‘ FURIOUS 8’ BREAKS RECORDS IN CHINA
Earning more than 1 billion yuan ($ 145.27 million) in less than three days, The Fate of the Furious, the eighth installment in The Fast and the Furious franchise, has set new box- office records for the Chinese mainland. Premiering in the mainland on April 14, Fate took in 52.08 million yuan during Thursday midnight showings and 408.64 million yuan on Friday, for a total of 460.72 million yuan, or $ 66.9 million. This set new records for single day and opening day box office results in the Chinese mainland, while also beating out the film’s North American opening day gross of $ 45.63 million. Additionally, by hitting the 1 billion yuan mark by Sunday morning, Fate also broke the records set by Warcraft, which took five days to reach the 1 billion yuan mark in 2016, and domestic sci- fi romance film The Mermaid, which reached 1 billion in four days.
With its box- office take of 3.39 billion yuan, The Mermaid still holds the record for highest earning film in the mainland.
Earning a total of 4.27 billion yuan in 2015, Furious 7, the previous installment in the franchise, is still the highest earning imported film in the mainland. While most films in the franchise have been hits in the mainland, expectations for Fate have been low due to the fact that Chinese box office has been in a slump since June of 2016.
The mainland box office brought in a total of 45.5 billion yuan in 2016 for a 3.73 percent year- on- year increase, far lower than the 30 percent annual increase the market has seen over the past few years.
Though this year’s box office experienced a short boom over the Spring Festival holiday at the end of January and beginning of February, March saw a year- on- year decrease of 10.3 percent.
Fate’s excellent box- office debut may be down to less competition from domestic films. This imported dominance could also be seen in March, during which time imported blockbusters accounted for 95 percent of total box- office earnings.
Economic pressures may also be a factor.
“People aren’t just looking for visualv excitement, but also for ana emotional release,” Chinese film critic Han Haoyue wrote in a Beijing News article on Friday.F
Han pointed out that pressures from overwork and paying back loans has made Chinese less willing to take risks, which in turn has led to economic instability.
“The more exciting and violentl the pictures on the screen, thet easier it is for people to live vicariouslyvi through the characters.” As to whether Fate will beat out
Furious 7’ s box- office totals in the mainland, Chinese media is still conservative.
The film currently holds a 7.4/ 10 on Chinese film sites Mtime and Douban, while Furious 7 holds an 8.3/ 10 on both sites.