China Box Office: ‘Shazam!’ and ‘M3gan’ Open Weakly

Hollywood’s new release titles fantasy action adventure “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” and horror thriller “M3gan” made only modest impressions on the box office in mainland China in their opening weekends.

The box office chart was led by “Post-Truth,” a Chinese comedy which probes the impact of social media in a story about a wronged small-time businessman. It earned $18.8 million (RMB130 million) in its second weekend of release, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway.

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That was an increase of more than 10% on its opening frame. After ten days on release, “Post-Truth” has a cumulative of $51.2 million (RMB353 million).

Unchanged in second place was Chinese-made crime drama “Revival.” It earned $6.3 million over the weekend for a cumulative of $22.3 million.

“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” was the highest-placed new release with a $4.3 million (RMB29.5 million) haul over three days.

Fourth place belonged to the enduring Chinese New Year title “Boonie Bears: The Guardian Code,” part of a long-running local film franchise. It earned $1.7 million (RMB11.6 million), barely lower than the previous weekend, and now has a cumulative of $214 million.

“M3gan” placed fifth with $1.6 million (RMB11.2 million) over the first three days of its release period.
Chinese ticketing firm Maoyan forecasts that “Shazam!” will only run on to make RMB54 million ($7.8 million), while “M3gan” might only get to RMB22 million ($3.2 million).

While the numbers are weak, studio sources say that they are happy with current direction of Chinese film regulation and importation. Not only are Hollywood titles getting in to China at a greater pace than during the last two years, they are doing so with more advanced notice – a factor which allows better marketing and promotion.

Additionally, there is a growing expectation that, for the rest of this year, nearly all of Hollywood’s major titles will be able to get a launch in China that that is closely coordinated with releases in North America and other territories.

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