"Change 5" is the box office champion in both China and the United States, but the sequel movie North America and China have different reactions

Although "Transformers 5" won the box office championship in both North America and mainland China, the tastes behind the two championships are diametrically opposed.

Original title: "Transformers 5" won both box office titles in China and the United States on the first weekend. What's the difference between the two? In

the past weekend,"Transformers 5" won box office titles in both North America and mainland China, but the tastes behind these two championships are diametrically opposed.

"Transformers 5" was released last Wednesday in North America local time. The movies that opened last Friday were all screened on a small scale, and it was not expected that "Transformers 5", which had few competitors, topped the North American box office. However, Paramount's fifth Transformers series, which totaled $69.1 million in the opening weekend from Wednesday to Sunday, was the lowest in the entire series, less than the $70.5 million for "Transformers 1" a decade ago.

"Transformers 5" also won the box office championship that weekend in China. Its opening weekend box office was approximately US$123 million, setting the series's best box office in China. The film grossed US$41 million on its first day of production, almost catching up with the US$45 million in North America over the three days from Friday to Sunday.

It is not uncommon for "Transformers 5" to hit the cold in North America but hit the heat in China. This has almost become routine for super-blockbusters, especially series that have invested heavily (often costing more than US$100 million).

This phenomenon has been appearing continuously since the Spring Festival. The box office of "Extreme Agents 3" in one weekend in China exceeded the box office accumulated in 20 days in the United States. "Resident Evil: The Final Chapter" grossed only US$27 million in North America, but about six times that in China.

The same is true for "Speed and Furious 8","Pirates of the Caribbean 5", and the relaunch version of "The New Mummy", which was released in April. So far, the cumulative box office results of "Speed and Furious 8","Pirates of the Caribbean 5" and "The New Mummy" in North America are US$454 million, and in China, this figure has reached US$645 million. Each of the three films earned a higher box office in the mainland than in the United States.

"The aesthetic fatigue of the series of films we have seen in some markets is not so significant in China." Duncan Clark, who is in charge of Universal Pictures 'international distribution, said this.

The Hollywood series is indeed losing ground in the United States. Even if it doesn't fall to the bottom of the series like "Transformers 5", the latest works in the big-budget series tend to perform worse than the last at the box office.

However, this trend is not so obvious in China. "Transformers 4" and "Speed and Furious 7" also broke box office records for imported films in China in 2014 and 2015. This year's release of "Fast and Furious 8" has exceeded the previous one in the box office in China.

The United States and China are the world's first and second box office markets respectively, but their screens are showing opposite trends when facing series films.

The difference in movie-watching habits and tastes in the two markets is one of the reasons for the different responses. Take the action movie "Extreme Agents 3" as an example. In the United States, action movies are a mature genre with different interpretations in different eras. From early Westerns, to later crime films, gangster films, to modern spy wars and superheroes, action elements have always been favored by Hollywood. However, in addition to action elements,"Extreme Agents 3" has no other form of packaging. This kind of "cover-to-finish" movie cannot mobilize the audience's emotions in the United States, but it has a huge market in China.

Another similar example is "Mechanic 2" released last year. Without any vitality in North America, it relied on simple and crude fights to tap out market space in China.

The level of aesthetic fatigue among audiences is another reason why sequel films respond differently in North America and China. Sequel series, and even more broadly IP movies, have their reasons to sell well. Books based on previous works or film adaptations have cultivated an audience. Works that are redeveloped based on market-tested works will naturally attract a group of audiences. But no matter how popular it is, it is quite normal for a series of movies to lose their freshness until the fourth and fifth films.

The difference between the China market and North America is that the "series" attributes here started later. From the three series "Speed and Furious","Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Transformers" below, we can see that in the early works, the box office of China films did not respond to them, and only recently became enthusiastic. As North America enters a certain series of fatigue, the country may be just about to enter the most intense stage of reaction.

This is almost in sync with the expansion of movie theaters. China's theaters have expanded rapidly while the box office market has grown vigorously in the past few years, bringing new audiences to movie theaters. For this new audience, Hollywood blockbusters, including series films, are very attractive new things.

However, there is one thing in common: criticism. Lack of creativity, forced production of subsequent works in order to form a series or the universe, or suddenly laid the groundwork in the previous works, and various advertisements were planted illegally with the arrival of capital...

If the aesthetic stages are different, fatigue is all the same.

For China companies, Hollywood mega-productions are still good business. Behind "Speed and Passion" is the investment of China Film Group. It holds a "full license" for film import, film and television production, film distribution, film screening, and film and television services, and can provide cinema distribution support for films. "Speed and Furious 7" eventually had more than 90000 screenings per day, making it one of the most screened films in the history of China film.

"Transformers 5" has investment from Huahua Media. "Transformers 4", the first movie to break the box office of US$300 million in the China market, was also marketed domestically by Huahua Media for Paramount.

For Hollywood, although it is a good thing to buy in overseas markets, it is easy to face "thankless" results. Films introduced to China in the form of imported films can theoretically only bring 25% of the box office revenue to the film company. The Sino-US film agreement signed between China and the United States in 2012 expires this year. What Hollywood hopes most is naturally to increase the film company's box office share in China in the new agreement reached.

By comparing the top ten films at the box office in North America and the mainland so far this year, we can find that the tastes of audiences in the two markets are quite different. There are only three films that overlap in the top ten, including "King Kong: Skull Island" and "Pirates of the Caribbean 5", two of the lowest films in North America, which are likely to be squeezed out of the list by subsequent blockbusters.

Hollywood may not like this. Choosing between these two markets can become a headache.

Editor: Mary