Hollywood had a hot and flirty relationship with China in the 2010s, the Middle Kingdom becoming a key component of blockbuster box-office results even as back then the audience proved a little picky in terms of what titles it embraced.
Since the pandemic, the country has effectively been dead for Hollywood; attempts to launch major titles there have fizzled, with only a handful of major players like “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Godzilla vs. Kong”, and “Jurassic World Dominion” doing well.
But all have been obliterated by “Zootopia 2”. The Disney sequel took in $272 million from Wednesday to Sunday, including a jaw-dropping $104 million on Saturday – the biggest single-day record for a Hollywood film and beating “Avengers: Endgame” ($76 million).
It’s also more than the $216 million entire gross of the first film in China, and the second biggest non-Chinese film opening of all time in China behind only “Avengers: Endgame”.
Combined with the $156 million the film has earned domestically over the five-day holiday, along with a $127 million strong haul from dozens of other international markets, the movie’s worldwide opening weekend has beaten expectations – estimates now have it at $556 million – the highest global animated opening of all time and highest global debut of the year.
“Wicked: For Good” came in second domestically with $93 million and looks to be just shy of $400 million worldwide after its second weekend.
Source: The Playlist
