BOX OFFICE: "Guardians Of The Galaxy" Opens Big In China

[CBR News]

The biggest movie of the year continues to get bigger, as "Guardians of the Galaxy" set a box office record in China for its opening weekend.


Full article here.

[Arfguy]

$326 million domestic and $360+ million overseas, all on a budget of $170 million? Not bad. I am glad that the movie is doing so well. I was wondering what the numbers would be for the movie once it hit China.

[Xalfrea]

All I am wondering is why China is getting it so late. Heck why is their movie policy so inconvenient?

I am in China right now myself, and I was looking forward to watching Big Hero 6 in November. Imagine my dismay when I checked IMDB and found that it's not coming here.

[RobinFan4880]

All I am wondering is why China is getting it so late. Heck why is their movie policy so inconvenient?

I am in China right now myself, and I was looking forward to watching Big Hero 6 in November. Imagine my dismay when I checked IMDB and found that it's not coming here.

The Chinese want to limit foreign cultural influence (a policy not unique or endemic to China). What is strange is that they only allow 34 American movies to come in per year. Of all the movies that are made each year, that is a lot of competition. In 2014 America will have made around 200 films. Whittling that down to 34 is pretty hard.

[MarvelMaster616]

And the boon that is Guardians of the Galaxy just keeps on giving. I'm sure the accountants at Marvel and Disney are happy. But some of the foreign totals aren't as impressive as what some other movies like Iron Man have posted. I think name recognition is a bit harder for Guardians. It was hard enough here in the States because until recently, it was such a second-tier title. I imagine that's even more pronounced overseas. But it's still adding to the profits and that's what matters most to Marvel and Disney in the long run.

[Bob Violence]

They may be known as The Interplanetary Unusual Attack Team overseas...

I know that comes from Gunn himself, but he's mixing up the Chinese title with the Taiwanese title. In China it's just "Milky Way Guardian Team" (银河护卫队).

What is strange is that they only allow 34 American movies to come in per year. Of all the movies that are made each year, that is a lot of competition. In 2014 America will have made around 200 films. Whittling that down to 34 is pretty hard.

It's not really that hard considering that the 34-film quota is really for Hollywood studios, with a few token slots going to films from other countries. There's a separate system for non-Hollywood films. American comedies and dramas generally don't do well in China (obviously there are exceptions, like Titanic), so the studios usually stick with tired-and-true action/adventure blockbusters. It's usually possible to predict well in advance what films the studios will release in China, notwithstanding curveballs like World War Z getting shot down by the censors or Fox deciding to reissue Ice Age 2 (as they did this week) instead of releasing a new film. The harder thing to predict is when they'll actually come out.

I am in China right now myself, and I was looking forward to watching Big Hero 6 in November. Imagine my dismay when I checked IMDB and found that it's not coming here.

Release dates for imports in China are set far too close to the actual date for the IMDb to be of much use. No November imports have an official release date yet, but expect Interstellar, Penguins of Madagascar and Mockingjay Part 1. Big Hero 6 is looking unlikely to be out next month and will get pushed into 2015 (December is traditionally a "domestic protection period," so no Hollywood films that month).

Anyone looking for a comparison for GOTG in China should consider that Days of Future Past and The Winter Soldier did about $120 million and TASM2 around $95m. GOTG is starting off slower than any of them but could at least beat Spidey with its good word-of-mouth.