With high school seniors finally burning their exam prep books and college students out for the summer, seven new pics enter a competitive market over the Dragon Boat Festival holiday.
The last Chinese movie to sit atop the weekend box office was Wolf Warriors way back in early April. Since Furious 7 premiered on April 12, a quintet of Hollywood movies and a Japanese robotic cat have ruled China’s box office: Furious took the crown for four straight weeks followed by a brief coup from Chappie. Then Avengers: Age of Ultron dominated for 2 weeks before Stand By Me Doraemon, San Andreas, and most recently Jurassic World reigned in successive weeks. Could SPLII: A Time For Consequences, a coproduction between China and Hong Kong, end the cold streak?
Early counts for Thursday are showing SPLII opening on about 68% of China’s ~25,000 screens while Jurassic World’s screen share will drop to 18%. EntGroup’s EFMT Index also shows the action flick with the highest levels of awareness and intent to purchase of this weekend’s new releases. In addition, Chinese action star Jacky Wu drove moviegoers to the cinema in droves with Wolf Warriors to the tune of $87.58 million in March/April and we’re counting on him to do the same here if not better.
Hollywood holdovers Jurassic World and San Andreas will battle two new entries in Killing Season, starring Robert De Niro and John Travolta, and The Divergent Series: Insurgent. Both hold little water with Chinese filmgoers as poor press for Killing Season has preceded the release, and the first installment of Divergent grossed a paltry $12.3 million on the Mainland in 2014. The EFMT Index has Insurgent with this weekend’s best word of mouth, but that’s sure to drop once it hits screens.
With somewhat brighter prospects, local satire The Ark of Mr. Chow could find a sizable youthful demographic that empathizes with the film’s group of intelligent protagonists beaten down by China’s oppressive education system. The film is also receiving a day-and-date release with the US through China Lion Film.
Domestic pics Rock Hero, Admission By Guts and imported Taiwanese flick Love Me Love My Dog based on a Japanese novel also come to Chinese cinemas on Friday, but don’t show significant box office prospects.
Jonathan Papish of Boxoffice.com contributed to this article.
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