Covid surge slows down the flight of 'The Batman' in China
The recent Covid-19 surge in China has had a significant impact on the box office collections of the recently released Robert Patterson-starrer 'The Batman.' According to 'Variety,' the trend at China's box office has recently been the same for films of all origins. According to 'Variety,' by 3:30 p.m. on its first full day, the film had earned only RMB12.1 million, or $1.90 million at current currency rates, based on preliminary data from ticketing agency Maoyan. Including Thursday's previews, "The Batman" had a total of RMB13.7 million, or $2.15 million, by early afternoon. However, there appears to be some relief for the Warner Bros. noir, as it topped the mainland China box office chart with a 70% market share, more than five times that of second-placed 'The Battle at Lake Changjin II.' Previous Batman films performed well in China: 'The Dark Knight Rises' earned $53 million in 2012, 'Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice' earned $97 million in 2016, and 'Justice League' earned $106 million in 2017 when China became the first country to screen the film. Since 2020, Chinese audiences have been offered fewer Hollywood films than in previous years, owing to a lower flow of U.S. commercial cinema during 2020, the first year of the pandemic and Chinese government action to restrict American film imports in 2021. According to 'Variety,' Disney and Sony have been unable to obtain import approval for five of their Marvel films, and no U.S. superhero film has been released in China in over a year. Instead, Chinese audiences have been treated to a string of patriotic locally produced blockbusters that have performed particularly well during the holiday season.