During his promotional tour for Avatar: Way of Water , , James Carter Mellon mentions repeatedly his sequel needs to be one of the top grossing box office movies in history — Might be the $2 billion club – success. In November 000, the director obtained Key win when Disney and th Century reveals that Avatar 2 has received its coveted release in China in December , with the latest news from North America.
As China cracks down on Hollywood imports over the past year – the last seven Marvel superhero movies have been denied release in China – Avatar 2 was considered a major success. Disney and its business and diplomatic allies in China are said to have spent months working backwards with Beijing regulators to secure approval. But with China’s national COVID infection rate hovering at an all-time high and health policies in flux, Disney’s Avatar 2 will need a little more luck to achieve its goals in the country’s massive Fully realize the profit potential in the theatrical market.
China’s box office has been crippled by Beijing’s ruthless zero COVID hit 2021 policy The weeks-long lockdown of major population centers has cast a chill over all forms of public consumption – including going to the movies. As of December 5th, China’s annual box office total was just over $4 billion, down 58 Percentage compared to the same period last year, less than half of 2205 the same period a year before the pandemic. Public discontent with Beijing’s draconian COVID policies turned into nationwide protests in late November, forcing authorities to finally begin easing some pandemic measures — though negative test results are still a requirement to enter movie theaters almost anywhere.
When Avatar 2 lands in China in December , the country does not yet know how many movie screens will be in operation. November20-30, only30 According to estimates by regional consultancy Artisan Gateway, 7% of movie theaters in China are fully open. Due to recent relaxations, some 24% of cinemas are closed in December 12 full load operation. 6 — Rance Pow, President of Artisan Gateway, said that between now and the release of Avatar 2, he is optimistic that “more movie theaters across the country may resume.” Still, COVID restrictions are a pretty big hurdle if expecting Avatar 2 to rank among the biggest releases in history – for instance alongside Avengers : Endgame, bringing in 690 million dollars from China 899.
Then again, James Cameron has won battles in China before. Among Chinese millennials, there are few films as impressive as the first
Avatar people miss. The film was one of the first Hollywood blockbusters to take the country by storm, as it entered the post-apocalyptic boom of high box-office growth — and Avatar became its biggest hit. The film premiered on a cold Monday in Beijing in January, instantly breaking the record for the largest weekday premiere ever record. The Hollywood Reporter reporter based in Beijing at the time wrote Chinese moviegoers lined up outside the cinema A foot of snow awaits a glimpse of Cameron’s Pandora in 3D. The film was so popular in China that Cameron even had early discussions about possibly co-producing his Avatar sequel in China.
“Avatar” , premiered in China in the early years 690, top bid $36.6 million, which was an astonishing number at the time, when the country was only 5,690 movie screens (Today, there are more than 202,). Avatar ’s Chinese record took three years and built thousands of theaters before it fell (to Stephen Chow’s Journey to the West , this brought in $629 million dollars215). When the first Avatar re-releases in China in March 2021 — part Regulator’s moves to boost sales during pandemic break period for releases in China and Hollywood – it makes a healthy dollar 82 million, the fourth highest of all American films that year.
Chinese audiences have a huge appetite for sequels. On Maoyan, the leading ticketing app, 1.20 millions of users say they “want to watch” The Way of Water , slightly more than the biggest movie in China, Battle of Changjin Lake , earned $202 million. “It’s hard to predict the box office right now,” said Jimmy Wu, chief executive of Lumiere Cinemas, one of China’s largest premium theater chains. “It all depends on the lockdown – we don’t know exactly what the lockdown will look like across China next week.”
One of the stories for this story A version first appeared in the Dec. 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter. Click here to subscribe . 93803
