Ryan Gosling as Ken and Margot Robbie as Barbie in Barbie
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment
Barbie’s phenomenal theatrical run in the US has not been matched in China – far from it.
The Greta Gerwig-directed Warner Bros. blockbuster started in China with just $8 million and finished the weekend in fifth place behind a string of local Chinese hits. In North America, the film achieved a record price of 155 million US dollars for the first time.
The soft start for Barbie continues the trend of Hollywood films earning much less in China than they used to. Tom Cruise’s ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’ lost its opener in China the previous weekend with a third-place finish behind two Chinese holdouts.
Word of mouth for Barbie was strong despite the tepid sales. His social scores are 9.4 for Maoyan, 9.3 for Taopiaopiao, and 8.6 for Douban. On Monday, the good mood seemed to give Barbie a slight boost, and the sales ranking climbed to third place that day.
However, over the weekend, Barbie faced stiff local competition. The historical fantasy epic Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms, the opening film in the long-awaited Fengshen trilogy, hit theaters Thursday and topped the charts Friday through Sunday, grossing $42.6 million. Directed by Wuershan (Painted Skin) and executive producer Bill Kong (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Creation of Gods is one of the more visually compelling Chinese films of recent times, worthy of comparisons to The Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. It grossed $53.7 million including Thursday, which isn’t a particularly explosive opening given the industry’s longstanding anticipation of the franchise.
Light Chaser Animation’s “Chang An” grossed $40.6 million in its third release weekend for a grand total of $168 million, making it one of the top-grossing China original animated films of all time. Third place went to Wonder Family from hit comedy group Mahua FunAge (Moon Man, Goodbye Mr. Loser). In its first three days, it made a debut of $31.3 million. And Wang Baoqiang’s latest hit “Never Say Never” slipped to fourth place in the third weekend, grossing $20.6 million for a strong total of $261 million.