Tag Archives: Douban

Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” to Open in China This May

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Alfonso Cuaron’s masterpiece is heading to the Middle Kingdom…

The 57-year-old Mexican filmmaker’s Oscar-winning Roma has been confirmed for a May 10 release in China via Estars. 

Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma

The film is going out on the Nationwide Alliance of Arthouse Cinemas network, which includes approximately 3,897 screens. 

It’s not yet clear how many screens Romawill access, but the Middle Kingdom release could effectively be the widest play the film will have had theatrically.

Romahits Chinese cinemas the same day as Warner Bros.’ Detective Pikachuand amid the ongoing run of Avengers: Endgame.

Cuaron’s highly personal black-and-white love letter to the women who raised him currently has an 8.1 on Chinese reviews aggregator Douban. 

Cuaron has history with wide audiences in the market where Gravitygrossed $71M back in 2013.

Produced by Esperanto Fillmoj and Participant Media, Romawon Oscars for Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Foreign Language Film. It was released in the rest of the world by Netflix, becoming available on the platform on December 14 after a theatrical release that began on November 21 in the U.S and Mexico, as well as expanding to other cinemas in over 40 countries.

It is still playing theatrically in nine countries including Japan and Italy.

Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water” Opens Strong in China

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Guillermo del Toro’s latest film is shaping up to be a hit in China…

The 53-year-old Mexican filmmaker’s Best Picture Oscar winner, The Shape Of Water, opened in fairy tale fashion in China over the weekend, grossing $10.35M (RMB 65.7M) on 17,000 screens.

The Shape of Water

The score tops all comps including Fox Searchlight stablemate Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri which bowed to $2.4M (RMB 15.2M) a few weeks back. It also helps push the awards-season darling across the $100M mark at the international box office.

Few recent Best Picture winners have even been released in China, so comps there are difficult to come by. However, Shape topped other films that have figured heavily in recent seasons including The Darkest Hour which opened to $2.2M (RMB 14.1M) and La La Land, which tapped out a $9.35M (RMB 59.3M) debut last year before twirling to a $36M final. The Middle Kingdom result is doubly impressive for a film that leans towards the art house.

The Chinese opening is also Shape‘s best Day One performance ($3M+) and its best launch weekend worldwide. Its PROC share this frame was 11.1% for the No. 4 position behind Tomb Raider, Black Panther and Operation Red Sea.

Online sentiment has been strong; the Sally Hawkins-starrer has a 7.3 score on reviews site Douban. Although del Toro was unable to visit China to promote the movie, he and Searchlight engaged with audiences there.

Post winning his Oscars, del Toro did a round of interviews for the Chinese press and spoke to a number of online influencers and ticketing apps. He also did greetings for some of those platforms and others.

Shape will continue to see play this week, coincidentally before the release this Friday of the del Toro produced Pacific Rim: Uprising.