Chinatown 3” opened earlier this year with nearly $ 200 million and $ 400 million, respectively.
The James Bond film “No Time to Die” also opened in some international markets ahead of its US debut on Friday and its China debut later this month. It grossed $ 119 million.
“The Battle of Changjin Lake” had a production budget of more than $ 200 million, which would make it China’s most expensive film, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Chinese ticketing service Maoyan predicts it will eventually earn nearly $ 800 million, THR reported, making it one of the highest grossing Chinese films of all time.
“The values of production in China have increased dramatically,” said Stanley Rosen, professor of political science at the University of Southern California, specializing in Chinese politics and cinema.
“Venom: let there be carnage.”
Courtesy of Sony Pictures
Local films accounted for 85% of the Chinese box office in 2020, according to research firm Ampere Analysis, up from 60% in 2018 and 50% in 2016.
So far this year, only two Hollywood releases have reached the top 10 at the Chinese box office: “F9” and “Godzilla vs. Kong”.
“There are Chinese blockbusters that Chinese filmmakers make people want to watch, and they feel less derived than those made in Hollywood,” said Aynne Kokas, University of Virginia professor of media studies and author. from the book “Hollywood Made in China.”
The success of Chinese productions during the pandemic is occurring “alongside a widespread tightening” of local media and the national film market, Kokas said, which hit Disney in particular.
The Chinese government approves all foreign films released in the region and has excluded this year’s Marvel releases, “Black Widow” and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”. He also ordered a media blackout of “Mulan” last year before its release, and the film collapsed there with just $ 40 million.
China has a 34-film quota on the number of foreign films released in the country per year on a revenue-sharing basis, with Chinese entities getting a cut. Kokas predicted that fewer Hollywood films would be approved in the coming years and that those that do will face “a much stricter regulatory environment.”
Rosen said China still needs Hollywood if it is to remain the world’s largest theatrical market. Usual suspects like Marvel (once approved), “Fast and Furious” and upcoming “Avatar” sequels will always do well, he predicted. (This year’s reissue of “Avatar” grossed $ 57 million in China.)
But the China-Hollywood relationship “won’t be like the good old days,” he said.
“In 2016, three of the top four films in China were Hollywood films,” Rosen said. “Those days could be over.”
[ad_2]
Source link