Smaug Fires Up Chinese Box Office

Smaug Fires Up Chinese Box Office

 

 

Bilbo and company hit Chinese theatres this weekend, giving Warner Bros. it’s biggest ever opening weekend in China.

Those dwarves really know how to dig up a fortune, with their flick hauling in a hefty $32.5 million (U.S) over three days. This beat Bilbo’s first outing, THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXECTED JOURNEY, by 74%.

China’s growing IMAX market raked in $4.4 million of the total; the highest ever opening score for a Hollywood film in China.

THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG is only the second Hollywood film to ever be granted a February release in China due to restrictions to releases surrounding Chinese New Year and Valentines Day. 

With the Chinese figures added, worldwide takings for THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG are estimated to be in the vicinity of $900,000,000 – Nice!

For those keeping score, AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY took $1,017,003,568 and THE LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING took $1,119,929,521

Sian's love for movies spawned from having a tight mother whose generosity stretched only to hiring movies once a week for entertainment. As a pre-teen Sian spent more pocket money then she earned on cinema tickets and thus sought a job at the cinema. Over the next decade she rose to be one of the greats in her backwater, six-screen cinema complex, zooming through the ranks from candy bar wench with upselling superpowers, to pasty projectionist, to a manager rocking a pencil skirt. Sian went on to study Journalism at university though feels her popcorn shovelling days were far more educational