Disney faces bigger hurdles in matching its U.S success in China and other Asian countries, where the “Star Wars” franchise isnt as well known or have as big a following as in the West. For example, the movie didnt open as No. 1 in South Korea or Vietnam.
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LEO DiCAPRIO might be cinematically strong enough to survive a bear mauling, but not, it seems, the still-fierce fangs of a Wookiee.
China was the last market for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” to land in, and it has really taken off with its debut this weekend.
With that total, the sci-fi film has made an estimated $812 million in the USA – the only film in history to make more than $800 million domestically.
Addressing complaints his film is too reminiscent of the original trilogy, Abrams told The Hollywood Reporter: “It was obviously a wildly intentional thing that we go backwards, in some ways, to go forwards in the important ways”.
Liu Cuiping, vice director of research for EntGroup, said that after the opening weekend she still expected “The Force Awakens” to pull in around $230 million in mainland China – its final worldwide market.
It has now shot past “Jurassic World’s” $1.67 billion global gross to become the third biggest movie ever. Unless the film significantly surpasses expectations in China, it is unlikely to break the global box office record of $2.79 billion set by “Avatar”, which was released in 2009.
It was estimated by a Disney executive that the China opening for the movie earned an incredible $53 million for the weekend.
In between The Revenant and The Forest was the Will Ferrell-Mark Wahlberg comedy, Daddy’s Home with $15M, which raises its total to $116M.
It also coincides with a steep slide for Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight”, because apparently there’s only room for one gore-filled snowy Western at the box office. The Forest, $US13.1 million ($US450,000) 5.
Disney Studios are very encouraged with the response the movie is receiving, according to Disney distribution chief Dave Hollis. “The Peanuts Movie”, $8.6 million. 10.
Sibling rivalry: Sisters, starring Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, made $7.2 million for a slot in fifth place. Its $6.35 million was barely ahead of The Big Short’s $6.3 million.
“The Revenant”, released by 20th Century Fox, was in limited release over the holidays.
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Reviews for the $10 million production were largely negative.
