The Last Jedihas finally opened in China and it looks like the movie is going to be something of a bomb over there.Chinahas emerged in recent years as an absolutely massive market for major Hollywood movies, making it increasingly important for a movie to do well there.Star Wars, despite being arguably the biggest franchise on the planet, has struggled in China during the Disney era and, withThe Last Jedi, it’s hit a new low.
China is thelast major marketthatStar Wars: The Last Jediwas scheduled to roll out in, making its debut in Chinese theaters this weekend. If the box office from midnight previews is any indication, Disney and Lucasfilm can’t count on the country adding to the box office total all that much.The Last Jediearned just $560,000 in midnight previews. That puts it well behindStar Wars: The Force Awakens, which opened to $2.5 million in midnight previews during its theatrical run.
What’s worse is thatStar Wars: The Last Jediwasn’t even the number one movie in midnight previews.The Ex-File 3: The Return of the Exes, a local comedy, looks to be earning more than double whatThe Last Jediwill this weekend in China. To add insult to injury,The Ex-File 3: The Return of the Exesis already heading into its second weekend at the box office in China, meaning that the latestStar Warsmovie is going to lose to a comedy that has already been in theaters for a week.
BothThe Force AwakensandRogue One underperformeda bit, but thanks to strong North American box office totals and heavy interest from other international markets, both movies ultimately did very well.The Force Awakensfinished with more than $2 billion worldwide, but just $124.1 million of that came from China. To put that in perspective,Captain America: Civil War, which grossed $1.15 billion worldwide, made $180.7 million in China.Rogue One, which made just over $1 billion worldwide, made only $69.4 million in China., with $30 million coming on its opening weekend.
At this rate, it looks likeStar Wars: The Last Jedi, which has already made$1.1 billion worldwideand cracked the all-timetop 20 highest-grossing movieslist, won’t even make whatRogue Onemanaged in China. And that’s really saying something, considering thatRogue Onerelied on almost entirely new characters, whileThe Last Jedihas Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia in it. JediThe Hollywood Reporternotes thatThe Last Jedicould make some sort of a comeback, but it’s not looking good. Disney and Lucasfilm, for whatever reason, are still struggling to make this new era ofStar Warsmovies connect with Chinese audiences.
