China Box Office: 'End of Endless Love' Wins Weekend After 'Monster Hunter' Yanked from Cinemas

Refresh for latest…: There was a bit more varied action at the international box office this weekend, including the continued rollout of Warner Bros/DC’s Wonder Woman 1984, a sizable start for China’s Shock Wave 2, the debut of Disney/Pixar’s Soul, The Croods: A New Age nearing $100M global, and a brand new milestone for Japan’s Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train which, according to estimates, has overtaken Spirited Away to become the highest-grossing film ever in the market.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefWhile the North American box office pulls in less than $5 million per weekend due to COVID-19, the China and Japan markets are not only open, but also capable of breaking theatrical records. It may feel logical to hurry more U.S.

“Wonder Woman 1984” — Warner Bros.’s much-anticipated sequel to its superhero franchise starring Gal Gadot — suffered a weak weekend debut in China, where it earned a mere $19 million in ticket sales, or less than half of what Hollywood had expected. Media watchers had pegged the follow-up film to 2017’s “Wonder Woman” to reel in at least $40 million in the Middle Kingdom.

While we may be talking about the unfortunate death of movie theaters in the US, considering they have yet to fully bounce back from being closed most of the year and 2021 isn’t looking as promising as we hoped, Chinese cinemas are not only open but thriving.

China's box office was the scene of disappointment over the weekend, as Warner Bros.' Wonder Woman 1984 got trounced by local action flick The Rescue. The Rescue, directed by Dante Lam, opened to $36.3 million, nearly double Wonder Woman 1984's meagre $18.8 million start, according to data from Artisan Gateway.

Wonder Woman 1984 opened to an underwhelming $18.8 million in China, behind expectations and a less-than-wondrous start for WarnerMedia as it embarks on a bold plan to release its films both in theaters and on HBO Max. The Warner Bros./DC superhero pic placed No.

Rebecca Davis editorThis weekend pit the best of Hollywood’s action tentpole rolodex against China’s — and found that fresh local content has greater sway over local audiences in what is now the world’s largest film market.“Wonder Woman 1984” grossed just $18.8 million in China, almost half the approximately $34 million haul of Chinese actioner “The Rescue.” Both films far underperformed against expectations, however, as the Chinese box office saw its lowest pre-Christmas weekend since 2014,

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaDiana Prince may be able to best Cheetah, but she’s no match for a global pandemic.“Wonder Woman 1984” opened to a less than heroic $18.8 million in China over the weekend and a disappointing $38.5 million overseas.

Wonder Woman 1984 is off to a sluggish start in China. The Warner Bros./DC superhero tentpole opened Friday in direct competition with Chinese action flick The Rescue, directed by Dante Lam, and as of 5 p.m.

The racial insensitivity scandal that derailed the China release of action film Monster Hunter is starting to impact other high-profile movies in the country. Sources in Beijing tell The Hollywood Reporter that the China Film Administration has tightened its censorship process in the wake of the controversy, calling back several previously approved imported films for a second, more thorough review.

Warner Bros/DC’s Wonder Woman 1984 begins offshore rollout today in such markets as Indonesia, Portugal and the UK — though on a very limited basis in the latter where London cinemas have been re-shuterred as the capital moves into a Tier 3 Covid lockdown.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefChinese action comedy “Bath Buddy” topped the mainland China box office over the weekend with a $28.1 million opening splash. The box office performance came despite the film being in hot water behind the scenes.The Yi Zhenxing-directed film tells the improbable tale of a rich kid who loses his memory and instead ends up working in a bath-spa.

Refresh for latest...: The international box office continues to provide welcome surprises during the pandemic era. Where movie theaters are open and people feel safe, they turn up for new or enduringly exciting product that’s on offer.

With its theatrical window deal signed by AMC and Cinemark, Universal and Focus Features have continued to lead the struggling pandemic box office as “The Croods: A New Age” earned its third straight No. 1 weekend and the studio’s seventh straight weekend atop the charts with $3 million from 2,115 screens.Overseas, the film added $6.6 million in China and $8.4 across all overseas markets, including openings in Mexico and Ecuador.

In a world starved for blockbuster films, as most get pushed to streaming services or delayed until 2021, “Monster Hunter” looked like it could help drive business to theaters, especially in China. However, one line from the film that echoes a racist chant that kids used to say decades ago is forcing cinemas in the Middle Kingdom to pull the film.

Rebecca Davis editorAlthough “Monster Hunter” apologized for and censored a line of dialogue that sparked anger in China from its global version, Chinese film websites and apps have taken the unusual step of deleting the title or its user ratings — indicating that the movie’s odds of returning to the Chinese big screen likely remain slim.Chinese cinemas began to voluntarily pull scheduled viewings within just a day of the video game adaptation’s Dec.

Monster Hunter director Paul W.S. Anderson has weighed in on the controversy surrounding the film, which was pulled from Chinese cinemas during its opening weekend amid backlash over a line of dialogue that has been perceived as racist by local audiences.

Rebecca Davis editorPatriotic Chinese viewers flexed their muscles this weekend to topple Paul W.S. Anderson’s “Monster Hunter,” which grossed just $4.8 million before it was pulled from cinemas due to complaints that interpreted a line of dialogue to be racist and “insulting to China.” In a slow week, however, that was enough to net it a fifth place open, even though cinemas had entirely pulled the title from their line-ups by early Saturday.

Monster Hunter has been pulled from Chinese cinemas over an alleged racial slur.The US action adventure film, based on Capcom’s popular action RPG, was released in China last Friday (December 4) but was subsequently withdrawn from all cinemas on Saturday.A number of filmgoers and netizens responded to several lines of dialogue in the film between a white male character and an Asian male character.The Asian male character, played by Asian-American rapper MC Jin says “Look at my knees!” while the

Germany’s Constantin Film has issued an apology over dialogue in its feature game adaptation Monster Hunter which led to an online backlash in China this weekend, and subsequently resulted in the movie being pulled from Middle Kingdom cinemas.