The Mermaid - How far can it go in NA?

[AniNate]

The Chinese breakout hit earned a 29000 PTA this weekend off an extremely limited and rushed marketing campaign. Especially impressive given another Chinese hit in Monster Hunt absolutely bombed at the American box office last month and only lasted one week in theaters.

Could this be a rare foreign film to hit triple digits at the domestic box office? I imagine Sony is planning a much stronger push now that they're realizing its potential.

[DeeCee]

I thought it didn't even have a marketing campaign.

[Jake Gittes]

I'd think a decent expansion could get it to $10m or so. Kung Fu Hustle made $17m a decade ago. 

[Mockingjay Raphael]

The only thing I know is that this Mermaid is going to make a lot more WW than the Mermaid of Chloe Moretz Grace 

[Jessie]

fuck this movie, it looks horrendous.

[lilmac]

Answer - not far at all.

[Avatree]

Can't imagine it getting more than about $20M with a large expansion and proper push which would be very optimistic. Not quite sure what is leading you to think that 100M is in play. The audience simply does not exist. With exceptions, the vast majority of American filmgoers do not want to watch something in a foreign language, and foreign-language movies play better with arthouse audiences. But The Mermaid is a big crowdpleasing blockbuster, so I'm not sure that it will appeal to the few people that are happy to watch foreign films.

Which leaves you with Chinese-Americans (or Chinese people living in America), which is not a particularly big market.

[SchumacherFTW]

Still kinda regret not going to see this last weekend, would only have been a 20 mile drive to see it. Alas, I could not be arsed to drive at all last weekend. 

[Avatree]

Date (click to view chart)	Rank	Weekend Gross	% Change	Theaters	Change / Avg.		Gross-to-Date	Week #
Feb 19–21	17	$985,052	-	35	-	$28,144	$985,052	1
Feb 26–28	22	$675,000 (Estimate)	-31.5%	77	+42	$8,766	$2,021,253 (Estimate)	2

 

 

That answers that.

[RichWS]

This was, uh, something. A few chuckles to be had. The girl who played the titular Mermaid is a terrible actress. The film constantly forces her into very broad comedy moments and she's not adept. She must have started as a model.