Marvel's Captain Marvel lives up to its reputation: China's mainland box office grossed 600 million in its first weekend

"Captain Marvel" was released simultaneously in China and the United States on March 8, and took in 595 million yuan in the Chinese mainland film market over the three-day weekend, ranking second among single-player movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, second only to the 620 million yuan first weekend performance of "Captain America 3" in mainland China. This is cause for celebration.

At the same time, "Captain Marvel" set a record for the first-week box office in the mainland for a solo Marvel superhero origin movie. Compared with the solo Marvel movie "Black Panther" released last year, which grossed 422 million yuan in its first weekend, "Captain Marvel" won by a large margin, setting the best start for a solo Marvel movie.

As a superheroine, DC's "Wonder Woman" had a box office of 263 million yuan in the first week of its release in mainland China, and "Captain Marvel" was also far ahead. However, "Wonder Woman" was a movie in 2017 after all, and the total number of screens at that time was far less than it is now.

It should be emphasized that the simultaneous release and the "International Women's Day" schedule allowed "Captain Marvel" to enjoy market dividends, and now the total number of screens in the Chinese mainland film market has exceeded 60,000. During the "Black Panther" period, the total number of screens in the mainland was 55,000. With the support of such a huge screening market, the box office output of "Captain Marvel" should be higher than its predecessor.

Thanks to the good performance of "Captain Marvel", the total box office in mainland China from March 4 to March 10 was 1.155 billion, a significant increase from the revenue of 950 million in the previous week (February 25 to March 3). Marvel movies are clearly a dominant force in the market.

1 billion yuan box office is a threshold for Marvel

Although the works of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) have a strong appeal in the Chinese mainland film market, among the 21 Marvel works released, only one independent movie with a box office of over 1 billion yuan, Captain America 3, is the only one. Marvel movies are too interconnected, and the previous superheroes tended to focus on the male market. This time, a female superhero finally appeared independently.

Captain Marvel's opening of 596 million in the mainland is already an extremely impressive result. Compared with Marvel's first weekend champion Captain America 3, it is still an honor to lose. After all, Captain America 3 is known as a personal hero movie, but Captain America, Iron Man, Winter Soldier, Black Widow, Vision, Ant-Man, Spider-Man and other superheroes appear as a group, which can be called "Avengers 2.5". With such a strong lineup, it is natural that the box office is high.

"Captain Marvel" currently accounts for 48% of the screenings, far ahead of other films in the same period. According to the current box office trends, there is a great hope that the total box office in mainland China will exceed 1 billion.

"Captain Marvel" is the first time that a female superhero takes the leading role. There are no other superheroes in the film to help out. She almost supports the film alone. Her strength is indeed extraordinary.

Among the single-player movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, only Captain America 3 has grossed over 1 billion yuan in the mainland. According to the trend of Captain Marvel, it is expected to become the second MCU movie to gross over 1 billion yuan. The final mainland box office of several recent single-player Marvel movies are: Doctor Strange 752 million yuan, Spider-Man: Homecoming 775 million yuan, Black Panther 662 million yuan, and Ant-Man 2 830 million yuan. It can be seen that 1 billion yuan is a threshold for single-player Marvel superhero movies, which is difficult to cross.

There are many reasons for this, such as the strong correlation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you don’t watch a few of the previous films, the plots of the sequels won’t be connected. In addition, previous superhero movies tend to be fan-oriented, and the proportion of female audiences is obviously not as high as that of male audiences. This time, because "Captain Marvel" is an origin movie, passers-by can understand it, and it is the first independent movie about a female superhero, which has also won the favor of many female audiences. In conjunction with the schedule of the "March 8th Festival", various favorable factors have prompted "Captain Marvel" to have a good start in the mainland market.