TigerPaw

Maoyan estimates for total BO dropped slightly, tonight was not as strong as expected unfortunately. let’s hope tomorrow is better.

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China has “protection periods” for its local movies whereby no Big Hollywood Tentpoles can be released. These periods include Chinese New Year period in Feb, Summer Holidays in June to August, National Day Golden Week in October and also in the December Period. This year the Chinese box office has not fared that well and Chinese Authorities wanted to fix that as they have target for full year box office in the country. So in Mid October, they decided to allow the release of a big Hollywood tentpole in the first week of December (but still not in Mid December because they do not want the film to potentially hurt local releases). The below is an edit/copy and pasted from my own earlier post in the China Subforum: The Chinese authorities then wanted Alita but it was delayed. Between Aquaman and BumbleBee, they chose the former because they felt that it was less threat to local films in Dec. As DC is supposedly way less popular than the Transformers franchise in China. Warner Brothers agreed because it is rare for a Hollywood tentpole to enter into the December period. WB did not want to risk the movie to be released in China in January 2019 (dull month) instead.

The gap will get bigger. Sunday nights are not as strong as Sat nights - tomorrow is a working day.

Minutes away from total gross for 3 days over 600m yuan! And the Weibo will have another milestone picture uploaded!

Couple of reasons: 1) Venom had A LOT of marketing in China. 2) Suicide Squad and Deadpool were not released in China so this is basically the first "anti-hero" character to be released. 3) First hollywood blockbuster to be released since MI:FO in August

1.5 months back when Chinese Authorities was deciding which Big Hollywood Tentpole can enter the Dec period, they wanted Alita but it was delayed. Then, between Aquaman and BumbleBee, they chose the former because they felt that it was less threat to local films in Dec. As DC is supposedly way less popular than the Transformers franchise in China. Little did they know that now Aquaman will break out like that, and will probably earn more than BumbleBee. Anyway - I know every1 here is excited about the numbers. The numbers are important, no doubt. But the reasons behind those numbers are captivating as well. Do take some time to go on Weibo(use a translating app if you need to), just search "DC" or go on Baidu's Boxoffice Tieba - you will be amazed at how many Chinese audiences are showing their ticket stubs and saying that they have now turned from a mere G.A to a DC fan. The WoM and continual audience reactions from what I am seeing is really pretty amazing.

Jan 4th

I don’t think it is measurable. It may have impact on the OW, but I believe the impact is pretty muted over its entire run because of the strong WoM. People who cannot catch it this weekend, will probably watch it during the weekdays or next weekend if the weather gets better. i mean the fortunate thing here is that WoM is extremely good. Now... Imagine a scenario where the weather is as bad; but in this case another movie that has a lot of hype and has a strong OW but this time - a terrible WoM; the impact would be much larger because people who miss it during OW (because of bad weather) will not watch it even when weather gets better because the bad WoM has spread to them.

I am reading Weibo and Tieba, many people are staying home because of the cold weather... I think it definitely has some impact.

Haha. Funny thing is yesterday night I was reading the box office tieba (Online forum on Baidu), and many Chinese audiences were saying Aquaman is so much better than Venom and questions themselves how did they (Chinese) allow Venom to earn so much? And was hoping Aquaman will beat it.

As of 12.30pm, Saturday gross in China is over CNY75m! Speed should increase faster now that is in the afternoon. Just hope the weather will not impact too much.

Yup but not sure about the impact.. Pretty sure it wil not impact the Chinese box office. But in many other parts of Asia (EM especially), people can live with a CAM version.

Not even kidding. I am sending and reporting the links to Warner Bro’s Facebook page but no response yet. Over 100k views online already... and that’s 2 weeks before the movie releases to the rest of the world.

Pirated version from China (with Chinese subtitles) spreading like wildfire on Facebook since last night. That's the drawback from releasing in China first.

That's not good... hope it doesn't have too much impact!

How's the weather looking like for the weekend? Really hope the Weather is good! 万事俱备，只欠东风!

Let’s hope for the best

Does not include.

800m worldwide will be awesome. DC should really focus on making individual superhero movies instead of team-ups. Wonder Woman was excellent, Dark Knight Trilogy was perfect.

Hoping for at least 155m yuan today! DC, you can do it!

Word of mouth exploded??

China have no animation blockbusters? You must be Kidding.

FB is unlucky to meet Venom’a second weekend. Honestly, Venom is average at best, but as China did not show films like sucide squad or deadpool, Venom type of anti-hero is very fresh for them and word of mouth is off the roof!