‘Tenet’ could be Hollywood’s first Chinese hit film since the epidemic began

U.S. The launch of the time-travel spy thriller in movie theaters this week will be closely watched as a barometer of industry health. But it may have a better chance of creating a crowd in China – the movie market, which could soon recognize the United States as the largest in the world.

China – where “Tenet” premiered on Friday – is already making its debut in the United States. The country’s cinemas reopened in July, a month before the United States. (“Tenet” is produced by Warner Bros., which, like CNN, owns WarrenMedia.)

China’s war epic “The I So So So.” Movie theaters across the country have had little success since reopening. The film has grossed last 277 million in China since its release last month, making it the third best-performing movie of the year, according to Box Office Fish Mojo. The biggest film of the year, “Bad Boys for Life,” hit most movie markets in January, before a coronavirus outbreak that grossed more than $ 424 million.

Paul Dergarabedin, a senior media analyst at ComScar, said the reception of films such as “The I So So” highlighted the importance of “China’s movie market and its global office as a powerhouse.”

So far, Chinese film fanatics seem more eager to make a comeback: According to Chinese ticketing platform Moyan, the summer movie season has cost more than 500 500 million in ticket sales. By the end of last month, about 10,000 movie theaters had resumed business.

“Daily office fees continue to rise,” Mauin said in a statement last month. “This kind of quick recovery on office x office fees not only demonstrates the power of customer demand for off-line movie watching, but also builds confidence in movie industry participants.”

This is good news for a market that was wiped out by the coronavirus at the worst time for the movie industry. In January, the epidemic forced a nationwide shutdown during the Lunar New Year, China’s biggest holiday – a time when people usually go to movie theaters.

Ying Lou, a two-month Beijing-based independent filmmaker, said the six-month shutdown was devastating. She was worried that poor figures for office fees could lead to less investment in future movie projects. “It’s really a very worrying trend, not just for this year.”

“Tenet” could further increase sales. Ticket sales for the movie in China topped 30 million yuan ($ 4.3 million) on Friday. Most Hollywood releases have also been taking place since the epidemic began after showing “Inception” and “Interstellar” in some theaters, two other Nolan films sinking into the trend of time and space.

Nolan Movies “traditionally had a lot of draws [the] The Chinese audience, ”Lu said. “I think people will go to theaters. “

More than 60 people lined up to show a film in the morning at the Polly International Cinema near Tiananmen Square in Beijing on Friday, where individual screenings were allowed to be conducted at half capacity and spectators were required to wear the film’s mask. Exhibitions were later sold.

“Everyone feels more comfortable, because the epidemic in Beijing is basically over, although people still wear masks,” Jonas Liang, 28, told CNN Business. “Things, including movie watching, have become mostly normal.”

Success is relative.

Nevertheless, Gavar Street says China has reached the pay-per-view targets created to indicate post-covid “full box office recovery.” The company looked at how many cinemas are open in a given market and how much money the country’s office x office charges during a given day or week.

“Mulan has always been seen as a film with immense global potential at the box office, especially in China,” said Dargarabadian.

– Shanshan Wang contributed to this report.