"Avengers: Age of Ultron" (Photo/CRI)
Disney/Marvel's "Avengers: Age of Ultron" opened in China on Monday with 224 million yuan (US$36.08 million), smashing the weekday box office record.
As one of the most anticipated films of this summer, the sequel of the monster Hollywood blockbuster grossed 29.8 million yuan (US$4.8 million) from 7,560 showings starting at midnight of Monday, the second biggest result only to car-racing action movie "Furious 7," according to tracking institute Movie Box Office.
"Furious 7" achieved the highest midnight box office sales in China with 50.94 million yuan (US$8.2 million), but it opened on a sleepless Saturday midnight (Sunday early morning).
"Avengers: Age of Ultron" grossed 224 million yuan (US$36.08 million) over the whole of Tuesday, counting the movie's midnight income, making it the second biggest opening only to "Furious 7" again, which owned both the opening day and single day sales records with 410 million yuan (US$66.04 million).
However, "Avengers 2" has already set a new weekday record, as it didn't open on a weekend. Many moviegoers still needed to go to work the next day and had to drop their plans to attend the midnight premiere.
The film may attract more moviegoers to cinema this weekend and set some new records, industry observers said. Whether it can top "Furious 7" as the biggest grossing film ever in China remains to be seen, but it will be difficult since "Furious 7" had no clear rival until "Avengers 2," but "Avengers 2" will face a heavyweight rival in two weeks as another Disney blockbuster "Tomorrowland" will hit Chinese theaters on May 22.
"Furious 7" eventually grossed 2.4 billion yuan (US$386.6 million) in total and ended its China run just the day before "Avengers 2."
"Avengers: Age of Ultron" was directed by Joss Whedon and features a cast that includes Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Hayley Atwell, Idris Elba, Stellan Skarsgard, James Spader, and Samuel L. Jackson. It has already grossed US$881 million as of Sunday without counting Chinese earnings.
