“Warcraft” reported healthy office takings, ringing up 1.03 billion yuan ($156 million) in its debut week, beating “X-Men: Apocalypse” to be the most popular movie in the week ending June 12, China Film News reported Tuesday.
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So it may take a while for non-gamers to figure out who’s who in the battle of orcs and humans at the center of the “Warcraft” film, which complicates an already dense mythology.
The based-on-a-video game-film opened to about $25 million this weekend, finishing second at the box office behind “The Conjuring 2” ($40 million).
The Hollywood production’s popularity in China contrasts sharply with its poor reception in the United States, where it grabbed a far more modest US$24.35 million as of June 13, three days after its June 10 premier. The film cost $160 million.
Having finally been released in North America after a couple of weeks of global screenings, Warcraft didn’t find its feet domestically – but like X-Men: Apocalypse last week, it’s been saved by worldwide takings. There, the film was one of the most anticipated of all-time ($20.7 million in pre-sales) and received the most amount of screens ever in the country (67% of them). It’s not the first time a movie’s Chinese success has bolstered a flailing USA box office, but this disparity is unprecedented.
This also means that those who thought “Warcraft” would be a flop are seemingly wrong, for the time being, at least.
To put the shocking and innately unique Chinese success of Warcraft into perspective, its enormous five-day accrual of $156 million tops previous weekend record holder in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron ($155.7 million) and other recent mega-movies like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($95.8 million) and even Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($125.4 million).
But is “Warcraft” really evidence of a great Chinese-made movie?
Actor Jackie Chan praises the Chinese movie industry at the Shanghai International Film Festival on Sunday..
The Legend of the Drunken Master star praised the Chinese film industry noting that it is increasing in popularity now.
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The Conjuring 2, a new horror flick from Warner Bros. led the box office over weekend in the U.S. and Canada with sales of $40.4 million, according to researcher ComScore, Inc.
