Why China has embraced ‘Green Book’ like a blockbuster

BEIJING: Although deeply American in theme and story, Participant Media’s Oscar best picture winner Green Book is becoming a runaway box-office sensation in China and locals are embracing the film as their own.

Green Book opened to a strong US$17.2 million last weekend, landing in third place behind animation hit How to Train Your Dragon 3 (US$33 million) and Fox’s Alita: Battle Angel (US$24 million), according to data from Artisan Gateway.

By Monday, though, rave word of mouth had propelled Green Book into first place, with its daily revenue dominating the major studio productions. As of midday Wednesday, solid weekday ticket sales had lifted Green Book’s China total to approximately US$25 million — far ahead of last year’s Oscar best picture winner, The Shape of Water, which capped out at US$16.6 million in the country.

Chinese critics and ordinary moviegoers have raved about Green Book more than any film — whether imported or Chinese — of recent memory. The movie currently has a skyhigh rating of 9.6/10 on leading Chinese ticketing app Maoyan, and an 8.9/10 among Douban’s community of taste-makers.

Viral buzz of this amplitude usually means the movie will linger near the top of China’s box office charts for days and weeks to come, although Green Book will be hit with heavy competition from Captain Marvel on Friday.

So why has a period drama about race relations in the American South resonated so strongly in a market known for its love of effects-heavy action movies like Transformers? Analysts point to several overlapping factors, all of them involving some element of irony.

Oscars glow is undoubtedly one of the leading causes of Green Book’s big China success. Among film lovers, the Academy Awards are closely followed in China, where the local culture holds awards, rankings and official commendations in especially high esteem. And Green Book’s outsized Oscars bump probably has much to do with timing: the film opened in China just three days after the 91st Academy Awards, far sooner than any past best picture winner. “The film’s release immediately following its award-winning performances at the recent Oscars was very well timed,” says Rance Pow, CEO of Artisan Gateway.

Green Book’s material connections to China also played a huge role. Alibaba Pictures, the film studio arm of Chinese tech tycoon Jack Ma’s e-commerce giant Alibaba, participated in Green Book as an investor alongside Participant Media, DreamWorks Pictures and Stephen Spielberg’s Amblin Partners (the latter also minority-owned by Alibaba).

Immediately after Green Book’s Oscar triumph, Alibaba began trumpeting its involvement in the film in the Chinese media. Jack Ma even seemed to make it a personal mission to promote the movie ahead of its release in China.