Right up until the beginning of the pandemic, Hollywood was making blatant and cynical moves to make serious inroads into the Chinese market, which was on the cusp of overtaking the domestic industry as the world leader. These days, a big budget blockbuster is more likely to sink than swim in the country, but not Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Based on the box office numbers racked up by a slew of American-backed productions in China over the last year and change, the long-term plan to try and capitalize on the burgeoning appetite for effects-heavy epics looked destined to fail, with the Marvel Cinematic Universe finding itself completely shut out for close to three years.
Luckily, then, James Gunn and his band of intergalactic misfits have come along to arrest the slide. While the figures are far from spectacular, Vol. 3 is nonetheless on course to top the Chinese box office this weekend after netting $7.5 million on its opening day to emerge at the front of the pack, which puts it firmly on course to retain the number one position by the end of tomorrow.
By comparison, Vol. 2 scored $48 million in its first three days in local multiplexes six years ago, whereas the threequel will have to settle for less than half of that tally. A win is a win at the end of the day whichever way you want to cut it, and it could be sign that paying customers are slowly warming to the idea of catching the latest MCU releases as soon as possible, something Kevin Feige will be thrilled about after Phase Five’s underwhelming beginning.