Notícias

Barbie‘s phenomenal box office opening in the U.S. wasn’t matched in China — not by a long shot.

The Greta Gerwig-directed Warner Bros. blockbuster opened to just $8 million in China, finishing the weekend in fifth place behind a bunch of local Chinese hits. In North America, the film debuted to a record-setting $155 million.

The soft start for Barbie continues a trend of Hollywood films earning much less in China than they once did. Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One badly lost its opening in China the weekend prior with a third-place start behind a pair of Chinese holdovers.

Word of mouth for Barbie has been strong, despite the tepid sales. Its social scores are 9.4 on Maoyan, 9.3 on Tao Piao Piao and 8.6 on Douban. On Monday, the good buzz appeared to be giving Barbie a modest boost, with its sales ranking climbing into third place for the day.

While “Barbie” was romping to box office records in North American and scoring strongly in many international territories, the pink phenomenon could muster only fifth place in China, the world’s second largest movie market, on its opening weekend.

“Barbie” managed $8.2 million in its opening three days, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway.

Local box office sources show the film trapped in that position on all three days of the weekend session, as the locally-produced titles jostled for leadership and swapped positions. Somewhat encouragingly, the daily score for “Barbie” had increased by Sunday as it was given more screening sessions by Chinese exhibitors.

“Barbie” joins a growing list of Hollywood films that have disappointed at the mainland Chinese box office this year. Others include “The Little Mermaid,” “Indiana Jones” and “Fast X.”

Hollywood titles are facing fewer structural impediments in China (import and certification delays) that they did in recent years.

Movie stars Zhou Xun and Jelly Lin head the cast of “Imperfect Victim,” a new mainland Chinese drama series that focuses on workplace sexual harassment and leads to a rape trial.

Zhou plays a lawyer who steps in to represent the character played by Lin (“The Mermaid”), who alleges assault by her boss at work. He is portrayed by TV veteran Liu Yijun. The case becomes complicated and Zhou’s character is forced to question her own ethics.

The show is highly topical, given the slowly building #MeToo movement in China. This is being fuelled by numerous instances of sexual discrimination, sexual assault and outright violence towards women, many instances of which have gone viral on Chinese social media before being deleted by censors.

Zhou Xun in “Imperfect Victim.” Courtesy of iQiyi.

The first episode of “Imperfect Victim,” for instance, includes a section on the culture of heavy after-hours drinking...