The Amazing Spider-Man and The Dark Knight Rises have the premiere on the same day, and after fierce confrontation at box office, Spider-Man was installed in the leading position. Spider-Man franchise reboot was designed in 2515 locations, most of them 3D, so the higher price of movie tickets and duration (half an hour shorter than its main rival) helped him to triumph. Launching in China helped the film to cross the threshold of $700 million in revenue obtained worldwide.
Even if he came on the 2nd place with $ 4.5 million collected, The Dark Knight Rises won the title of best non-3D debut launched by Warner Bros. in China, surpassing all Harry Potter movies (except the last part which was in 3D) and the thriller Inception, which received $ 1.7 million in 2010. The end of Batman trilogy could be seen by the Chinese in 2,400 locations and Imax projections brought $516,000.
The fact that Spider-Man and Batman have shared the same day of release is part of an attempt by China Film Group (authority that oversees the distribution of films in China) to limit the impact of American films in domestic box-office. Warner Bros. tried, unsuccessfully, to negotiate a different release date. The Dark Knight Rises is set to become the second film this year and the 13th film in the world that has managed to exceed the threshold of $1 billion in worldwide receipts. The Avengers opened the tone for this year’s fabulous collections, the 3rd with the most revenue in history, the first two being Titanic and Avatar.
In April, the film Titanic in 3D made the headlines in China, registering the strongest debut with $ 58 million cash in the first weekend. The previous record was held by Transformers: Dark of the Moon with 55 million. Next hint of blockbuster movie that starts in China in a few days (September 3) is SF Prometheus, directed by Ridley Scott.
