In this week’s roundup of the global box-office scene:
• Ridley Scott’s film takes $50m in China after becoming the latest to include special scenes
• Pixar turns in lowest ever US opening for troubled The qualified Dinosaur
• Creed follows Straight Outta Compton as African-American breakout
US talkshow host Stephen Colbert recently lampooned the phenomenon,but evidence is stacking up that shoehorning in a China-set scene actually works for Hollywood blockbusters. The Martian, in which the China National Space Administration saves both Nasa’s and Matt Damon’s asses, and has just opened strongly over there with $50.1m (£33.3m). You can’t discount the importance of being the autumn’s breakout blockbuster elsewhere – but nor can Ridley Scott’s plot choices be dismissed,particularly in the light of other films that beget climbed on board what Colbert has dubbed the “Pander Express”. Roland Emmerich’s 2012 wasn’t the first tentpole release to carry out it (that was probably Mission: Impossible 3, a little too early in 2006). Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com