Sony’s critically acclaimed Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse opened to $17.2 million in China over the weekend — a respectable start but a fraction of its barnstorming $120.5 million opening in North America.
As in the U.S., the film has been very well received by Chinese critics and filmgoers alike. It currently scores 9.4 on ticketing apps Maoyan and Tao Piao Piao, and 8.8 on fan site Douban — which is significantly better than any other Hollywood film currently on release in the country. But Maoyan only projects it to earn about $35 million in total in the country, a major step down from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse‘s $62.8 million haul in 2019.
Analysts have been wrestling with the question of how much of the Hollywood studio’s recent theatrical earnings shortfalls in China should be blamed on weak product versus changes to market demand. But the slipping performance between the two Spiderverse films — both undeniably strong movies — seems to suggest that the Chinese audience’s appetite for U.S. content has indeed waned.
In North America, the sequel opened to $120.5 million, compared to $35.6 million for the first film in 2018.
In second place, Universal Pictures’ Fast X earned $7.6 million. After three weekends, the film has brought in $124.1 million, the most of any non-Chinese title this year.
Japan’s Studio Ghibli scored third place with a rerelease of its 1986 anime classic Castle in the Sky. The film earned $6 million from Friday to Sunday and has totaled $10.7 million since its launch on June 1.
Fellow anime staple, Doraemon: Nobita’s Sky Utopia, was just a step behind with $4.2 million for the weekend and $10.9 million as of its June 1 opening.
Paramount’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will launch in China on Friday, followed by Warner Bros.’ The Flash on June 16.