DIS Walt Disney Co

By Ben Fritz 

"Star Wars" continues to struggle for respect in the world's second-largest movie market.

"Rogue One," Walt Disney Co.'s latest global hit set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, opened to a decent $31 million over three days in China, its final major country. Last year, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" grossed $59.6 million in its first three days and was considered somewhat disappointing in relation to its success everywhere else in the world.

The "Rogue One" opening in China is well below other movies that have fared worse than it in the rest of the world, such as last year's "Doctor Strange," "San Andreas" and "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice."

With $477 million in the U.S. and Canada and $914 million world-wide, "Rogue One" is close to being the No. 1 movie released last year domestically and is so far No. 5 on a global basis. The top four films, "Captain America: Civil War," "Finding Dory," "Zootopia" and "The Jungle Book," are also from Disney, reflecting that company's box office dominance owing to its collection of popular franchises.

On a percentage basis, the Chinese opening of "Rogue One" in comparison to "The Force Awakens" is roughly equal to many other foreign markets. But Disney has made a big effort in the past year to spark "Star Wars" enthusiasm in China, which is expected to surpass the U.S. in total box office in the next few years. The franchise isn't as well known there as most of the rest of the world because few people saw the first six films.

Over the long term, rising interest among Chinese consumers in "Star Wars" will be important to the brand's success on the big screen and in consumer products. Disney plans to release a new "Star Wars" movie every year going forward.

But despite efforts such as the casting of local stars Jiang Wen and Donnie Yen in prominent roles, a splashy premiere held at a stadium built in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics, and a Chinese language theme song, most people in China didn't appear to regard "Rogue One" differently than any other Hollywood picture.

"It was OK," said Li Chao, 28 years, who went to see the movie with a friend in Beijing. "The visuals of the planets and the special effects are pretty good."

A Disney executive didn't respond to a request for comment.

On its fourth weekend in U.S. and Canadian theaters, "Rogue One" was in a virtual tie for the top spot at the box office. Both it and "Hidden Figures," a new film about African-American women who helped launch the U.S. space program from 21st Century Fox Inc's Twentieth Century Fox, grossed almost $22 million.

Lilian Lin in Beijing contributed to this article

Write to Ben Fritz at ben.fritz@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 08, 2017 13:52 ET (18:52 GMT)

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