Chinese Partners Mine Box-Office Gold For Hollywood Movies

How important is the Chinese market to movie studios? According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Chinese movie-goers may make or break a movie, and studios are scrambling to forge deeper ties with China.

The "Warcraft" movie is one such example. The film was produced by Legendary Entertainment, the Hollywood studio acquired by China's Dalian Wanda Group and collected more than $210 million in ticket sales in China. Meanwhile, ticket sales in the United States stand at roughly one-fifth that amount.

As noted by the Wall Street Journal, Hollywood movies can see great success in China with the right partner, helping to counteract disappointing domestic ticket sales.

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Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (USA) LGF's comedy "Now You See Me 2" raked in $43 million in ticket sales in China the first weekend, nearly double the $22.4 million the movie saw in domestic sales in its domestic opening weekend.

The film also happened to be backed by China's Hunan TV & Broadcast Intermediary Co and heavily promoted the film during a satellite-television Lunar New Year extravaganza in February.

Similarly, Dalian Wanda Group was successful in making sure the "Warcraft" film would be released at the opportune time right after national college-entrance exams and during a three-day national holiday.

"Having Chinese partners on board brings the level of support to a Hollywood film that those without cannot compete with," the Wall Street Journal quoted Fu Yalong, research director of EntGroup, a film data company based in Beijing, as saying.