‘Furious 7’ sparks a rush in China as moviegoers race to buy tickets
Print Edition
“Furious 7,” starring the late Paul Walker, broke many records in China.
They included the highest grossing opening day at 401 million yuan (US$64.6 million), the fastest past the “300 million yuan” and “700 million yuan” marks, and it could be on course to dethrone “Transformers 4: Age of Extinction” to become China’s highest-grossing movie.
Unlike the “Transformers” movie, “Furious 7” is not stuffed with Chinese products, locations and stars. The action series featuring fast cars was not even screened in China until its fourth instalment.
Though Walker’s death and Universal Pictures’ decision to use computer graphics to finish his scenes have added to its allure, many Chinese audiences were unaware of the star until they saw the movie.
Yin Hong, director of the center for film and television at Tsinghua University, said millions of movie-starved Chinese viewers had developed an insatiable desire for movies.
As more movie screens are added in China, imported Hollywood blockbusters have been showing a faster and more furious style when breaking records.
When James Cameron’s record-setting “Avatar” was screened in early 2010, China had an estimated 5,000 screens. Now, there are more than 23,600, according to Maoyan.com, a ticket sales platform.
The potential has bolstered Hollywood’s enthusiasm when courting the world’s second largest movie market, with more superstars touring China to promote films and simultaneous releases than ever before.
While visiting China for the “Furious 7” premiere in late March, star Vin Diesel hinted that the next in the series may be shot in China.
Rao Shuguang, secretary general of China Film Association, said the success of “Furious 7” should serve as a warning to domestic movies.
Fortuitous release date
“Hollywood movies are not paper tigers,” said Rao, referring to a famous Mao Zedong quote meaning something that seems threatening but is flimsy, or presents no challenge.
Chinese filmmakers still have much to learn from Hollywood in regards to film technology and financing, he said.
The release date for “Furious 7” was also fortuitously timed. With Beijing hosting an international film festival and Shanghai preparing to kick off its biennial auto show, going to the movies and cars are fresh in the minds of city residents in China.
Perhaps due to a late start in car ownership, Chinese people feel attached to automobiles, considering them more than simple “travel tools” but also as something romantic, Yin said.
They also embody the spirit of wealth and status in China. Young people frequently post pictures posing in front of luxury cars on social media and supercars are always a hot topic. Most recently, an accident between a Lamborghini and a Ferrari had the Internet buzzing about street racing and speculation about supercar owners.
Car ownership in China reached 154 million while the number of people obtaining driving licenses also ballooned from 219 million in 2013 to 247 million at the end of 2014.
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