HOLLYWOOD, CA - JUNE 06: Actress Jamie Lee Curtis interacts with fans during the premiere of Universal Pictures' "Warcraft" at TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX on June 6, 2016, in Hollywood, California. (Photo : Getty Images)
China’s emerging influence in the movie industry is cemented by the massive success of Universal Pictures' “Warcraft” in the country, something many insiders believe would pave the way for Chinese film culture.
According to Market Watch, the movie adaptation of the popular video game with the same name earned three times in China more than it did in North America since it premiered on June 10.
This singular success means that the Middle Kingdom's movie market is becoming the target audience of Hollywood all along.
This also means that the country's film culture would be able to expand, Inverse cited Chinese film superstar Jackie Chan as saying.
"Warcraft's" Success in China
According to the Market Watch, "Warcraft" only earned a disappointing $24.2 million in the United States and had even gathered a dismal 27 percent approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes.
In fact, Peter Travers of the band Rolling Stones even described the movie experience like this: "You leave 'Warcraft' with two words ringing in your ear: Game over."
Fortunately, China felt differently about the movie, which earned as much as $156.8 million between June 8 and June 12, and a total of $219.7 as of Monday, June 27.
This brought "Warcraft's" global earnings to $412.6 million, which means more than half of the film's profits came from the Middle Kingdom.
According to comScore analyst Paul Dergarabedian, China became Universal's saving grace because without the Chinese audience, the film would have been considered a flop.
"Without China, 'Warcraft' would be swimming in the red. Nobody is crying about 'Warcraft' when they look at the global revenue," he said.
Expanding Film Culture
Chinese actor Jackie Chan was one of the happiest people when "Warcraft" succeeded in his homeland because it means the country already has a bigger influence in the industry.
According to him, "Warcraft" was able to earn "600 million RMB (or about $91 million) in two days this has scared the Americans."
Inverse explained that Chan is referencing the obvious: that China is a growing power in the movie sector.
"If [Chinese studios] make a film that earns [$1.5 billion], then people from all over the world who study film will learn Chinese instead of us learning English," Chan said.
Analysts forecast the Chinese movie market to record a 30-percent growth every year, which means a $1.5 billion domestic gross profit can be earned by a single movie.
Disney, DreamWorks, and other Western-owned film companies have already taken advantage of this fact and had not been disappointed so far.
