"Raya and the Last Dragon" wins the championship, and the North American film market is recovering slowly

With the release of many new films such as "Raya and the Last Dragon" and "Chaos Walking", and the reopening of theaters in New York and San Francisco, the North American film market only produced a total box office of 25 million US dollars last week, which is only about 40% of the Chinese market during the same period.

But this performance is already the best performance in the North American film market since the epidemic, slightly higher than the 23.8 million US dollars of "Wonder Woman 1984" released on Christmas Day.

Disney's "Raya and the Last Dragon" won the championship with $8.6 million, which was not as good as the opening of "Tom and Jerry" with $14.11 million. Like "Tom and Jerry", this movie is also a mixed release method of theaters and streaming media, but "Raya and the Last Dragon" is similar to "Mulan". Disney+ subscribers still need to pay a "rental fee" of $29.9, while "Tom and Jerry" is free for subscribers to watch on HBO Max.

Disney still maintained a relatively high revenue share when releasing "Raya and the Last Dragon" in theaters. Cinemark, the third largest theater chain in North America, refused to screen the film, resulting in the film opening in nearly 500 fewer theaters than "Tom and Jerry". The film received an A CinemaScore. "Chaos Walking" starring Tom Holland ranked third with $3.82 million and a CinemaScore of B. The runner-up was "Tom and Jerry", which was in its second week of release, with a box office of $6.6 million in the second week and a cumulative global box office of $57.3 million.

Including the 54.84 million yuan from the Chinese mainland market and contributions from other markets, "Raya and the Last Dragon" grossed 26.2 million US dollars worldwide in its first weekend. This movie certainly cannot recover its costs relying solely on the box office at theaters.

Including New York and San Francisco, only 42% of theaters in the United States remain open, but Comscore analysts still believe: "Perhaps this can be interpreted as a turning point in the film industry and a sign of the recovery of the big screen."

Jeff Goldstein, Warner's head of North American distribution, said that although the recovery is slow, market confidence is still stable.

Warner's "Godzilla vs. Kong" will be released in the North American film market on March 31, which will be an opportunity to test the market recovery.