Rogue One,' a Hit in Most of the World, Opens to So-So Numbers in China
January 08 2017 - 2:07PM
Dow Jones News
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)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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