Could James Wan‘s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom snap the Hollywood studios’ box-office dropping streak in China? Film buffs and analysts will quickly discover out. The Warner Bros. and DC Studios superhero sequel has been set for launch on Dec. 20, two days earlier than it opens in North America, in response to mainland Chinese information websites on Tuesday.
The unique Aquaman (2018), starring Jason Momoa within the title function, grew to become a phenomenon in China, opening to $93 million and ultimately totaling $291.8 million. The movie nonetheless stands because the highest-grossing DC film of all time, with $1.148 billion on the world box office. But U.S. franchise movies — and superhero sequels specifically — have been on the wane in China because the pandemic. Two weekends in the past, Disney’s The Marvels opened in second place with simply $11.5 million, an all-time low for an MCU opening weekend in China. Earlier this yr, DC’s Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash each underperformed, incomes simply $6 million and $25.9 million, respectively, in China — fractions of what even probably the most disappointing U.S. superhero titles sometimes earned within the nation a number of years in the past.
Aquaman 2 will profit from the latest decision of the SAG-AFTRA strike, which is able to permit its stars to stroll the pink carpet and make the standard promotional rounds. Warners has not but introduced any plans for Wan, Momoa and others to go to China, although. Both Momoa and Amber Heard touched down in Beijing for the native premiere of Aquaman in 2018. Some analysts inside the Chinese trade have mentioned the studios’ lack of targeted native advertising and marketing campaigns within the post-pandemic interval is partly accountable for the diminished earnings within the nation. Christopher Nolan is the one main Hollywood determine to have visited Beijing on a promotional tour because the pandemic — and Oppenheimer is without doubt one of the few U.S. field workplace surprises within the nation this yr. The movie earned $62 million, Nolan’s second-best China efficiency to this point behind Interstellar ($122 million) — and an unprecedented displaying for a 3-hour English-language historic drama.
It has been a protracted street to the multiplex for The Lost Kingdom. Like many movies made within the COVID-19 period, the movie’s launch date was pushed a number of occasions. At one level, it was going to open in North America in December 2022. That modified to March 2023, earlier than being pushed to Christmas 2023. The movie additionally spanned three regimes at Warner Bros. and underwent a collection of reshoots.
Wan’s field workplace report in China is phenomenal, although. His installments in The Fast and The Furious franchise are among the many greatest U.S. box-office hits ever within the nation. Furious 7 (2015) earned $390.9 million and The Fate of the Furious (2017) took in $$392.8 million.
The Lost Kingdom, which reunites Momoa’s hero with Patrick Wilson’s Orm Marius and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s Black Manta, is the ultimate movie happening within the DCEU that started a decade in the past with Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel (2013). After Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, executives James Gunn and Peter Safran will launch their very own universe, starting with Superman: Legacy, which is dated for July 2025.