‘Deadpool & Wolverine,’ a global smash, finishes No. 2 in China
Walt Disney Co.’s new film, Deadpool & Wolverine, opened at No. 1 in countries across the globe this past weekend, but not in China.
The film’s $24 million haul there put it in second place behind Successor, a Chinese-language comedy that grossed $51.3 million in its second weekend, according to the research firm Artisan Gateway.
The opening weekend in China also put Deadpool & Wolverine behind Godzilla x Kong, which debuted there in March to $44.6 million. Its initial box office is way behind Hollywood’s high-water mark, Avengers: Endgame, which raked in $331 million in its 2019 China debut. The China numbers were strong enough to rank as the No. 2 market for the film behind the US and Canada.
The Deadpool & Wolverine results underscore the challenges Hollywood studios still face in the market, which was once a goldmine for US releases. Tensions between the two countries over trade and other issues have prompted China to favor its own films in theaters. More pictures catering to local tastes are now made in the country.
“The market’s never gonna be what it used to be for Hollywood ever,” said Chris Fenton, a producer and author of Feeding the Dragon, a book about the Chinese market. “We taught them how to make world class movies that are completely relevant to their own market.”
Deadpool & Wolverine had challenges of its own. The first movie in the series, 2016’s Deadpool, wasn’t released in China. Deadpool 2 debuted in mainland China only after the studio turned the F-bomb laden picture into a PG-13 film Deadpool 2: I Love My Family. The recut version was first released in the US as Once Upon a Deadpool.
Disney+, the streaming service that features all of the company’s Marvel films and TV shows, isn’t available in China and that makes it hard for local moviegoers to keep up with the characters, said Nuozhou Chen, a 21-year-old college student from Hangzhou.
Many Chinese fans likely went to see the new film due to the Wolverine character, played by Hugh Jackman, who started in earlier X-Men films released in the country, said 27-year-old Lian Zhao, who lives in Bengbu city in China’s eastern Anhui province.
“He’s been with us for so long,” Zhao said.
The post-pandemic return of Hollywood stars to the country for promotional tours is helping Disney reach out to audiences that once played a big role for the Marvel Studio’s success in foreign markets. The cast, including co-star Ryan Reynolds, and the director of Deadpool and Wolverine kicked off a global tour in Shanghai in early July, meeting fans and taking selfies with them.
Others are continuing to invest in the Chinese market. Imax Corp. recently signed an agreement with Wanda Film Holding Co. to upgrade and add more screens in its second-biggest market. While Hollywood films are expected to take some of the slots at the Imax screens, the number of Chinese films that are being shot on Imax cameras is also set to rise.
In 2023, more than 80% of the market share in China was taken by domestically produced movies that had bigger scale and better quality than in years past, according to CT Yip, chief executive officer at Hong Kong-based film production and distribution company Media Asia Group. More pictures from Hollywood and China should continue to lift the market.
“We’re very optimistic in terms of the twin engines of the growth,” he said in a Bloomberg Television interview.