Skip to main content

Chinese box office outgrosses North America for the first time ever

the mermaid china box office mei ren yu chinese blockbuster header
Image used with permission by copyright holder
For the first month in history, it looks as if the Chinese box-office will out-gross North American theaters.

According to Deadline, industry estimates suggest that U.S. and Canadian ticket sales will yield around $790 million for the month of February — more than $200 million less than the 6.87 billion Yuan ($1.05 billion) Chinese theaters brought in during the same span.

Recommended Videos

February 2016 also represents the second time that Chinese box-offices have out-grossed the U.S. The first time was in February of 2015.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

If you’re seeking an explanation for these figures, look no further than the businessman who fell in love with the half-human sea creature who was sent to assassinate him. Translation: Look no further than The Mermaid, the highest-grossing film in Chinese history.

The film has broken virtually every Chinese box-office record in existence on its way to a $485 million take in February alone and is responsible for nearly half of the country’s $1.05 billion overall gross.

Given the film’s astronomical success, and the fact that February has traditionally been a slow month for the US movie industry, conditions were perfect for the Chinese box-office to make history. In fact, the $1.05 billion taken in by The Middle Kingdom in February of 2016 is nearly $200 million more than the all-time US box office record for the month ($818 million: Feb. 2012).

While it’s too early to tell if this is an aberration or a trend, it’s not too soon to call The Mermaid one of the most successful releases in the history of film. For those outside of China who want to see what all the fuss is about, the movie is playing in select U.S. theaters, but it has not received a wide release as of yet. Stay tuned for updates.

Adam Poltrack
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Adam is an A/V News Writer for Digital Trends, and is responsible for bringing you the latest advances in A/V…
25 years ago, one of the best horror movies ever made became a box office sensation
Three people hang from nooses in The Sixth Sense.

M. Night Shyamalan is best known among moviegoers now as a maker of high-concept, trashy (non-derogatory) genre thrillers, but his reputation has evolved quite a lot throughout his career. For a long time, he was seen as a gimmicky filmmaker — one who relied too much on the kind of third-act, eye-opening twists that had become the biggest talking points of his earliest movies. Viewers began to see him as a one-trick pony and — due to the failures of The Happening, The Last Airbender, and After Earth — not even a particularly good one.

In recent years, however, capably made, uncomfortably gripping films like Trap, Old, Knock at the Cabin, and Split have elevated and deepened his reputation. Now, it seems as though more viewers and critics are willing to recognize him, despite his consistent flaws as a writer, for the high-level, genre-driven visual artist and craftsman that he is. To this day, though, even Shyamalan's biggest defenders don't often tout him as a revolutionary or particularly forward-thinking filmmaker.

Read more
Deadpool & Wolverine might just shatter a box office record
Deadpool holds something as he stands in front of Wolverine.

Deadpool & Wolverine is going to break records upon its release this summer. Just how big can the Merc with a Mouth get? Per Deadline, Deadpool & Wolverine is projected to have the highest-grossing opening weekend ever for an R-rated film at the domestic box office.

Conservative estimates from The Quorum, the industry leader in film data research, peg Deadpool & Wolverine's opening weekend projection between $200 million and $239 million. A $200 million opening would shatter the record held by Deadpool, which opened to $132.4 million in February 2016.

Read more
7 biggest horror movie bombs of all time, ranked by adjusted box office losses
A group of astronauts stand together in Supernova.

In a theatrical landscape dominated by franchises, sequels, and IP, horror remains one of the most reliable genres at the box office. Audiences have proven they will come out to the theater for horror movies. Classics like Jaws and The Exorcist are among the biggest horror hits of all time. The horror genre also has spawned numerous success stories of low-budget films churning huge profits. Notable examples include Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project.

However, not every horror film can be a hit. Some movies flop hard at the box office, with losses exceeding $100 million. Below, we listed the seven biggest horror movie bombs of all time, ranked by their estimated losses adjusted for inflation.

Read more