Hollywood franchise installments Hotel Transylvania: Transformania and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore have both received the green light to release theatrically in China in April.
Given the past performances of the two franchises, the clearance from Beijing regulators would usually equate to tens of millions of revenue for both films, but the circumstances surrounding the release of each title points to differing earnings trajectories.
Sony’s Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, the fourth film in the animated series, will release in China on April 3. Hotel Transylvania 3 earned $32.7 million in China in 2018, building on Hotel Transylvania 2‘s $17.3 million performance in 2015. But the latest film will be opening in China several months after it already released online in multiple territories courtesy of Amazon Prime Video. The streaming service acquired the film from Sony Pictures for most markets at the height of the pandemic in August 2021 for $100 million. Previous Hollywood theatricals films that have gotten pandemic-induced streaming releases in North America have seen their China earnings disappoint, after many consumers turned to widely available, high-quality pirate copies. Working in Transylvania 4‘s favor, the April 3 dating places its outing just prior to China’s Qingming Festival holiday on April 5, usually a strong earnings window.
Overall, Warner Bros’ The Secrets of Dumbledore appears better positioned for a big China haul though. The April 8 China release date falls day and date with the U.K. and a full week ahead of North America on April 15. There is also abundant love for the Harry Potter universe in China, which has helped propel the prequel series. Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them earned $86 million in 2016 and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald took $57.3 million in 2018. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction at the Universal Studios Beijing also has been a fan favorite on social media since the park’s launch last year.
David Yates returns to the helm of the new film, having previously directed the first two installments. Yates also helmed the last four films in the Harry Potter franchise. Secrets of Dumbledore stars Jude Law as Dumbledore, Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander and Mads Mikkelsen as the central villain, Gellert Grindelwald, previously played by Johnny Depp. Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Callum Turner, Jessica Williams, William Nadylam and Katherine Waterston also star.
The volume of Hollywood releases in China has been on a downward trend amid the fraught trade and geopolitical relations between Washington and Beijing. The last five major Marvel films, previously Hollywood’s most popular franchise in China, have been denied release dates. Two upcoming tentpoles — Sony’s Tom Holland starrer Uncharted, opening March 14; and Warner Bros’ The Batman, releasing March 18 — will be looking to reverse the trend of declining Hollywood earnings in the country when they unfurl there in the coming weeks.
Source: Hollywood
