The latest film in the blockbuster Star Wars series has had a rather weak debut in China.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi earned just RMB183 million (USD28 million) and a second place ranking in its mediocre opening weekend, according to figures from China's Ent Group. Cumulatively, it's earned RMB254 million (USD39 million) since its January 5 release.
Chinese rom-com The Ex-File: The Return of the Exes was considerably more popular, easily topping Last Jedi's debut with its RMB565 million (USD88 million) second weekend earnings.
To add insult to injury, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle has already edged past The Last Jedi to earn a total of RMB290 million in China since its January 12 debut.
The Rock can't believe it either.
The eighth film in the Star Wars franchise also fared poorer in its opening weekend than its predecessors, with 2016's Rogue One and 2015's The Force Awakens earning USD30 million and USD52 million in their Middle Kingdom debuts respectively.
The Rian Johnson-directed sequel, the longest Star Wars film to date with a running time of 152 minutes, has received fairly 'meh' reviews from Chinese viewers. On Douban — a popular Chinese social networking platform for films, music and books — it currently has an aggregate score of 7.2 (out of 10) from over 56,000 reviews, a majority of users giving it three or four stars out of five.
The Last Jedi's box office flop has been attributed to poor reviews from viewers (both locally and internationally) and low awareness of the franchise in China.
Promoting the nostalgic aspect of the series to Chinese moviegoers has always been a challenge for Disney. The original trilogy films were not widely seen during their initial releases in the late 70s and early 80s, when China was emerging from the Cultural Revolution, and it wasn't until recently that the original films were screened in the Mainland for the very first time.
[Image via IMDB]
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