Hollywood blockbusters flock to Chinese market

Warner Bros. likely could well take the seasonal honors, as it has two more films to open around the period: one is the animated feature Smallfoot opening on Oct 19 and the other is the highly-anticipated DC Comics blockbuster Aquaman, which will ride the hot wave from Dec 7, two weeks ahead of its U.S. release date. The Hollywood craze could blaze until the New Year season begins.

It has been a long absence for foreign blockbusters. The box office total was 2.17 billion yuan ($313.43 million) for the seven-day National Day holiday season that started on Oct 1, a once deemed golden film season in China; however, cinema attendances dropped 23 percent year-on-year. This was partially due to some much-anticipated films failing to live up to their expectations, such as Hello, Mrs. Money.

The market was also hit by the tax authorities, as well as other bad news such as the shutdown of a batch of film production companies and the retreat of venture capital, worrying many theater managers. The collective arrival of Hollywood heavyweights now rings like jingle bells in Chinese film circles.