"Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2” scored a comfortable opening weekend win at the China box office. The greater surprise was the strength of Aamir Khan-starring Indian film “Dangal.”
"Guardians 2” enjoyed a day and date opening with North America and other major markets and scored $45.9 million in China, according to data tracking firm Ent Group. It played from upwards of 95,000 screenings per day, with the figure exceeding 100,000 on Saturday. The first “Guardians” was released in October 2014 and scored $96.5 million. “Dangal” achieved a smashing $11.3 million in second place. It played some 30,000 screenings per day and achieved a per screen average very similar to ‘Guardians.”
Produced by Disney-owned UTV and released globally in December, “Dangal” has been one of the biggest ever Indian films ever, but the track record of Indian films in China has been hit and miss track. It is not clear if the delayed release in China was a help or a hindrance. The delay gave the film’s superstar Khan to recently make an appearance at the recent Beijing film festival. Indian press carried multiple reports that Wanda Cinema Line, China’s biggest exhibitor, played the film on a minimal number of screens as a result of its ongoing squabble with Huayi Brothers, a distributor involved in the “Dangal” marketing.
The two opening films played saw off a mix of incumbents; Chinese genre films from the recent May Day holiday, and Hollywood holdovers. In third place was Herman Yau’s Andy Lau-starring “Shock Wave,” with $6.4 million. It dropped from a contested win in its opening weekend, when it scored $24.1 million.
"The Fate of the Furious” dropped from first place to fourth. It added $4.24 million to extend its box office record for a Hollywood movie to $378 million. Wanda’s crime suspense film, "Battle of Memories” took $3.91 million. That lifted its cumulative after ten days to $37.6 million.
The Peter Chan-produced “This is Not What I Expected” earned $2.58 million. After ten days it has $27.0 million.
Acidic romantic comedy, “Love Off The Cuff” earned $2.19 million. After ten days it has a score of $22.4 million.
"Smurfs: The Lost Village” earned $1.69 million in eight, and extended its 17 day cumulative to $22.5 million. Ninth place belonged to “Mr Pride Vs Miss Prejudice” with $110,000, which edged to $17.7 million after 18 days. Russian animation, “Savva: Heart of the Warrior” brought up tenth place with $100,000, with $1.31 million.