"Transformers: Age of Extinction" has made an estimated $149 million in the US and $134 million in China, the world's biggest and second-biggest movie markets, respectively, according to figures from box office tracking website Box Office Mojo.
Director Michael Bay's film, which was released June 27 in both markets, heavily courted the Chinese audience by employing Chinese stars, basing part of the action in cities in China and showing Chinese products such as liquor and milk. A reality TV show to choose four people to play roles in the film helped to drum up publicity.
Observers say "Transformers" is on course to beat "Avatar" as the biggest earner at the fast-growing Chinese box office. "Avatar" earned $218 million in China in 2010.
More than half of China's more than 20,000 screens showed the fourth in the "Transformers" blockbuster franchise.
Hou Tao, vice president of leading entertainment consultancy EntGroup, said Sunday that on average 55 percent of screens were set aside for the movie at the start, which had dropped to 46-48 percent in the last few days. He said that it was a record for foreign movies, which would normally be lucky to be shown on 40 percent of screens.
Whether any other foreign movie will receive such a favorable screening "just depends on the movie itself, whether it's popular, whether it's competitive enough, and whether at the time there is no other movie to compete with it," Hou said.
He said "Transformers" had done well in China because of its Chinese elements and it hadn't had to compete with any other big movies. Also, advertisers who had arranged for their products to be shown in the movie promoted the film by offering free tickets, Hou said.
最新上映的電影《變形金剛4》中展現(xiàn)了中國(guó)的場(chǎng)景、演員和產(chǎn)品,迄今為止中美票房幾乎持平,也在刷新著國(guó)外影片在中國(guó)的放映紀(jì)錄。
據(jù)票房跟蹤網(wǎng)站“票房魔咒”(Box Office Mojo)的調(diào)查數(shù)據(jù),《變形金剛4》據(jù)估算已獲得了1億4900萬(wàn)美元的美國(guó)票房和1億3400萬(wàn)美元的中國(guó)票房,美國(guó)和中國(guó)分別是世界上第一和第二大電影市場(chǎng)。
邁克爾·貝導(dǎo)演的這部電影于6月27日在中美同時(shí)上映,并通過(guò)邀請(qǐng)中國(guó)明星參演、在中國(guó)拍攝部分場(chǎng)景、以及展示白酒和牛奶等中國(guó)產(chǎn)品來(lái)吸引中國(guó)觀眾。舉辦電視真人秀節(jié)目,選擇四名中國(guó)演員參加《變形金剛4》的拍攝這一活動(dòng)也幫助影片在中國(guó)造勢(shì)。
觀察家指出,《變形金剛4》即將擊敗《阿凡達(dá)》,成為急速增長(zhǎng)的中國(guó)票房收入的最大贏家。2010年,《阿凡達(dá)》在中國(guó)獲得了2億1800萬(wàn)美元的票房。
中國(guó)超過(guò)2萬(wàn)塊銀幕中的半數(shù)以上都播放了《變形金剛4》,轟動(dòng)影界。
藝恩咨詢(xún)公司的副總裁侯濤于周日表示,這部影片最初上映時(shí),平均預(yù)留的排片比例是55%,這一數(shù)據(jù)前幾天下降到46%--48%。他說(shuō),這已經(jīng)創(chuàng)下外國(guó)影片的放映紀(jì)錄,通常這一比例達(dá)到40%就很幸運(yùn)了。
侯滔說(shuō),是否有其他外國(guó)電影也會(huì)有這么高的排片比例“只取決于電影本身,是否受歡迎,是否有足夠的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力,是否有其他的電影與它競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。”
他還表示,《變形金剛4》在中國(guó)大獲成功是因?yàn)槠渲懈缓袊?guó)元素,而且同期也沒(méi)有其它大片與它競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。同時(shí),在電影中推銷(xiāo)其產(chǎn)品的廣告商通過(guò)提供免費(fèi)電影票來(lái)推廣該電影。