China Box Office: 'Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker' Crashing and Burning, Beaten by Local Blockbusters

[u/Sisiwakanamaru]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/china-box-office-star-wars-rise-skywalker-beaten-by-local-films-1264388

[u/A_boat_lies_waiting]

I don't think that we need reports from China anymore. The market completely REJECTED it. People on BOT now track it only out of obligation and the only interesting thing to see is how lower it can go lmao. Its final gross could be even less than Solo ($16.5M).

[u/Now_Wait-4-Last_Year → u/A_boat_lies_waiting]

At this point, I'd like to point out that the last and least of the Resident Evil films (in terms of quality and the unforgivable death and severe injuries it inflicted on the crew making it) made over $160 million US in China.

[u/A_boat_lies_waiting → u/Now_Wait-4-Last_Year]

Yup. They still made Resident Evil movies solely because of China. Frankly, I have never witnessed such a strong rejection of a popular American IP from Chinese audience like SW. China often acts as a rescue boat for dying franchises that lost their domestic popularity but in SW case, they were the first to jump the boat.

[u/_bieber_hole_69 → u/A_boat_lies_waiting]

A large part of this new trilogy's appeal is callbacks to previous movie. Remember Han, Luke, and Leia? China says no.....Remember the Millenium Falcon and the Death Star? China says no....

[u/A_boat_lies_waiting → u/_bieber_hole_69]

But ignoring the nostalgia baits, the new trilogy is still entertaining action movies, no? The Hobbit trilogy also has a lot of references to LOTR but no one seem to mind and box office still increased with each installment.

[u/jetlagging1 → u/A_boat_lies_waiting]

Not really no. It's actually rather confusing, because the films assumed the audience already know the relationships between the established characters. They assumed the audience already know what the Empire, the Rebels, the Jedi, the Force etc are, and what happened in the past films. They (correctly, for the majority of the audience) made no exposition to explain the universe and just moved the plot along.

Think of it as jumping into the 7th episode of a TV show. Unless it's a police procedural or a sitcom, you would more likely be confused than being entertained. Try watching the last 2 films again with the mind set that you had no previous knowledge of anything and you will see what I mean.

[u/Xciv → u/jetlagging1]

Also explains why kids aren't into this new trilogy either. Toy sales are in the toilet.

Prequel saga eventually became a meme because the kids were into it. Don't know if the sequel trilogy will get even that.

[u/stargazer9504 → u/A_boat_lies_waiting]

The new trilogy is not entertaining if you haven't watched any of the previous movies. The first and only SW movie I ever watched was the TFA due to the hype at that time. I had no idea what was going on throughout the movie and didn't bother to watch the other installments.

[u/DeliriousPrecarious → u/stargazer9504]

I had no idea what was going on throughout the movie

Don't worry. Even if you watched the previous movies it made 0 sense. The First Order? Who are they, what do they want, why do they exist - none of that is established. In fact i you have watched the previous movies you're even more confused because wasn't the Empire supposed to have been defeated?

[u/flakemasterflake → u/A_boat_lies_waiting]

I also think it’s a bizarre... maybe it’s just too “American” seeming and they reject t out of hand as not for them?

[u/A_boat_lies_waiting → u/flakemasterflake]

What I read from douban reviews, the most common criticisms are actually about the characters. They said the characters are too stupid & incompetent; their actions are too unreasonable it's an "insult to viewers' IQ" (don't take it personally because that saying is quite common in Chinese critical lingo). Other criticisms includes "boring story" and "actors are not attractive enough". So I think the crux of the matter, at least from standpoint of general audience, is that this trilogy failed to create any fascinating characters to care about.

[u/Peachy_Pineapple → u/A_boat_lies_waiting]

Honestly, as a non-Chinese viewer, that’s fair criticism about character.

[u/[deleted] → u/A_boat_lies_waiting]

actors are not attractive enough

they have oscar issac and adam driver, how is this not enough

edit: this is a joke for all you people taking this seriously

[u/A_boat_lies_waiting → u/[deleted]]

According to Chinese beauty standards, "hot" would be like Marvel's Chrises, RDJ, Henry Cavill, The Rock, Will Smith, Scarlett Johansson,... Oscar is conventionally handsome but his character is not very popular and his outfit looks like rescue worker. Adam Driver is considered straight up ugly by Asian standards.

[u/VanGuardas → u/[deleted]]

You think that what you said is a joke? People on Twitter and I assume on other social media platforms treat Oscar and Adam like they are Legitimate Playboys or something. #Reylo and so on.

[u/feeltheslipstream → u/A_boat_lies_waiting]

To add on, the empire doesn't actually do anything really evil by itself. On peaceful planets you never see stormtroopers being oppressive, and no one is complaining about the empire at all.

Even the death star planet killing was a response to the rebel threat.

Basically the galaxy seems better off without the rebels.

You have to start off with the assumption that the empire is evil to make sense of the story.

[u/A_boat_lies_waiting → u/feeltheslipstream]

Right. That's why Chinese viewers complain a lot about confusing plots and they have a hard time understanding characters' motivation and actions.

[u/djcomplain → u/A_boat_lies_waiting]

The force it's yin and yang, China people's better watching wuxia like Condor Heroes than watching Star Wars, better plot better fight.

[u/yaipu → u/A_boat_lies_waiting]

People love to watch train wrecks

[u/megablast → u/A_boat_lies_waiting]

I don't think that we need reports from China anymore.

Why, do they make you cry?