‘Cool Fish’ sinks to second spot at China box office
BEIING: Chinese-made crime thriller ‘A Cool Fish’ just managed to earn US$6.5 million to take the second place at China’s box office, lifting its total to $108 million after five weekends on release, according to Asian entertainment consultancy Artisan Gateway.
The small budget film was thrashed by DC Comics adaptation ‘Aquaman’ which achieved a massive US$94.1 million opening in three days, according to date from Artisan Gateway.
China’s ‘Einstein and Einstein’ earned US$2.9 million in its three-day opening. That was good enough for third place. ‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’ added US$2.4 million in its third week, for a cumulative total of US$38.6 million. Previous box office winner, ‘Venom’ earned US$1.5 million in fifth place. That extended its huge total in the Middle Kingdom to US$269 million.
Meanwhile, the decision to release ‘Aquaman’ in China two weeks prior to its North American outing paid off handsomely.
The early release meant that the film played against weak opposition – tired Hollywood and Chinese holdovers and a small Chinese picture. That allowed it to achieve an 85% market share. National box office for the weekend was US$108 million.
The opening figures represented the biggest weekend ever for a Warner Bros. title in China – the film was released in China through state-owned China Film Group – beating ‘Ready Player One’ by 66%. It was also by far the best score for a DC Comics title, which are sometimes considered too dark for mainstream audience tastes in China, compared with Disney’s Marvel franchise. It beat ‘Justice League’ by 92% and ‘Batman Vs Superman’ by 78% and overtook the lifetime score of ‘Wonder Woman’ in three days.
‘Aquaman’ also dominated the large IMAX circuit in China. It played on 559 screens and grossed US$9.7 million of its weekend total in IMAX theatres. Director James Wan included some 92 mins of speciallyformatted footage produced exclusively for IMAX theatres, and presenting up to 26% more picture on those screens.