The Hollywood film industry has found a new friend and no, it’s not freaking Ellen Degeneres. We are actually talking about the China box office. Apparently, Hollywood has been heavily reliant on the latter for its survival. Recently, the fifth instalment in the Transformers franchise came out and despite the popularity of the film series, Michael Bay’s Transformers: The Last Knight was looking pretty shy at the domestic box office.
Starring Mark Wahlberg, the Transformers: The Last Knight debuted at the box office with an embarrassing USD 68.5 million opening. Comparatively, the predecessor to the film, Transformers: Age of Extinction, managed to rake in about USD 100 million in its first three days. While earnings have been slowing dramatically for the movie, the USD 121 million opening at the China box office at least helped it bag at USD 267 million opening globally. If you do the math, that’s 46.8% of the global earnings coming from China as opposed to the meagre 25.6% contributed by the domestic box office.
However, this is hardly the first time that Chinese viewers have saved Hollywood movies from their near-deaths. The potential of the China box office has been realised as it has now become a routine for Hollywood films to perform better in China than at home. Here are some other Hollywood movies that have performed better in China than in US and Canada in the past.
1. Furious 7 (2015)
China Box Office: USD 182,400,000 (45.8%)
Domestic Box Office: USD 147,187,040 (37%)
Global Box Office: USD 397,700,000 (approx)
2. Terminator: Genisys (2015)
China Box Office: USD 58,170,000 (24.6%)
Domestic Box Office: USD 27,018,486 (11.4%)
Global Box Office: USD 236,000,000 (approx)
3. Warcraft (2016)
China Box Office: USD 65,141,191 (22.6%)
Domestic Box Office: USD 24,166,110 (8.4%)
Global Box Office: USD 287,500,000 (approx)
4. The Great Wall (2016)
China Box Office: USD 170,962,106 (51.5%)
Domestic Box Office: USD 45,157,105 (13.6%)
Global Box Office: USD 331,957,105
5. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016)
China Box Office: USD 159,548,686 (51.1%)
Domestic Box Office: USD 26,830,068 (8.6%)
Global Box Office: USD 312,242,626
6. xXx: Return of Xander Cage (2017)
China Box Office: USD 164,066,583 (47.4%)
Domestic Box Office: USD 44,898,413 (13%)
Global Box Office: USD 346,147,658
7. A Dog’s Purpose (2017)
China Box Office: USD 88,226,996 (45.7%)
Domestic Box Office: USD 64,321,890 (33.3%)
Global Box Office: USD 193,070,974
8. The Fate of the Furious (2017)
China Box Office: USD 392,807,017 (31.7%)
Domestic Box Office: USD 225,197,855 (18.2%)
Global Box Office: USD 1,238,170,965
9. Kong: Skull Island (2017)
China Box Office: USD 168,188,002 (29.71%)
Domestic Box Office: USD 168,052,812 (29.68%)
Global Box Office: USD 566,152,812
10. The Mummy (2017)
China Box Office: USD 89,300,000 (26%)
Domestic Box Office: USD 68,744,165 (20%)
Global Box Office: USD 343,933,058
11. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)
China Box Office: USD 172,200,000 (25.4%)
Domestic Box Office: USD 160,161,569 (23.6%)
Global Box Office: USD 679,278,452
(source: buzzfeed.com)
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