Made In Hollywood-Chapter 938: Billion RMB in Three Days

Box office revenue is by no means the only standard for judging the quality of a film — that’s beyond dispute. Even Duke, a typical commercial director, cannot deny this fact. However, for film companies, for Duke, and especially for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, box office performance is the only standard of judgment. Particularly in the Chinese market, box office revenue accounts for over ninety percent of Star Wars’ income in this region.

Indeed, Star Wars merchandise has penetrated almost every corner of the world, but the Chinese market remains an absolute exception. Perhaps in some large and medium-sized cities one can spot Star Wars toys and cultural T-shirts, yet the vast majority are counterfeit products.

Duke knew very well that, at this stage, expecting merchandise like BB-8 or Jedi lightsabers — which sell tremendously in North America and other mature movie markets to flood the Chinese market was simply impossible. Although China’s film-related merchandise industry had already achieved a certain scale, for a film like The Force Awakens, its sales could only be described as "better than nothing."

In the plans of Lucasfilm and Duke, the Star Wars: The Force Awakens project did not aim to profit from China’s film merchandise market but rather to cultivate Chinese consumers’ interest in Star Wars and its related products, laying the groundwork for future box office and merchandise sales.

Markets need to be cultivated there’s no such thing as a fully mature market that’s just starting out.

To build this foundation, the first step was to ensure that Chinese audiences would at least go to theaters to watch The Force Awakens. Duke’s choice of Daniel Wu, as well as the series of plans developed by Lucasfilm and Warner Bros., were all extensions of this established strategy.

Therefore, the box office became the sole criterion for testing The Force Awakens’ success in the Chinese market.

The previous Star Wars: The Force Awakens lacked both the publicity buzz generated by a figure like Daniel Wu and a director as influential in China as Duke. Moreover, Walt Disney’s marketing strategy focused too heavily on first-tier cities, directly resulting in strong box office performance in those cities — accounting for nearly seventy percent of the film’s total China revenue but lukewarm or even disastrous results in lower-tier markets, where both ticket sales and audience reputation collapsed.

To avoid repeating this mistake, Duke had long instructed Lucasfilm and Kathleen Kennedy to do extensive groundwork — even going so far as to offer free broadcasting rights for the first six Star Wars films to local TV stations and online streaming platforms.

According to Duke’s expectations, and based on Warner Bros. Greater China’s preliminary surveys, Lucasfilm set The Force Awakens’ Chinese box office target at — 2 billion RMB!

Perhaps Lucasfilm and Warner Bros. had indeed done sufficient preparation; or perhaps Duke’s unparalleled influence among global directors played a role; or maybe the prior month’s releases — The Crossing and Gone With the Bullets — had ushered in a full month of flops, leaving the market starved for a blockbuster. Whatever the case, all that pent-up potential finally exploded.

Thus, on its opening day in China, Star Wars: The Force Awakens gave Duke, Warner Bros., and Lucasfilm a tremendous surprise.

In the mainland Chinese market, The Force Awakens — just as in most other regions of the world — first shattered the midnight screening record with 51 million RMB, and then, during the day, displayed overwhelming momentum, raking in 340 million RMB. Including midnight showings and minor statistical discrepancies, the total opening-day box office reached 410 million RMB, far surpassing the previous record of 230 million RMB set two years earlier by The Avengers.

In truth, the so-called "midnight showings" were not limited strictly to 12:00 a.m. Since the number of late-night moviegoers was enormous, major chains like Wanda Cinemas scheduled screenings as late as 2:45 a.m., all of which sold out completely. Many viewers didn’t leave the theater until after 5 a.m., practically staying up to greet the sunrise.

Once the sun rose, The Force Awakens entered full-blown frenzy mode. Cinemas across the nation were packed to bursting; tickets were nearly impossible to obtain, and anyone wanting good seats had to book several days in advance.

By the end of the day, The Force Awakens had pulled in slightly over 400 million RMB, setting a new all-time record in Chinese film history — and the previous record holder was none other than Duke Rosenberg’s The Avengers.

"The last time, Director Duke Rosenberg’s The Avengers already gave us the most optimistic outlook on the Chinese film market," said one theater chain executive in an interview, offering unreserved praise. "This time, his Star Wars: The Force Awakens has doubled everyone’s imagination of the market’s potential."

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens is minting money by the day!"

On the film’s second day in release, such headlines appeared prominently across nearly all major websites and mainstream media outlets. The astronomical box office success triggered a massive chain reaction.

Currently, China has over 25,000 theater nationwide, with 150,000 screenings daily. Under normal circumstances, a film with a screen share of fifty percent is already considered a "phenomenon-level" release. The Crossing had a first-day screen share of 54.2%, and Jiang Xiaojun’s Gone With the Bullets reached 58% last month — both record highs at the time.

Such treatment was usually reserved for domestic films, but one rule of capital never changes — capital never goes against profit.

Originally, The Force Awakens’ opening-day screen share stood at 51%, but its 400 million RMB debut acted like a shot of adrenaline to both its distributor, China Film Group, and the theater chains nationwide. None of them cared that The Force Awakens was a Hollywood production — they all scrambled to increase the number of screens showing it.

By the film’s second day in China, its screen share had soared to 71%. The enormous Chinese film market had effectively become a one-film domain ruled by The Force Awakens. Even though the remaining films combined still occupied nearly 30% of showings, of the 380 million RMB in total nationwide box office that day, The Force Awakens alone contributed 340 million RMB, accounting for nearly ninety percent — sheer madness.

After just two days of release, Star Wars: The Force Awakens had already grossed over 700 million RMB in mainland China. The media buzzed with reports, the internet was boiling with discussion, and conversations everywhere revolved around the movie. Within the shortest time, it had created a social phenomenon, making people feel that not watching The Force Awakens meant being outdated — unable even to join in conversations with others.

Although such a sentiment inevitably provoked resistance among a small minority, it successfully ignited the curiosity of the mainstream audience. After all, herd mentality wasn’t unique to North American viewers — Chinese audiences were no exception.

Thus, following its first two days’ earnings of 400 million RMB and 340 million RMB, Star Wars: The Force Awakens maintained its strength on the final day of its first weekend in China, effortlessly breaking the 300 million RMB barrier and taking in 310 million RMB.

In China, the weekly box office champion is determined by the total revenue of all seven days. However, The Force Awakens, having amassed an astonishing 1 billion RMB in just three days, had no competitors whatsoever and effortlessly claimed the top spot on China’s box office chart.

At the same time, Warner Bros. Greater China did not ease up on the film’s publicity and marketing efforts in the slightest.

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens rakes in 1 billion RMB in three days, breaking multiple Chinese box office records."

In China’s rapidly developing film market, such promotional reports undoubtedly attracted even greater attention from potential audiences — especially casual moviegoers and successfully drew them into theaters.

After The Force Awakens completed its first three days of screening, the marketing focus became very straightforward: highlighting the brand-new records it had set in the history of Chinese cinema.

"1. Highest midnight screening record — 51.3 million RMB;

2. Highest single-day gross for a single film — 410 million RMB;

3. Highest overall single-day national box office — 430 million RMB;

4. Fastest to surpass 100 million RMB (in 8 hours);

5. Fastest to surpass 200 million RMB (in 13 hours);

6. Fastest to surpass 300 million RMB (in 17 hours);

7. Fastest to surpass 400 million RMB (in 23 hours);

8. Fastest to surpass 500 million RMB (in 28 hours);

9. Fastest to surpass 1 billion RMB (in three days)..."

Almost every media outlet, under such headlines, mentioned one additional fact:

"All of these previous records were originally held by Duke Rosenberg’s The Avengers!"

There was no doubt that Duke’s influence in this land and this market was far beyond that of any other Hollywood director — even surpassing that of all Hollywood superstars combined. Over the past twenty years, through VHS tapes, DVDs, online downloads, and theatrical releases, he had, with his mainstream and widely appealing filmmaking style, cultivated tens of millions of Chinese "Duke fans," along with hundreds of millions more who recognized or had at least heard of his name.

These were the most valuable and irreplaceable cinematic resources, and it was precisely their existence that created the unparalleled sensation sparked by Star Wars: The Force Awakens across China.

The film’s three-day box office had already crushed all Chinese movies except for two, and surpassing those remaining domestic films was merely a matter of the next two or three days.

Just as Hollywood filmmakers dislike seeing foreign films dominate the North American market, Chinese filmmakers likewise would never wish to see their own domestic market completely ruled — even temporarily by a foreign invader from North America.

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