Sony is widely praised Spider-Man: About the Spider-Verse opened this weekend to $17.2 million in China – a respectable start but a fraction of its stormy opening of $120.5 million in North America.
As in the US, the film has been very well received by Chinese critics and moviegoers alike. It currently scores a 9.4 on ticketing apps Maoyan and Tao Piao Piao, and an 8.8 on fan site Douban – which is significantly better than any other Hollywood film currently being released in the country. But Maoyan expects it to make about $35 million in total in the country, a big step back Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse‘s $62.8 million loot in 2019.
Analysts have wrestled with how much of the recent setbacks in China’s Hollywood studios’ theatrical earnings can be attributed to weak product versus changes in market demand. But the sliding performance between the two Spiderverse movies — both undeniably strong movies — seems to indicate that the Chinese audience’s hunger for American content has indeed diminished.
In North America, the sequel opened to $120.5 million, compared to $35.6 million for the first film in 2018.
In second place, Universal Pictures’ Fast X earned $7.6 million. After three weekends, the film has grossed $124.1 million, the most of any non-Chinese title this year.
Japanese Studio Ghibli took third place with a re-release of the 1986 anime classic castle in the air. The film made $6 million from Friday to Sunday and has grossed a total of $10.7 million since its June 1 launch.
Fellow anime staple, Doraemon: Nobita’s Sky Utopiawas only one step behind with $4.2 million for the weekend and $10.9 million from its June 1 opening.
from Paramount Transformers: Rise of the Beasts launches Friday in China, followed by Warner Bros.’ The flash on June 16.
