Film shot in mainland China wins America with $21 million

By Robin Rowe

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 4/20/08 – Actor Jet Li says he knows why “The Forbidden Kingdom” kicked up not only a winning $21 million at the box office this weekend, but a historical win for China films, which have never before opened at No. 1 on U.S. box office weekends.

““The miracle of the The Forbidden Kingdom’s direction is that it was able to create a film with a Western point of view that can still be appreciated by Asians and the Chinese,” Jet Li tells Hollywood Today.

The opportunity to work with Jet Li and Jackie Chan was such a once in a lifetime opportunity,” says ‘The Forbidden Kingdom’ director Rob Minkoff.

Released by Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company, ‘The Forbidden Kingdom’ is the biggest pening ever by a film made in China, making $21 million dollars domestically as predicted by Hollywood Today. Is Jet Li right about its Asian appeal? How do Chinese-American films do internationally?

Hong Kong-based ‘Rush Hour 2’ with Jackie Chan grossed $226 million U.S., $121 million international. ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’, which also had Kingdom’s Woo-Ping Yuen as its fight choreographer, grossed $128 million U.S., $85 million international. Jet Li’s ‘Hero’ grossed $54 million U.S., and a whopping $124 million international. Unlike ‘The Last Emperor’, ‘The Forbidden Kingdom’ has the full support of the Chinese government.

Expect ‘The Forbidden Kingdom’ to do very well internationally. It releases in Asia and Russia next week, but isn’t due in Euro markets France and the UK for a month or more.

It was the first ever pairing of Chinese martial arts stars Jackie Chan and Jet Li, but it had more kick historically than just two great action actors. Especially right now when China is proudly hosting the Olympics, yet embroiled in controversy

It even edged out star director Judd Apatow’s super-promoted ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall.’

In China film history, only Jet Li’s ‘Hero’ in 2002 opened nearly as well in America, at $18 million in 2,000 theaters for an eventual domestic total of $54 million. In 2000, ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ opened modestly in just 16 U.S. theaters, eventually building to a stunning $128 million U.S. box office. Chan’s “Rush Hour” series were also box office heroes, but are considered US studio films, not Chinese.

Interestingly, Jet Li said just three years ago, he was quitting martial arts films. Yet like NBA hoops legend Michael Jordan, he just couldn’t keep off the court and stay retired for very long.

Yet the bigger story is that China has figured out how to make a worldwide movie opener, a tricky business. American companies Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company handled the releasing, but the film still needed to have had a solid, wide appeal.

April 18-20 Weekend Box Office

1. THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM: Lionsgate PG-13 $6,623 * 3,151 = $20.8M

2. FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL: Universal R $6,200 * 2,798 = $17.3M

3. PROM NIGHT: Screen Gems PG-13 $3,370 * 2,700 = $9.1M cume $32.6M

4. 88 MINUTES: Columbia R $3,136 * 2,168 = $6.8M

5. NIM’S ISLAND: Fox PG $1,724 * 3,277 = $5.7M cume $32.9M

6. 21: Columbia PG-13 $1,894 * 2,903 = $5.5M cume $70M

7. STREET KINGS: Fox Searchlight R $1,620 * 2,469 = $4M $19.9M

8. HORTON HEARS A WHO: Fox G $1,310 * 2,670 = $3.5M cume $144M

9. EXPELLED: Rocky Mountain Pictures PG $2,997 * 1,052 = $3.2M

10: LEATHERHEADS: Universal PG-13 $1,080 * 2,798 = $3.0M cume $26.6M

(source Box Office Mojo)

Robin Rowe is a co-founder of ScreenPlayLab (www.screenplaylab.com).