The 11th-century setting, archery and catapult-heavy battles and historical references, which give the film the Chinese imprint its backers wanted, don’t exactly make it easier to appeal to U.S.
#MATT DAMON THE GREAT WALL MOVIE MOVIE#
Most of the movie takes place on, in and directly next to the Great Wall of China, which looked great in 3-D (and very big budget), but means little to American audiences more likely to be motivated to buy tickets to what’s essentially a monster fantasy movie. Here are some of the movie’s shortcomings: “The Great Wall” was conceived with seemingly foolproof elements to appeal to crowds in both China and the U.S.: a beloved Chinese director (Zhang), a Hollywood movie star (Damon), and a “unity” plot that features foreign mercenaries teaming up with 11th-century Chinese military leaders to battle lizard monsters.Īlso Read: 'The Great Wall' Review: Matt Damon Battles Scary Chinese Monstersīut as anyone who has eaten at a fusion restaurant that missed the mark knows, trying to be both things for two separate audiences often ends up satisfying neither. American entertainment lawyer Sky Moore, who works closely with Chinese studios, called a crossover hit the “holy grail” for them. box office but didn’t do nearly as much business in China (although the country’s box office was significantly smaller then) - the country’s homegrown movies haven’t been able to travel well.
Other than Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning 2000 action drama “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” - which hauled in $128 million at the U.S. Several Hollywood films have been massive hits in China, with Universal’s “Furious 7” and Paramount’s “Transformers: Age of Extinction” topping $300 million at the local box office, but the reverse hasn’t held true. It was also the first movie filmed at Wanda’s $8 billion Oriental Movie Metropolis in the city of Qingdao. In fact, “The Great Wall” was seen as the first crossover blockbuster for Legendary after China’s real estate and investment conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group acquired Thomas Tull’s 16-year-old production firm last January for $3.5 billion. While it edged out “Kung Fu Panda 3” as China’s eighth-highest grossing film of last year, Legendary’s video-game adaptation “Warcraft” hauled in $220.8 million in China last year with much less hype - but an easily identifiable and massive core audience of gamers who got exactly what they wanted.Īlso Read: Matt Damon's 'Great Wall' Slammed as 'Low Quality' by Head of China's People's Choice Awards (Exclusive)
“That movie became one of the worst movies in China,” Wang Haige, chairman of the Huading Awards (China’s version of the People’s Choice Awards) told TheWrap in December. Worse, director Zhang Yimou’s English-language fantasy epic starring Matt Damon didn’t prove to be much of a blockbuster in China either, reeling in a disappointing $170.4 million since it opened in December. (The projection for the four-day holiday is $21 million.) crossover epic “The Great Wall” crumbled at the box office, earning just $18.1 million during its opening weekend in North America on an estimated $150 million production budget. After years of hype, Legendary’s would-be China-U.S.
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