Makoto Shinkai’s Japanese anime sensation Suzume strongly held at the top of China theater box office over the weekend, he made $22.1 million while easily beating Paramount’s Dungeons & Dragons: honor among thieves and Sony’s 65both of which flopped.
Suzume has earned $80.6 million in China, more than any other International movie released in the country this year, including American superhero tentpoles like Ant Man 3 ($39 million), according to box-office tracker Artisan Gateway. The film is expected to gross over $90 million, making it the most commercially successful Japanese anime of all time in China.
Suzume also just short of making $30 million in South Korea and $105 million in Japan. It opens in North America and most of Europe on April 14, providing the latest gauge of anime’s growing theatrical potential in the West.
Dungeons and Dragons And 65The company’s disappointing results continued a string of poor ticket sales by China’s Hollywood studios. Dungeons and Dragons debuted in fourth place to $5 million and 65 cost just $600,000 (the films’ U.S. openings were $30 million and $12.5 million, respectively). As in the US, Dungeons and Dragons has been well received by Chinese critics and moviegoers alike, with a score of 9.2/10 from leading ticket service Maoyan. The poor sales performance will add to growing business concerns about the Chinese audience’s declining interest in US entertainment content.
Hachiko, a Chinese retelling of the popular Japanese story of a professor’s faithful dog, opened in second place with $8.9 million. The film is produced by Chinese streamer iQiyi. Local comedy drama Post truth came in third for the frame, adding $6.4 million for a cumulative total of $85.5 million over three weekends.
This week brings a wave of international movie releases to China. James Camerons Titanic 3D will be relaunched in the country on Monday. The love for Cameron’s romantic disaster epic is strong in China and analysts expect the re-release to exceed $ 10 million in sales. Tuesday brings a re-release of vintage anime Detective Conan: The Ghost of Baker Streetwhich opened in Japan in 2002, followed by Universal’s The Super Mario Bros. movie on Wednesday. Friday the disaster drama of Jean-Jacques Annaud Notre Dame on fire opens opposite Japanese rock opera anime Inu-ohdirected by Masaaki Yuasa, as well as several mid-budget Chinese releases.