So, why did TFA lose most of its theaters in its second weekend in China? The first was pretty solid, and I thought Hollywood films generally got a couple of weeks in wide release before getting yanked. How many of the comparables also lost their screens in one week? Just seems really odd.
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Wkd Box Office 0108-1016 - #1 (& Oscar? >_>) elude Leo as TFA 4peats & breaks China
- Thread starter xaosslug
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I don't and I have been wrong before.
January is busy and the weekday drops for Star Wars were pretty bad. This is actually not all that uncommon. We were just comparing Star Wars to the wrong films in China. Spectre had a 45m 3 day opening in China and finished under 90m total.
Right. But did Spectre lose most of its theaters in week 2? I follow the box office, but not closely enough to know for sure. But prior to TFA I'd read a few articles saying it would be in saturated release for a couple of weeks. Instead it got one weekend.
I think Boonie Bears opened this weekend and took the screens from TFA.
Right, I understand that.
What I'm asking is how typical it is for a big Hollywood release to lose its screens on its second weekend in China, and specifically one that opened as large as TFA did. I don't know the answer.
Id have to go back and look but I would expect that Spectre did lose most of its screens. November was busy as well. Those articles talking about Chinese box office prospectives were just grossly misinformed. Deadline was citing insider talk about an impossible $150m opening weekend there. It wont even make that total. I was cautioning people to lower their expectations in China weeks ago, even if this is still lower than I expected. East Asia in general was not very invested in Star Wars outside of Hong Kong and Japan.
Edit: Chinese theatres dont have contracts to keep films playing for a certain number of days like domestic theatres do. If something underperforms they drop it quickly in favour of something else.
Edit 2: The Force Awakens also had a heavy Imax skew in China.
Gotcha and good question. I have no idea? I would think that their own movies would get preference. dunno?
BronsonLee
Member
China is literally The Wild East
They don't give a fuck about any rules or sort of conventions
They don't give a fuck about any rules or sort of conventions
vinnygambini
Why are strippers at the U.N. bad when they're great at strip clubs???
T5 results in China for TFA, that's worst than I envisioned given that T5 box office gross was cheated out of several millions.
I guess I'm "salty", which appears to be a common phrase here, but man.. China really fucked SW over. How did it not do better than 100M and some change? Especially considering your analysis of TFA being geared towards non SW fans. It's just puzzling.
BronsonLee
Member
This is easy to explain.
TFA relies heavily on nostalgia from the original trilogy to get people in
China doesn't give a fuck about the original trilogy
While TFA is a nice palate cleanser and sets the table for some real fun shit, they just don't care. It doesn't appeal to them whatsoever. Rogue One and -other- movies, though? They probably will.
Get out of The Salt Mines!
It's geared towards SW fans. If you don't know the series then all the call backs and such don't really resonate.
You know, as someone who isn't American it can be really annoying reading stuff like that. Some of you need to get your heads out of your asses.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
China is an interesting market, man. It's why I've never been too caught up in trying to predict what the fuck it's going to do past very, VERY vague generalizations.
But also keep in mind that even if this film is likely to work better for people who aren't already longtime fans, that push Lucasfilm/Disney made in 2015 might have been too little, too late, and there's something to be said for the sophistication of audiences when it comes to consuming marketing. You can push something somewhere, and you can push it hard, but if enough people get the feeling that something's not ringing particularly true, they'll push back. It happens here all the time, because my generation was the first to be SPECIFICALLY targeted by corporations as primary purchasers. So we grew up (as did everyone after us) becoming very, very savvy to how things are sold, and what people do to appeal to our wallets.
It's not at all outside the realm of possibility that Star Wars was sold decently in China, but might have tripped some sort of internal alarm in enough of the audience that said "I dunno about this just yet. Feels like they're trying to force (ha!) something on us." For example: I'm not sure making the pop-star more or less the face of Star Wars in China was the best bet, maybe? That might have caused people to go "this is obviously not a thing dude would normally do, and I'm not feeling the song & dance all that much" and that negative feeling would be enough for someone to give it a pass on first opportunity at the theaters.
We'll see what happens when it hits home video and has a chance to get in front of a lot of eyes it otherwise wouldn't have over there, and whether that creates enough of a foundation for Rogue One to roll in and build from there.
It's a Monty Python reference. It's not a serious assessment of China as a culture, if you can ascribe a singular culture to a country that big.
darkinstinct
...lacks reading comprehension.
Holy smokes. Avatar 2 could be the first movie to beat 3 billion and do it easily.
BronsonLee
Member
I hope you never get Tokyo Jungle now!
Real talk, though; China just likes what they want to like. We're kind of in uncharted territory with them because they're growing so goddamn fast. Trying to predict their shit is just going to end with people looking confused.
It opened yesterday (the 15th) but on a bad day, as The Revenant and Room opened on the same day.
Personally, I watched The Revenant last night with Room later next week. Can't afford 3 films on the same week. Can imagine alot of people having the same confusion.
How is it puzzling? It's a different culture and cultural history. People shouting "Star Wars is a cultural phenomenon" and thinking that would be enough to make big bucks in China weren't really thinking about China.
Yeah I think China is a very interesting market, and it's definitely true that there are a lot of unknowns both in terms of dealing with the regulation aspects to even do business there, and successfully connecting with the audience. It's very fun to discuss the ifs and whys about such a big uncharted space.
But do we really need all the off hand remarks about how Chinese audiences don't care about quality every time a movie that's well liked doesn't do as well there? Or the assumption that pandering to Chinese audiences like they are idiots will make a movie successful? (Pro-tip Iron Man 3 tried this and it backfired!) I don't this these things are necessary or helpful to the discussion.
But do we really need all the off hand remarks about how Chinese audiences don't care about quality every time a movie that's well liked doesn't do as well there? Or the assumption that pandering to Chinese audiences like they are idiots will make a movie successful? (Pro-tip Iron Man 3 tried this and it backfired!) I don't this these things are necessary or helpful to the discussion.
BronsonLee
Member
Well my comment was mainly me continuing my battle to call TFA not garbage
Bobby Roberts
Banned
They're jokes that get trotted out whenever anything that's not great does well at the box-office. It's not as if the same type of jokes aren't fired off for American audiences as well.
There's a lot of stuff that isn't necessarily "helpful" to the discussion as it rolls along week after week, often way more uninformed than offhand cracks about people's (whatever the region) taste in blockbuster filmmaking.
Those sorts of comments eventually get addressed and dealt with in the course of that conversation as well, so its not as if some level of education isn't being mixed in to this particular bucket of jungle juice at the box-office house party happening every weekend.
Ehhhh I don't think the IM3 pandering backfired in China financially.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
That too. It finished 2nd the year it was released, behind Stephen Chow's Journey to the West adaptation.
It also nearly doubled Thor 2s take in China that year so it wasnt just The Avengers effect. Chinese audiences seem to like Iron Man and Cap.
BronsonLee
Member
They will.
The initial word of mouth regarding the exclusive Chinese cut was really bad. Of course people watched it anyway because it was a big blockbuster, but I think if they didn't waste all their time editing in ads into the Chinese version, it could have done way better.
Consider this, without any sort of pandering, Pacific Rim made $111 million in the same year from the same Chinese distributor.
I'm not even suggesting that pandering doesn't work. It does if you do it right. Transformers 4 is absolutely the template of "doing it right" no matter what people think about the quality of the film. It had a Chinese star in a major role throughout the film, not a throwaway cameo, and it actually featuring on location footage which showed off places in Hong Kong and China which were showcased really well. That sort of pandering is effective because it localizes the feel of the movie on a blockbuster scale. Cheap throwaway pandering has zero impact imo.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
I feel like you might be misusing "pandering" a bit.
But I also don't think the catering (maybe a little gentler word choice, I guess) to Chinese audiences that Marvel did in Iron Man 3 could be described as having "backfired," either. Maybe it didn't help to the extent that they wanted it to, but it's hard to say that it significantly hurt the potential box office there, too.
As with most commentary on Star Wars box-office take since the initial weeks (and even then) a lot of the feedback is comedic/sarcastic in nature. That's just the atmosphere here (it's why people still vomit up "bomba" without even thinking as if it's a good punchline). China contributing less than $150 million to the overseas totals is a little disappointing - if you were hoping for $200 million. And any hint of disappointment is going to open the door for over-the-top joking.
That's all any of this China "commentary" is, for the most part. It's obvious when more involved discussion about the market begins in earnest.
But I also don't think the catering (maybe a little gentler word choice, I guess) to Chinese audiences that Marvel did in Iron Man 3 could be described as having "backfired," either. Maybe it didn't help to the extent that they wanted it to, but it's hard to say that it significantly hurt the potential box office there, too.
As with most commentary on Star Wars box-office take since the initial weeks (and even then) a lot of the feedback is comedic/sarcastic in nature. That's just the atmosphere here (it's why people still vomit up "bomba" without even thinking as if it's a good punchline). China contributing less than $150 million to the overseas totals is a little disappointing - if you were hoping for $200 million. And any hint of disappointment is going to open the door for over-the-top joking.
That's all any of this China "commentary" is, for the most part. It's obvious when more involved discussion about the market begins in earnest.
vinnygambini
Why are strippers at the U.N. bad when they're great at strip clubs???
I can't wait to see how Transformers 5 fares in China coming 2017.
I do think that, after the success that their other films found in China, they won't feel the need to cater/pander specifically to China going forward. The franchise is popular as it is.
That said, casting Chinese actors never hurts. Especially if they are used well, and aren't just on the screen for 30 seconds.
It wasn't Marvel's decision, they partnered up with a Chinese company for co-production and the cut there was put together by the Chinese company. The entire thing was a mess, which is why Marvel never did anything like that again. When people asked Shane Black about it, it seemed like he didn't even have any idea or say about what was going on there. Totally not an ideal situation.
My point is that when trying to engage a foreign market actively, you have to put effort into it to have a strong impact. Just going "well if we have some Chinese shit in it and maybe let some Chinese companies advertise their products in the film" isn't worth anyone's time.
Agreed 100%. This is something which has an actual significant impact because it is something that audiences will want to see.
My point is that when trying to engage a foreign market actively, you have to put effort into it to have a strong impact. Just going "well if we have some Chinese shit in it and maybe let some Chinese companies advertise their products in the film" isn't worth anyone's time.
Agreed 100%. This is something which has an actual significant impact because it is something that audiences will want to see.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Agreed. It's part of the adapting/learning that any producer is going to undergo as their advertising becomes more sophisticated, as it needs to in order to seriously make a good impression on the potential audience. The learning curves here are a little more complicated than they might be simply because that market is hard to read as it is, and the people trying to do the selling have a hard enough time of making those impacts even with audiences they're already super-familiar with, much less new demographics they still can't read well.
Twerk video bet?
Bobby Roberts
Banned
YES. I love that you're pushing this. Never let it go.
BronsonLee
Member
The key to success in China is simple.
Put me in the movie.
Put me in the movie.
Gold_Loot
Member
You can say that about any movie, in any region. A movie doesn't have to "great" to be popular..
Look at NA.. Transformers,Avatar,the spiderman reboot , Superhero movies ect.
None of these films are considered "great" but they sure as hell made bank.
Yes, that's why I qualified my statement with 'financially'. I thought the home audience would be annoyed with a celebrity cameo for no reason (pretty sure the only guy who can get away with random ass celeb cameos is Stephen Chow).
It seems like a shame that the Chinese co-production company thought so shallowly of their own home audience.
Dash_Riprock
Member
People in the US have NO RIGHT to shit on China's taste in films. Not when movies like God's Not Dead was a smash hit in the states.
vinnygambini
Why are strippers at the U.N. bad when they're great at strip clubs???
I agree, The Last Airbender was terrible.
God's Not Dead isn't really a smash hit. The Revenant isn't a smash hit for instance, but it already made more money in the US than God's Not Dead.
I've already accepted the bet and frankly I'm tired of you people ignoring this!
My glorious booty comes at the high price of Avatar 2 beating the first worldwide. Y'all best be excited.
BronsonLee
Member
You got a problem with Jesus, b?
1st Course
Member
Since we are talking China: Any idea what are the biggest local flicks releasing this year? Think any of them has a shot at dethroning F7 record?
They have no right to do that regardless. It's an entirely different culture where movies and cinema are regarded differently. Let's not even begin a discussion on (the subjectivity) of quality.
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