‘Geostorm’ Bombed in America But Succeeded in China After Focusing on Daniel Wu

October 31, 2017

Disaster movie “Geostorm”, which stars Hong Kong American actor Daniel Wu as Cheng Long, surpassed the Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling-led film, “Blade Runner 2049,” which did poorly in China’s box office.

The film, distributed in China by state-owned enterprises China Film Group and Huaxia Distribution, and presented by Alcon Entertainment in association with Columbia Pictures, earned some $500,000 in midnight screenings and came out on top on each day, making $33 million for its opening weekend on Oct. 20.

Warner Bros. reported $34.1 million from 17,000 movie theaters, with nearly $3 million of that total from 441 IMAX screens, according to Variety.

“Blade Runner 2049”, on the other hand, only managed to get $7.35 million, according to Chinese data tracker Ent Group.

It’s also important to note that “Geostorm” had screenings at 87,000 theaters on Friday, which increased to 91,000 by Sunday.

Meanwhile, “Blade Runner” opened at 55,000 theaters on Friday, but decreased to 40,000 by Sunday, putting it third behind “Kingsman: The Golden Circle”.

“Geostorm’s” success was all reportedly due to how the marketing team approached its advertising in the country. It used Wu as its front and center actor on the poster, although the 43-year-old actor was not even billed in the North American movie poster, Forbes reported.

Director Dean Devlin cast Wu in a role in “Geostorm” not just for his extensive film career, but also because of his award-winning talent on-screen.

The “Into the Badlands” star, who was born and raised in Berkeley, California, grew up idolizing martial artists/actors Jet Li and Jackie Chan. Wu then moved to Hong Kong in 1997 to pursue a modeling career after he graduated from the University of Oregon.

The actor has since appeared in more than 60 movies such as “Naked Weapon,” “Overheard,” and “Warcraft,” to name a few, making Wu quite a popular actor in the Chinese film industry.

Featured image via YouTube / ComingSoon

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