Late Summer China Box Office Forecast
Twenty films have been confirmed to release in Chinese theaters between now and October 1. Five local box office analysts took a look at the twenty films and forecast their opening weekend earnings and overall box office performances. Disney’s Ant-Man and the Wasp is expected to start strong but might not be able to maintain the strong momentum, as it will face competition from Mission: Impossible-Fallout in the second week. Paramount’s Mission: Impossible-Fallout is projected to make about 1 billion yuan ($146 million) in total with promotional support from Alibaba Pictures and Tao Piaopiao. Another imported film Alpha, although flopped in North America, may still have a chance to succeed in China, as it has a decent score of 84% on Rotten Tomatoes and will be promoted by Leomus Pictures, which has successfully promoted Resident Evil: The Final Chapter and Kingsman: The Golden Circle in China. As for local films, Jia Zhangke‘s Ash Is Purest White is projected to perform better than his previous works at the box office due to its cast as well as the theme. Muhua FunAge’s comedy film Hello, Mrs. Money is projected to dominate the National Day holiday season with estimated total box office of 2.75 billion yuan ($400 million). Read more on yiqipaidianying
China’s Movie Business Increasingly Relies on Blockbusters
Summer moviegoing season is almost over in China. While there were several blockbusters boosting box office growth this summer, the majority of local releases didn’t make a profit or even failed miserably. It’s estimated that over 75 local films made less than 50 million yuan ($7.3 million) this summer. As the Chinese film market continues to develop, the gap between box office blockbusters and bombs is increasingly obvious. This article takes a look at the box office bombs and found that most of the unpopular films are comedies with cliched jokes, thrillers, documentaries, local animated films without familiar IPs, small-budget action films, romantic dramas with weak plots and unattractive leads, etc. Read more on yiqipaidianying
‘Detective Conan: Zero The Enforcer’ May Release in China
Recently, Detective Conan: Zero The Enforcer, which is the latest installment of hit manga series Detective Conan, opened an official account on Chinese social media platform Weibo. This indicates that this film is likely to be released in China in the near future. The film was released in Japan this year on April 13 and has broken several box office records in the country, beating Hollywood films such as Ready Player One and Avengers: Infinity War, and becoming the highest-grossing film in the Detective Conan series. Detective Conan is also a well-known anime series in China and has been dominating the viewership rankings in the anime category on major Chinese video sites. Read more on Mtime
