Star Wars Underperforms In China As Cultural Differences Emerge

Via Forbes.com:

Globally, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has generated $1.8 billion (as of Jan. 18) since it opened in North America throughout the month of December 2015. The movie opened in China on Jan. 9 and was top of the box office for two weekends in a row. It ranked No. 2 in opening day revenues, behind the 2015 launch of Fast and Furious 7, a movie that holds other revenue records as well. The Force Awakens did take the top ranking for a movie to have opened on a Saturday night, however. And, it surpassed $100 million in Chinese ticket sales this week (total non-U.S. revenues have exceeded $1 billion thus far).

Disney, the owner of Star Wars as of 2012, benefits from sales of movie tickets, Disney Interactiveโ€™s Infinity Star Wars line, licensed products, and digital games.

In China, consumers appear to love the licensed products, moderately enjoy the movie, and are ho-hum about the digital games (though the official Electronic Arts console game Star Wars: Battlefront has yet to be approved or launched in China).

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