In May, Chinese action star Jackie Chan shared his near-death experience while shooting the movie “Skiptrace” which opened on July 21, Thursday, in China. The risk appeared to have been compensated with the earnings of the movie which is headed to be another blockbuster.
As expected, the movie skipped over its competitors by leaping to a $60-million four-day box-office haul, almost matching “The Legend of Tarzan” which earned $44.7 million for the same four days exhibition, but globally. “Tarzan’s” China box-office earned $12 million from Friday through Sunday, but over six days earned $22.5 million.
Variety reported that on its first day, “Skiptrace” earned $14.7 million, while for the next three days, it earned another $44 million, data from Ent Group said.
The Renny Harlin movie reconfirmed the enduring star power of Jackie Chan who is also the producer of “Skiptrace.”
After “Tarzan,” the movie which opened on Friday with the third-highest box-office receipt was “Doraemon: Nobita and the Birth of Japan,” a Japanese animation, earning $8.14 million for three days. In fourth and fifth places are comedy “One Night Only” with $3.89 million box office receipts in three days and “Big Fish and Begonia,” a Chinese cartoon on its third week of exhibition, earning $3.4 million for the same three-day period and a 17-day total of $79.7 million, respectively.
China Film Insider reported that while Jackie Chan has a strong drawing power at the tills, because of the reported $60 million budget to produce “Skiptrace,” the movie is still considered a risky venture for Beijing Talent International, the distribution company. The company signed a minimum box office guarantee, to minimize its exposure, of $153 million with several powerful movie industry stakeholders such as Alibaba, Shanghai Hehe Films and Tianjin Lianrui Pictures which provided marketing costs of $10.5 million and expertise.
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