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China Box Office: 'Monster Hunt' Scares Up Giant Debut
Just over a week ago China’s film authorities were facing the possibility that their domestic film protection period—the July-August blackout period during which foreign films are barred from mainland theaters to protect local films—would be a bust. Even without foreign competition, local films seemed unable to attract enough business to fill the gap left by the departures of such Hollywood hits as Jurassic World and San Andreas. And then, starting last Friday, everything changed.
Yes, Tiny Times 4.0 and Forever Young opened extremely well, but that was as expected. The much bigger news was that the Chinese family animated filmThe Monkey King: Hero is Back opened big last Friday and kept building through the week, and was followed by the record opening of Monster Hunt this Thursday and the almost certain success of Pancake Man today.
Suddenly, almost as if by magic, there were three quality (as measured by reviews and word of mouth) local films playing in China’s multiplexes simultaneously. It’s rare enough to have one quality film playing in China—three is an embarrassment of riches. And audiences are eating them up.
In fact, Saturday looks likely to be the highest grossing single day ever at China’s multiplexes, and this week is shaping up to be the biggest box office week in Chinese history.
Monster Hunt, China’s first successful live action/CGI hybrid, opened Thursday to 4.4 million admissions and 172 million RMB (US$27.7 million) in ticket sales, a new record for a local Chinese film.
Top 5 Highest Grossing Days in Chinese Box Office History
1. Apr 12, 2015 — RMB 383 million / US$61.7 million —Furious 7 opening day
2. Feb 19, 2015 — RMB 373 million / US$60.1 million — Chinese New Year
3. Jul 17, 2015 — RMB 318 million / US$51.2 million (est.) — Monster Hunt/Pancake Man opening weekend
4. Feb 21, 2015 — RMB 301 million / US$48.5 million — Chinese New Year
5. Feb 20, 2015 — RMB 293 million / US$47.2 million — Chinese New Year
Directed by Hong Kong born animator Raman Hui (許誠毅), whose impressive resume includes credits as animation supervisor on Shrek and Shrek 2, and as co-director of Shrek the Third, Monster Hunt is among the costliest Chinese movies being released this year. Originally budgeted at around $25 million, the film’s producers were forced to spend at least $10 million more in re-shoots and additional post production costs when the film was banned by Chinese film authorities because of co-star Ko Kai’s arrest and conviction on drug use charges. Although the ban was later lifted, the money had already been spent.
Produced by Hong Kong movie maestro Bill Kong and starring Eric Tsand, Wallace Chung, Sandra Ng and Bai Baihe, the film will clear $100 million in its first four days in Chinese theaters. Kong has had great prior international success with such Chinese language films as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hero, and House of Flying Daggers, and given Monster Hunt‘s family appeal he might just have another global win on his hands.
Just over a week ago China’s film authorities were facing the possibility that their domestic film protection period—the July-August blackout period during which foreign films are barred from mainland theaters to protect local films—would be a bust. Even without foreign competition, local films seemed unable to attract enough business to fill the gap left by the departures of such Hollywood hits as Jurassic World and San Andreas. And then, starting last Friday, everything changed.
Yes, Tiny Times 4.0 and Forever Young opened extremely well, but that was as expected. The much bigger news was that the Chinese family animated filmThe Monkey King: Hero is Back opened big last Friday and kept building through the week, and was followed by the record opening of Monster Hunt this Thursday and the almost certain success of Pancake Man today.
Suddenly, almost as if by magic, there were three quality (as measured by reviews and word of mouth) local films playing in China’s multiplexes simultaneously. It’s rare enough to have one quality film playing in China—three is an embarrassment of riches. And audiences are eating them up.
In fact, Saturday looks likely to be the highest grossing single day ever at China’s multiplexes, and this week is shaping up to be the biggest box office week in Chinese history.
Monster Hunt, China’s first successful live action/CGI hybrid, opened Thursday to 4.4 million admissions and 172 million RMB (US$27.7 million) in ticket sales, a new record for a local Chinese film.
Top 5 Highest Grossing Days in Chinese Box Office History
1. Apr 12, 2015 — RMB 383 million / US$61.7 million —Furious 7 opening day
2. Feb 19, 2015 — RMB 373 million / US$60.1 million — Chinese New Year
3. Jul 17, 2015 — RMB 318 million / US$51.2 million (est.) — Monster Hunt/Pancake Man opening weekend
4. Feb 21, 2015 — RMB 301 million / US$48.5 million — Chinese New Year
5. Feb 20, 2015 — RMB 293 million / US$47.2 million — Chinese New Year
Directed by Hong Kong born animator Raman Hui (許誠毅), whose impressive resume includes credits as animation supervisor on Shrek and Shrek 2, and as co-director of Shrek the Third, Monster Hunt is among the costliest Chinese movies being released this year. Originally budgeted at around $25 million, the film’s producers were forced to spend at least $10 million more in re-shoots and additional post production costs when the film was banned by Chinese film authorities because of co-star Ko Kai’s arrest and conviction on drug use charges. Although the ban was later lifted, the money had already been spent.
Produced by Hong Kong movie maestro Bill Kong and starring Eric Tsand, Wallace Chung, Sandra Ng and Bai Baihe, the film will clear $100 million in its first four days in Chinese theaters. Kong has had great prior international success with such Chinese language films as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hero, and House of Flying Daggers, and given Monster Hunt‘s family appeal he might just have another global win on his hands.
