More news on the Monster Hunter and Wonder Woman 1984 fronts with China dates now set for both films. The former, starring Milla Jovovich, has landed a December 4 release in the Middle Kingdom while Warner Bros/DC’s Gal Gadot sequel is due on December 18. Contrary to the situation domestically, where Deadline recently reported the films will go head-to-head on December 25, the female-fronted actioners will have two weeks separating them in China. Monster Hunter producer Constantin Film confirmed the December 4 date while the Warner Bros and DC Weibo accounts shared the WW84 news (see the new China poster below).
For Monster Hunter, this will be its first outing globally. From director Paul W.S. Anderson, it will release in China via Tencent which is an equity partner in Constantin. Sony has world rights outside Germany, Austria, Switzerland, China and Japan (Toho has the latter).
Constantin handles the German markets and may open the movie a day ahead of China, on December 3. However, this will depend on whether theaters are back up and running in those areas. I’m told that if they are not operating as of that date, then the film is primed to go as soon as they do reopen. Says Constantin boss Martin Moszkowicz, “Given the state of things, we believe that a flexible approach is needed.”
Wonder Woman 1984, which releases day-and-date in theaters and on HBO Max domestically December 25, is due for an international theatrical rollout beginning on December 16, wherever theaters are open. The first Wonder Woman did $409M overseas in 2017, including $90.5M in China.
Word that WW84 is now on deck should come as welcome news to fans in the market. The Global Times reported on Thursday that Chinese social media was awash in calls for WB to quickly bring the film to the mainland.
The market has greatly bounced back since cinemas returned this summer, with 2020 box office surpassing RMB 15B ($2.3B) earlier this month. That’s been largely based on a string of local titles, though Tenet, Mulan, Bad Boys For Life and Dolittle are among the major Hollywood pics to have seen significant China releases, with varying degrees of success. This weekend, STX’s Greenland is rolling out wide while DreamWorks Animation/Universal’s The Croods: A New Age arrives on November 27.
Monster Hunter is based on the Capcom game, and reteams the Resident Evil franchise’s Jovovich and Anderson who’ve had great success in China. The last Resident Evil movie, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, did big offshore business back in 2016 with $285.4M at the international box office and led by China’s $159.5M. The overseas take was more than 91% of the cume. Given uncertainty surrounding the status of cinema reopenings in many of the European majors, we are awaiting an update on release plans there.