China Box Office Thread | Oppenheimer-August 30

[BoilingHotCoffee]

anyone know how much effort Disney put into marketing TLJ this time around

 

I remember for TFA they had Stormtroopers take over the great wall and had local pop star Lu Han release a star wars related song.

[Valonqar]

3 minutes ago, BoilingHotCoffee said:

anyone know how much effort Disney put into marketing TLJ this time around

 

I remember for TFA they had Stormtroopers take over the great wall and had local pop star Lu Han release a star wars related song.

I don't recall anything so extravagant this time around. They likely realized China was lost and concentrated all their efforts on Japan where it does well traditionally. They did parade KMT and Veronica Ngo around Vietnam cause the actresses are of Vietnamese descend. 

[Brainbug]

I think its safe to say that SW just isnt for the Chinese at the moment. Maybe the films (especially the older ones) can get a higher level of success in later years, but right now, they dont care one bit about the franchise.

[Blaze Heatnix]

On reddit, someone said that every time a character appeared, "little cards with the person's bio would appear on the side of the screen in both Chinese and English".

 

Is that true?

[Olive]

7 minutes ago, Blaze Heatnix said:

On reddit, someone said that every time a character appeared, "little cards with the person's bio would appear on the side of the screen in both Chinese and English".

 

Is that true?

Yes, they introduce  Luky , Leia, Kylo , Yoda and every other major character with a line or two

 

[Olive]

44 minutes ago, BoilingHotCoffee said:

anyone know how much effort Disney put into marketing TLJ this time around

 

I remember for TFA they had Stormtroopers take over the great wall and had local pop star Lu Han release a star wars related song.

TLJ was way less promoted than TFA, Disney didn't expect too much for it either.

[TigerPaw]

52 minutes ago, BoilingHotCoffee said:

anyone know how much effort Disney put into marketing TLJ this time around

 

I remember for TFA they had Stormtroopers take over the great wall and had local pop star Lu Han release a star wars related song.

 

47 minutes ago, Valonqar said:

I don't recall anything so extravagant this time around. They likely realized China was lost and concentrated all their efforts on Japan where it does well traditionally. They did parade KMT and Veronica Ngo around Vietnam cause the actresses are of Vietnamese descend. 

Not true. i am pretty sure Disney's marketing expense for TLJ in China is much more than Rogue One, and definitely less than TFA. But I don't thinking marketing is an issue here.

TLJ has Multiple Posters in almost every cinema in the country, and Disney also attached TLJ trailer before almost all the movies in December... including Youth which earned big bucks, and even Ex-files. 

 

Furthermore, Variety says it best:

Disney, which boasts its Shanghai theme park and a muscular consumer products business in China, is in prime position to do so. “The Last Jedi’s” marketing campaign attached trailers to all of the major local blockbusters during the blackout period. An exclusive collaboration with Wanda, China’s leading cinema chain, promoted the “Star Wars Art Zone” in 110 multiplexes nationwide. A traveling event visited eight malls in the top seven box office cities.

Before Christmas, stars Daisy Ridley and Mark Hamill, director Rian Johnson and producer Ram Bergman went to Shanghai to promote the movie ahead of a red-carpet event and China premiere at Shanghai Disney Resort on Dec. 20. Ridley used that visit to shoot cover photos for an issue of women’s magazine Grazia China, which is now out in time for the movie’s opening weekend.

Other marketing tie-ins were with Pepsi, Samsung and Renault, while digital partnerships were struck with Alibaba-owned streaming platform Youku, which launched a “Star Wars” zone on New Year’s Day; with Alibaba’s Taobao e-commerce and ticketing platform; and with Pi Tu, a leading camera-filter app.

 

So I don't think marketing efforts/costs can be used as excuses here. You will see Jumanji beat it very soon, despite less marketing. Coco and Dangal didn't really have much marketing too. 

 

By the way, Rogue One was the SW film that didn't get marketed much in China. Maybe Disney was complacent about having Donnie Yen and Jiang Wen in the film, and from my understand, the premiere date and venue for Rogue One were not exactly great, and the Chinese actors were pretty upset.

Edited January 5, 2018 by TigerPaw

[Valonqar]

@TigerPaw Thanks for your feedback. I agree that marketing isn't the issue. The movies simply don't connect with this audience and marketing can't do much about it. 

[Gavin Feng]

38 minutes ago, Blaze Heatnix said:

On reddit, someone said that every time a character appeared, "little cards with the person's bio would appear on the side of the screen in both Chinese and English".

 

Is that true?

yes. Friend in Disney China said that was made for Chinese audience

[Rebeccas]

So this is for sure coming in under AoU WW now right 

[meriodejaneiro]

1 hour ago, Brainbug said:

I think its safe to say that SW just isnt for the Chinese at the moment. Maybe the films (especially the older ones) can get a higher level of success in later years, but right now, they dont care one bit about the franchise.

 

10 minutes ago, Valonqar said:

@TigerPaw Thanks for your feedback. I agree that marketing isn't the issue. The movies simply don't connect with this audience and marketing can't do much about it. 

I hope Disney tries to connect with general asian audience through the New Trilogy by Rian Johnson, if it's really gonna be 100% unconnected to the Skywalker saga (Ep1-9 + RO + Solo). I'm sure if they cast Dwayne Johnson to be part on that trilogy (not saying as main character, but as a companion ala Han Solo), that could make more money than TFA for sure. And forget about lightsabers fights, unless they make them real martial-art-like. 

[meriodejaneiro]

5 minutes ago, Gavin Feng said:

yes. Friend in Disney China said that was made for Chinese audience

but they stopped the movie for people to read the info? or you had to chose whether read the info or listen to the movie for some seconds? 

what a big piece of sh*t. They could have introduced the characters via tv commercials or with stickers/trading cards in the industrial pastries for kids some months prior to release.  

[Brainbug]

2 minutes ago, meriodejaneiro said:

 

I hope Disney tries to connect with general asian audience through the New Trilogy by Rian Johnson, if it's really gonna be 100% unconnected to the Skywalker saga (Ep1-9 + RO + Solo). I'm sure if they cast Dwayne Johnson to be part on that trilogy (not saying as main character, but as a companion ala Han Solo), that could make more money than TFA for sure. And forget about lightsabers fights, unless they make them real martial-art-like. 

 

Do you really want to alienate the old (and so much bigger) fanbases in the US and Europe just for the sake of appealing more to Asia? Lightsaber fights are essential for a SW movie, they make the "sword-fight" scenes so much more special. And casting Dwayne Johnson just for the sake of making more money in Asia?

 

Nope. Maybe you get more viewers in Asia, but youd get less in the older markets. Not a good trade.

[Olive]

Friday numbers  est
The Ex-File 3 - 148M/884.5M  +28.6% 

The Last Jedi - 62.4M/66.1M ( RO OD 68.3M without fees, EP7 196M on Saturday OD)
Youth - 13.8M/1316M  -3.5%
Hanson and the Beast  -5.95M/247M  -40%
Goldbuster - 4.66M/340.3M  -45%
Namiya General Store - 2.9M/207M -39%
Coco - 1.7m/1180.7m  +16%(beat POTC5)

Without midnights, TLJ OD 68% lower than TFA(Saturday), 8.6% lower than RO(no service fees)

[James]

4 hours ago, POTUS said:

That might be optimistic.

If it is a $25m OW. Itll make $6m during the week, $31m total   With 4 releases next week, 2 strong holdovers and a 7.8 rating it could drop 90-95%. Making just $3m more. 

O/U club for $35m anyone?.

Ill go under.

 

Coco will drop just 33% WoW today. 

It will reach 1200m/$182m by Thursday. 

1225-1240m total  $186-188m

If the total ends up under the RO opening weekend you have to wonder if Solo will even make 15m. 

[Rebeccas]

GoT is mad popular in China (even though people have to pirate it lol) and it's not like that show has amazing sword choreo. But I guess dragons>>>> spaceships.

[Gavin Feng]

7 minutes ago, meriodejaneiro said:

but they stopped the movie for people to read the info? or you had to chose whether read the info or listen to the movie for some seconds? 

what a big piece of sh*t. They could have introduced the characters via tv commercials or with stickers/trading cards in the industrial pastries for kids some months prior to release.  

read or listen. HLY movies are accustomed to marketing after they get the release date.

[meriodejaneiro]

14 minutes ago, Brainbug said:

 

Do you really want to alienate the old (and so much bigger) fanbases in the US and Europe just for the sake of appealing more to Asia? Lightsaber fights are essential for a SW movie, they make the "sword-fight" scenes so much more special. And casting Dwayne Johnson just for the sake of making more money in Asia?

 

Nope. Maybe you get more viewers in Asia, but youd get less in the older markets. Not a good trade.

If the movie's plot is good I don't see why The Rock's presence in it will diminish traditional SW audience (USA Canada, AUS/NZ, UK EU Japan) from any other SW movie. 

[FantasticBeasts]

At this point they better not release Solo in China. The flop will be unreal.

[meriodejaneiro]

3 minutes ago, FantasticBeasts said:

At this point they better not release Solo in China. The flop will be unreal.

Disney will end up owing money to chinese theaters LOL.