Are Michael Bay's robots about to kick Avatar alien ass?
The latest Transformers movie, Transformers: Age of Extinction, looks set to break Chinese box office records, knocking James Cameron's big blue Na'vi off the top spot.
Director Michael Bay's film was released June 27 in both the US and Chinese markets, therefore minimizing loss of revenue from people picking up the film from pirate DVD vendors in China.
It has had a record number of screenings for a foreign movie in China, with more than half of China's more than 20,000 screens showing the fourth in the Transformers blockbuster franchise.
It also heavily courted the Chinese audience, employing Chinese stars, basing part of the action in cities in China and showing Chinese products such as liquor and milk.
In an unprecedented move, a Chinese reality TV show was even used to choose four people to play roles in the film.
It seems to have paid off - the film has so far earned almost as much in China as in the US, making an estimated $149 million in the US and $134 million in China, the world's biggest and second-biggest movie markets, respectively.
All of which makes Transformers: Age of Extinction on course to beat Avatar as the biggest earner at the box office.
Avatar earned $218 million in China in 2010.
0 User Comments