Box Office China: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ debuts at $28 million

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” earned $28 million in box office gross during its opening weekend in mainland China. It was a solid result in the current circumstances, rather than overwhelming.

The film easily moved two of the weaker Chinese titles that had been released a week earlier to take advantage of the five-day May Day holiday season.

“Born to Fly,” a patriotic action adventure about Chinese test pilots, fell 75% as it fell from a $40 million first-place finish to an $11.2 million third-place finish. dollars. Its accumulation after two weekends is $77.3 million, according to weekend data from consultancy Artisan Gateway.

The love for the Chinese romance “All These Years” also quickly dissipated. It went from a third-highest opening weekend of $18.7 million to a second-highest fourth-highest weekend of $3.8 million and a 10-day cumulative of $36.7 million. of dollars.

Chinese comedy film “Godspeed,” which held on to second place with a second weekend haul of $15.3 million, fared significantly better. Ten days after its release, it raised $99.1 million.

After a thin 2022 for Hollywood import titles in China, the current year represents a return to more normalized business relationships. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” was approved for release in China several weeks ago, allowing for a well-prepared marketing campaign. And it enjoyed a simultaneous release with the one in North America and many international territories.

Its opening weekend was the strongest opening for a Hollywood film of 2023 and the second biggest in the last 16 months behind “Avatar: The Way of Water”. And Imax reported that “Guardians” earned $5.6 million, or 19% of its total in China, from its screens. But half a dozen Chinese films had bigger openings (holiday aid). And two Japanese anime titles “Suzume” and “The First Slam Dunk” made stronger non-holiday debuts in China this year.

With the exception of “Avatar 2”, Hollywood’s return to China is proving to be a slow process, rather than an overnight return. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” seems unlikely to reach the heights of its franchise predecessors.

Chinese ticketing agency Maoyan predicts that “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” will reach a total of $74 million during its run in China. That compares to the $86.3 million for the first “Guardians” movie in 2014 and the $101 million made by “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” in 2017.

The domestic box office over the weekend fell back to $62.6 million from May 1 highs of $120 million. Artisan Gateway calculates that the Chinese box office for the year to date is $2.91 billion. That’s 36% better than a desperate 2022, but 20% below the same point in 2019.