Boxoffice® Pro - December 2013

2013: WORLD MARKET ANALYSIS
The year’s highest-grossing film in China was
Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons with
an astounding $196.7 million
CHINA
n This year provided further proof of the rise of the Chinese box office
as the most important overseas market. Imax CEO Richard Gelfond has
even gone on to predict that China’s booming film industry will replace
North America’s as the world’s biggest box office by 2018. As Chinese
audiences grow, so does Hollywood’s interest in claiming part of the
market.
Diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Chinese governments worked
to increase the quota of imported films from 20 to 34. The increase in
films being released marked a major victory for Hollywood in China
but did little else to guide studios through many of the market’s other
intricacies. Hollywood studios are still bound by the approval of Chinese
censors, and even if a film is approved, the U.S. companies have no say in
regard to a film’s release window.
The year’s most notorious example of a worst-case-scenario Chinese
release occurred with Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. Tarantino’s
latest was pulled from release seconds into its first screenings across the
country without an official reason to explain the last-minute decision.
Tarantino oversaw a new, less controversial cut of his film, which was
given a May 12 release—only a matter of days after Iron Man 3’s May 1
premiere and Oblivion’s May 10 debut. Django Unchained was unable
to carve its own place in the market and flopped in China with a $2.6
million take.
Other Hollywood flops in China included a disappointing $8.5 million
for Jack the Giant Slayer and a $9.9 million run from Les Misérables.
The musical had scored blockbuster numbers in Asia’s two other key
markets, grossing more than $100 million when combining box office
returns from Japan and South Korea.
Hollywood also learned that star power doesn’t always translate in
China. Leonardo DiCaprio struggled to drive audiences to The Great
Gatsby, which finished its Chinese run with a modest $13.3 million.
Hopes had been set higher for Gatsby after a 3D re-release of Titanic
soared to blockbuster numbers in 2012. Tom Cruise couldn’t replicate
the blockbuster success of Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol with two
non-franchise releases: Jack Reacher fell short of the mark with $15 million,
and Oblivion struggled to find significant traction in a crowded
release calendar with $23.8 million.
The year also saw several Hollywood releases gross more in China
than in North America. Pacific Rim struggled in North America with a
$101.8 cume, having to rely on a strong overseas performance to lift its
global total to $407.6 million. China alone was responsible for $112
million of the film’s global gross, making it the most important market
in the world for the Guillermo del Toro popcorn flick. Pacific Rim ranks
behind Iron Man 3’s $121.2 million tally as the highest-grossing Hollywood
release of the year in China. Jurassic Park 3D enjoyed a $45.3 million
re-release in North America, but the real success came with a $55.9
million run in China. And while the Wachowskis’ Cloud Atlas won’t be
able to be seen as a box office success in any context, its Chinese gross of
$27.7 million exceeded the film’s $27.1 million tally in North America.
Escape Plan, the Stallone-Schwarzenegger action vehicle, is on its way to
join the list after a $20.8 million debut in its opening week in China—
only $3 million behind its entire North American run.
The true market leaders of the year in China came from the domestic
front. Chinese cinema has evolved with the expansion of its market, and
2013 saw a significant rise in films marketed toward a young audience.
Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons was the mainstream hit of
the year, earning $196.7 million to become the year’s highest-grossing
film. The film, based on a classic Chinese story, attracted family audiences
for weeks following a $92.4 million opening weekend in February.
Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons used a similar family-friendly
action-comedy tone that propelled Jackie Chan’s Chinese Zodiac to a
$137.1 million total in 2012.
Domestic drama So Young opened a week before Iron Man 3 invaded
theaters across China. Based on a best-selling novel, So Young proved the
20 BoxOffice ® Pro The Business of Movies DECEMBER 2013