Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment’s Despicable Me 2 will finally hit Chinese theater screens on Jan. 10, according to exhibitors in Beijing, after renewed approaches to allow the animated feature screen in the world's second biggest film market.
The news that Despicable Me 2 will get a Chinese release comes just weeks after NBCUniversal announced that it was establishing a Beijing office, and this is no coincidence, industryites say.
The sequel is already the highest-grossing animated film of the year worldwide and is on track to be Universal's most profitable film ever, so a big Chinese opening for the Steve Carrell-starrer certainly won't hurt its global prospects.
While many will already have seen the movie on pirate DVD or downloaded it, 3D family features like Despicable Me 2 still attract theatergoers.
The first installment in the franchise, released in 2010, was not released in Mainland China, and the reason the second part almost wasn't released was reportedly due to difficulties with the local agent.
The Film Bureau denied that it had blocked the sequel or that there had been quota reasons for not approving the movie and insisted the movie had never been submitted for censorship approval.