2020 China Movie Releases
Overall, China’s fourth Friday back to the movies is the biggest yet, crossing the RMB 60M mark to hit about $9.2M. This was aided by capacity restrictions being shifted from 30% to 50% in some areas. There are now over 8,000 locations reopened in China.
2020 Release Dates for China
•31 July: Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
Jojo Rabbit (2019)
The Enigma of Arrival(2018)
•2 August: Interstellar (2014)
Dolittle (2020)
•7 August: Ford v Ferrari (2019)
1917 (2019)
•14 August: Bad Boys for Life (2020)
Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone 4K 3D reissue
•18 August: Guai Wu Xian Sheng (2020)
•19 August: Onward (2020)
•21 August: Trolls World Tour (2020)
The Eight Hundred (2020)
•25 August: Little Women (2019)
Love You Forever (2019)
Wild Grass (2020)
Dearest Anita (2019)
•28 August: The Current War: Director's Cut (2017)
A Long Goodbye (2019)
To Live to Sing (2019)
•4 September: Tenet (2020)
•11 September: Malibu Road (2020)
•18 September: The King's Man (2020)
•20 September: Taibai Sword (2020)
•1 October: Wo He Wo De Jia Xiang (2020)
Coffee or Tea？(2020)
•6 October: Caretakers (2018)
•6 November: Wish Dragon (2020)
•24 December: Shock Wave 2 (2020)
The Movies
Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone worked some magic in China on Friday with Warner Bros’ 3D reissue conjuring $4.6M. This is by far the biggest single-day gross since cinemas resumed operations, overtaking the opening of WB’s earlier re-release of Chirstopher Nolan’s Interstellar by 66% (though that film bowed on a Sunday).
Meanwhile, the weekend’s top Hollywood release is slated to be not Bad Boys For Life (which isn’t looking to do much better than Ford v Ferrari or Sonic the Hedgehog) but a reissue, for the first time in 3-D, of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. With $977 million in global grosses, a projected $15 million opening (so says China Box Office) and $25 million total could push it over $1 billion worldwide.
Christopher Nolan's latest sci-fi action feature film "Tenet," with a reported budget of more than US $200 million, is set to land in Chinese mainland theatres on September 4th, according to a Weibo post from Warner Bros.
"Inception," a 2010 film by the British director, is slated for an August 28th re-release.
"Little Women," a Sony film whose Chinese mainland release was postponed due to COVID-19, has secured a new release date, expected to hit theatres on August 25th.
It is a new feature film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's classic novel of the same name and is directed by Greta Gerwig, an American actress, screenwriter and film director.
"The Eight Hundred," a Chinese war epic film, is set to hit the big screen on August 21st. It will be the first major Chinese production to hit movie theatres since the COVID-19 outbreak.
Encouraging Signs
After months-long closures to curb the spread of COVID-19, movie theatres were given the green light to reopen from July 20th onward in several parts of China deemed to be low-risk areas, with strict coronavirus containment measures to ensure safety.
The total sales figure for the two weeks starting July 20th was 330 million RMB, a relatively low number compared with last year's annual total of more than 64 billion RMB. However, given the attendance cap in place to contain COVID-19, figures from the first two weeks are encouraging and suggest growing enthusiasm among Chinese moviegoers, according to Ming Zhenjiang, head of the China Film Producers' Association.
Sources: IMDb, Variety, Forbes, Deadline, ChinaFilmInsider
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