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Hollywood showed its growing box-office dependence on China again this weekend, as the $160 million adaptation of the “Warcraft” videogame disappointed in the U.S. while setting records in China.
The big-screen treatment of the popular game collected an estimated $24.4 million in the U.S. and Canada—a weak, second-place showing for a film with its sizable budget. But audiences flocked to the film in China, where it has grossed a record $156 million in its first five days of release.
“Warcraft” is in many ways characteristic of the types of movies Hollywood is churning out for the global marketplace. It was adapted from globally popular source material and backed by several overseas financiers. Chinese audiences also found it more appealing than U.S. moviegoers did.
Box-office analysts had expected the movie would need solid results in China to compensate for lousy stateside returns. “If this movie was going to have any chance of success, it has to do huge business in China,” saidEric Handler,an analyst at MKM Partners.
China is expected to pass the U.S. as the world’s largest box-office market in 2017. Theater construction is booming beyond metropolitan hubs into rural territories that are getting their first multiplexes. But the country isn’t simply an ATM for Hollywood.
Studios typically receive about 25% of the revenue from ticket sales in China, compared with about 50% in the U.S. China also hasn’t built out a robust post-theatrical market that can provide a long stream of revenue in DVD sales or other home-entertainment options.
Still, the country’s tastes dictate whether some movies in Hollywood get the green light, and studios jockey for their films to be among the 34 titles annually let in by the Chinese government for release. Domestic disappointments such as “Pacific Rim” have seen sequels approved based in part on success in China.
“Warcraft,” in particular, received serious support in China. The movie was produced by Legendary Entertainment, the Hollywood production company purchased by Dalian Wanda Group Co. of China earlier this year for $3.5 billion. Wanda has several holdings in entertainment around the world, and is China’s largest exhibitor. Legendary East is distributing “Warcraft” in China.
“Warcraft” set a record in China for the fastest imported film to collect one billion yuan ($152 million), which it did in 114 hours of release. Globally, the movie has grossed a total of $286 million.IMAXCorp.screens contributed $27.5 million to the world-wide gross.
With its box-office performances ranging across the board, the movie is another example of how Hollywood distribution is changing to a model where the U.S. market is one of many factors in determining a successful opening, saidNick Carpou,president of domestic distribution atComcastCorp.’s Universal Pictures, which is distributing the movie in markets outside of China.
Several Chinese backers and Universal Pictures joined Legendary in co-financing the “Warcraft” budget. Legendary and the game’s creator, Activision, struck a deal in 2006 to make a feature-film version of the videogame. Activision, which has since becomeActivision BlizzardInc.,had a hand in the film’s creative development, ensuring the movie adaptation was loyal to the game.
The weekend’s other new wide releases, “The Conjuring 2” and “Now You See Me 2,” fared better than most sequels have this summer-movie season.
“The Conjuring 2,” a horror film about a pair of paranormal activity investigators, grossed $40.4 million in first place—on par with the 2013 debut of the original film. It was released byTime WarnerInc.’s Warner Bros.
The original “Conjuring” ended up grossing $137 million, and its sequel appears likely to stay out of the recent string of disappointing sequels from Hollywood that has included “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows” and “Alice Through the Looking Glass.”
“Now You See Me 2,” aLions Gate EntertainmentCorp.release starring Jesse Eisenberg and Lizzy Caplan as members of a group of conniving magicians, followed in third place with $23 million That is down about 20% from the original film’s debut.
The first “Now You See Me” kept pulling in audiences in the weeks after its release and eventually hit a domestic gross of $117.7 million; whether the sequel can do the same will be determined in the weeks to come.
Year-to-date box office is up 4.1%, according to comScore.
(THE WALL STREET JOURNAL)
