Disney eyes China to pump Pirates
Walt Disney’s latest Pirates Of The Caribbean picture could gross more in China than in the US as the world’s largest entertainment company capitalises on the success of its new Chinese resort with a world premiere in Shanghai on Thursday.
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, the fifth in a series starring Johnny Depp, was the first Hollywood movie to hold its formal opening event in mainland China, according to the Burbank, California-based company. The previous Pirates feature was in 2011.
The opening of Disney’s US$5.5 billion (190 billion baht) Shanghai resort last year has earned the company goodwill in the world’s No.2 movie market. The film, which makes its theatrical opening in the US and China on May 26, secured a rare public holiday release window in China. The Dragon Boat Festival runs from May 28 to May 30 and is typically reserved for domestic film openings, as are other holidays.
Pirates could pull in $226 million in China, according to UBS analysts Zhijing Liu and Corrine Hu. That exceeds the $212 million prediction for North America by BoxOfficePro. com and would add the newest Pirates film to a short yet growing list of Hollywood films that count China as their top market. The film opens over the Memorial Day weekend in the US, with analysts at BoxOfficePro forecasting domestic ticket revenue of $84 million from Friday to Monday.
The premiere, featuring a red-carpet lineup of the main cast, including Depp, Javier Bardem, Geoffrey Rush and Orlando Bloom, is taking place as the Disney Shanghai Resort welcomes the 10 millionth guest since its June opening.
“As the resort has become a true national destination in China, attendance is outpacing our most optimistic projections and the park’s performance is exceeding our expectations,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said on Tuesday on an earnings call.
The Shanghai resort has also been a frequent stop for celebrities promoting Disney films. Emma Watson and Dan Stevens were flown over for the China release of Beauty And The Beast earlier this year.
Treasure Cove, the first pirate-themed land at a Disney park, was created especially for the Shanghai resort and has been among the top attractions there. The new resort was “modestly profitable” in the past quarter, and is expected to break even for the fiscal year, CFO Christine McCarthy said on the call.
The main question over the new Pirates is whether younger audiences will embrace the film, according to UOB Kayhian Investment Co analyst Mark Chen.
“The audience that adored the last Pirates six years ago has grown old and it remains to be seen whether the main audience today, over half of them in their 20s, will share the same affection for the franchise,” said Chen, who predicts the movie will bag 1.16 billion yuan (5.8 billion baht) in ticket sales in China.
To further prop up local interest, Disney hosted a binge-screening of the previous four Pirates movies in the non-competition sector of the Beijing International Film Festival last month. Only the third and fourth movies had theatrical releases in China.
Dead Men Tell No Tales cost $240 million to make, according to a person familiar with the matter. The movie follows the conflict between Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow and ghost pirates led by Bardem’s Captain Salazar who are determined to kill every pirate at sea.
Analysts are predicting a strong recovery for China’s film market this year, based on the pipeline of films coming out of Hollywood. Box-office revenue surged 49% in April from a year ago, the biggest monthly gain since February 2016, thanks to The Fate Of The Furious, which claimed over half of the monthly ticket sales.
The previous installment, Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, pulled in 464 million yuan in China, the third-highest grossing title of the year in the market, trailing Transformers and Kung Fu Panda.