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E-mail China.org.cn, February 17, 2024
After February's Spring Festival season, Hollywood blockbusters will flock to China in March in an attempt to woo audiences.
The first and second parts of "Dune" will hit screens in China in early March. [Image courtesy of Legendary Entertainment]
Just after "Argylle," a new spy action comedy film from Matthew Vaughn, is about to kick off a post-Spring Festival film period on Feb. 23, the sci-fi epic "Dune," which grossed 253 million yuan in China back in 2021, will be re-released on March 1. According to Legendary East, the China subsidiary of Legendary Entertainment, "Dune" will be on screens for a limited time as a warm-up move for Denis Villeneuve's "Dune: Part Two," which is set for release on March 8.
In North America, Warner Bros. Pictures will re-release Christopher Nolan's 2020 sci-fi film "Tenet" and a teaser starting on Feb. 23 ahead of "Dune: Part Two" to showcase IMAX's visually stunning experience. Meanwhile, in China, Universal Pictures will re-release Nolan's critically acclaimed biopic "Oppenheimer" on March 1, hoping to capitalize on its success during award season and attract moviegoers once again. "Oppenheimer" has already won four Golden Globes and received 13 Oscar nominations, grossing $955 million worldwide, including 450 million yuan in China.
On March 1, Sony Pictures Entertainment's "Madame Web," directed by SJ Clarkson, a standalone origin story in the studio's array of "Spider-Man"-based Marvel characters, will also join the race in China.
Later, on March 23, DreamWorks Animation's "Kung Fu Panda 4," a new installment of the popular animated franchise that even has a themed land in the Universal Beijing Resort, will hit Chinese screens, as announced by Universal Pictures on Jan. 19.
On March 29, the sci-fi monster movie "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire," produced by Warner Bros. and Legendary, will make its debut in the country, following the success of its action-packed predecessors. On the same day, the Oscar-nominated film "Anatomy of a Fall" will also be released. The highly acclaimed film has received five Oscar nominations and has already won 204 awards globally, including the prestigious Palme d'Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival last year.
Posters for the various Hollywood releases due to be released in China in March. [Images provided to China.org.cn]
The COVID-19 pandemic, an evolving film landscape, and changing audience interests have led to a stronger inclination toward domestic productions and a waning interest in Hollywood films in China. As a result, there has been a decline in the box office numbers for foreign films in the Chinese market over the previous few years. Even once-popular franchises struggled to gain traction in the Chinese market last year, with no Hollywood blockbusters making it to China's top 10 box office chart.
This is a significant contrast to 2012 when seven out of the 10 highest-grossing movies were U.S.-made. On Jan. 23, The New York Times published an article titled "Why China has lost interest in Hollywood movies," highlighting this trend. The upcoming releases in March will serve as a test to see if these films can recapture the attention of Chinese audiences this year.
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