Somto Bisina
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 kicked off its release in China with an impressive opening weekend, grossing $28 million.
While this figure may have been considered lackluster prior to the pandemic, it is now seen as a promising start in the current box office climate.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelDirected by James Gunn, the highly anticipated sequel became the biggest Hollywood opener of 2023 in China, surpassing other major studio releases such as The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Ant-Man 3, and Shazam! 2, which stumbled at the box office.
The only recent American film to achieve greater success in China was Avatar: The Way of Water, which debuted with $57.1 million and eventually accumulated $246 million in late 2022. Ticketing app Maoyan predicts that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will ultimately reach $72 million, slightly lower than the original Guardians movie in 2014 ($86.3 million) and Guardians 2 in 2017 ($101 million).
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The film’s performance was particularly notable in Imax theaters, where it generated $5.6 million, accounting for 19 percent of its total weekend earnings in China.
After a significant decline in the number of imported releases in 2022, Hollywood films have started to make a steady comeback in the Chinese market.
The approval process for release dates has returned to pre-pandemic norms, occurring four to six weeks in advance, while simultaneous releases with North America have once again become the norm. These factors have provided a substantial boost to marketing campaigns.
However, Chinese audiences’ enthusiasm for American movies appears to have waned during the pandemic, possibly influenced by the negative coverage of diplomatic relations between Washington and Beijing. Surprisingly, two Japanese anime titles, Makoto Shinkai’s Suzume ($115 million) and Toei Animation’s The First Slam Dunk ($90 million), have outperformed any Hollywood tentpole in China this year. Such a scenario would have been unimaginable in the past decade.
Nonetheless, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’s successful weekend gives hope to the studios that high-quality films can still achieve significant business in China.
The film easily surpassed three Chinese tentpoles that debuted a little over a week ago before the local May Day holiday. Godspeed, a Chinese road comedy written and directed by Yi Xiaoxing, held onto the second position with $15.3 million, reaching a total of $99.1 million in sales.
The patriotic action flick Born to Fly, often referred to as “China’s Top Gun,” experienced a 75 percent drop from its $40 million opening, earning just $11.2 million in its second weekend. Likewise, the romance film All These Years plummeted to $3.8 million in its second weekend after debuting at $18.7 million.
Industry analysts are now eagerly anticipating the release of Universal’s Fast X on May 17, a highly popular franchise in the Chinese market, as well as Warner Bros.’ DC superhero film The Flash on June 16. These upcoming releases will be closely monitored to assess whether Hollywood can regain momentum in China.
