China Box Office: ‘Mission: Impossible 7 Opens Soft In Third Place
Over the weekend, Tom Cruise did the seemingly impossible in China. reviving the former Hollywood blockbuster in the world's second largest movie market.
"The mission is impossible. "deadly reckoning, part one" underperformed in its opening weekend in China, debuting in third place behind two Chinese hits.
The Paramount and Skydance sequel opened Friday to Sunday with just $25.9 million, a major setback from 2018's $76 million Mission . From Impossible Fallout . Meanwhile, Chinese martial arts drama Never Say Never earned $46.1 million, followed by $ 94 million for local animation.
"Never Say Never," written and directed by local comedy favorite Wang Baoxiang ( Lost in Thailand , Detective Chinatown ), has grossed $211.5 million since its July 6 premiere. Chang An , the latest release from Beijing-based animation studio Light Chaser, opened on July 8 and currently has a gross of $96.1 million.
Ticketing software Mawan estimates that Mission. Impossible 7 will finish the race in China with just $60 million, compared to 2018's M:I 6's $181 million and 2015's M:I 5's $136.7 million .
Local reviews gave much stronger reviews to Cruise's latest role as Ethan Hunt. The film scored 9.4 on Mawan, 9.5 on Tao Piao Piao Alibaba and 7.9 on Duban - very good scores. But Chinese moviegoers aren't flocking to American movies like they used to.
China's first-half 2023 results were released earlier this month, and the numbers are pretty bleak for Hollywood.
After lifting a strict COVID-19 lockdown late last year, China returned US film imports to pre-pandemic levels in 2023. This is one of many steps Beijing has taken to signal to the world that it is reopening for business. According to Artisan Gateway, 24 American films arrived in Chinese theaters in the first half of 2023, just two less than the same period in 2019.
Overall, China's theater market has recently recovered dramatically. In the first six months of this year, total box office receipts reached US$3.8 billion (RMB 26.3 billion), down just 16 percent from 2019 (and up 54 percent from when China's cinemas were still closed en masse).
Local Chinese cinema is busier than ever, as this weekend's powerhouses Never Say Never and Chang An prove once again. Total sales of Chinese-language titles in the first half of 2023 rose 27 percent to $2.8 billion from the same period a year before the pandemic, thanks to the Chinese New Year release season.
Analysts say the rest of the sales decline can be attributed almost exclusively to lower earnings for US films in China. As the Hollywood tentpole continues to pour into China at a healthy pace, total US movie ticket sales for the first six months of this year totaled just $592 million, down significantly from the $1.9 billion achieved in the same period in 2019.
Greta Gerwig and Barbie Warner Bros. opened in China on Friday, and the sales potential is relatively high. But American films will face stiff domestic competition. The first installment of Chinese director Wuershan's Fengshen trilogy , China's answer to The Lord of the Rings , opened Thursday with an all-star cast and the biggest budget in Chinese film history.
