“I am inevitable.” A new movie has just beaten the box office record of ‘Avengers: Endgame’ for the biggest opening weekend of all time.
China has recently reopened their cinemas as normality has been slowly returning to the country. Local moviegoers have been anticipating the release of the next installment of director Chen Sicheng’s hit series, ‘Detective Chinatown 3’. While audiences have probably missed the thrill of seeing a movie on opening day, they broke an incredible box office record — dethroning the 2019 Marvel blockbuster.
‘Detective Chinatown 3’ drew in $397 million in just one weekend in China. That is the biggest opening weekend in a single territory ever, beating the box office record of $357 million by ‘Endgame’ in the US. The second highest grossing film in the Chinese box office is ‘Hi, Mom‘, which earned $160 million on the same weekend.
As cinemas begin to gradually reopen all around the world, this news marks as an incredible feat for the movie industry but it also comes with a number of concerns.
When the pandemic hit, Hollywood saw the biggest drop in its revenue in history. The industry had to hold off most of its major players or transition to streaming platforms. While the latter provided an alternative viewing experience for cinephiles worldwide, it still didn’t rake in as much money compared to theatrical releases.
To put things into perspective, in just three days, the Chinese blockbuster made over $100 million more than Christopher Nolan’s ‘Tenet’. It was also nearly triple the global sales of ‘Wonder Woman 1984’. The success of ‘Detective Chinatown 3’ appears to be a promising number as we hope to return back to normal in a few years.
While the Chinese box office thrives, it’s difficult to say whether the rest of the world is ready to reopen its cinemas. They may have been able to control the virus (where it originated from), but that’s not the case for other countries. China continues to implement strict safety protocols as anxieties over COVID-19 remain. Theaters enforce online-only ticket sales, socially-distanced seating, and limited capacity.
As for the Philippines and larger nations like the US, it seems like it’ll be awhile until we can get there. Although there has been news that the government is considering to reopen cinemas in GCQ areas, everyone’s still on edge given the current number of active cases in the country.
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