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The Batman is struggling at the China box office, though the fault does not lie squarely on Matt Reeves' new superhero epic.
Following a year of keeping the coronavirus pandemic under control in the country, China has seen a recent surge in the Omicron variant that has led to select cinemas being shuttered – one report estimates that 30% of screens are closed and that major city populations, which are the most likely to see Western-imported movies, are sticking away from theaters.
As a result, The Batman has earned just $2.1 million on its opening Friday, including presales for Saturday and Sunday, according to The Hollywood Reporter. That still makes The Batman the number one film in the country, with a 70% market share, as reported by Variety. In second place is The Battle at Lake Changjin II, which has already made over $450 million in China, and third comes Uncharted, the Tom Holland adventurer, which launched on Monday and has so far made $6.52 million at the box office.
Beijing-based ticketing app Maoyan predicts The Batman will make a cumulative $33 million, though that projection may be revised. On China's reviews website Douban, where film fans post their takes on new releases, The Batman has a 7.7 score, which signals a fairly warm – though not resoundingly so – response to Robert Pattinson's take on the Caped Crusader
It's also worth noting that Western movies have struggled to get released in China in recent years, with The Batman being the first Hollywood-made superhero movie being released in the country in over a year. Whether China has simply lost its appetite for superhero movies or the Coronavirus has made it impossible for The Batman to succeed will no doubt be a hotly debated topic by box office analysts for the foreseeable future.
Seen The Batman? Check out our various breakdowns of the new movie below
