While most films are finding it difficult to gain momentum at the American box office because of the global coronavirus pandemic, it is a different story entirely in China. For instance, Pixar’s latest animated feature, Soul, is finding legs in the country.
Deadline reports that rather than experiencing a drop in ticket sales, Soul saw its sales rose 149 percent from its debut last week. Its most recent numbers have it earning $13.7 million in China, which is a jump from the $5.5 million it earned during its debut.
The publication credits good word of mouth to the increase that the film has enjoyed in earnings. In just two weekends, the film has already earned $25.7 million in China, which Deadline believes could put it on track to earn $50 million in the country.
Forbes adds that Soul is also not crumbling against the competition from local Chinese films like A Little Red Flower, which brought in $76 million on its first weekend in theaters. The publication also favorably compared Soul to Coco, which also started with a paltry $1.16 million opening weekend in China before powering to $189 million by the time it ended its run.
Soul’s performance in China, alongside that of Coco, Aquaman, and Black Panther, are signs that the Chinese audience does not mind watching stories from racial minorities, according to Forbes. It even pointed out that Pacific Rim only got a sequel because the first movie earned $113 million in China.
Even outside of the Chinese box office, other markets are just recovering faster than the American one, despite the still ongoing global coronavirus pandemic. One particular success story is the animated film Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train, which recently became the highest-grossing movie in Japan.
In the three months since it premiered, Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train has been able to earn 32.4 billion yen in the Japanese box office. This is enough to eclipse Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away, which previously held the record with its 30.8 billion yen take back in 2001.
The animated film also overtook Bohemian Rhapsody as the biggest IMAX movie in Japan. In just the space of a month, Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train earned $21 million in IMAX theaters, easily eclipsing Bohemian Rhapsody’s $14.2 million.
Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train is also the second-highest earning movie overseas, shooting past Christopher Nolan’s Tenet. Internationally, the animated film has already earned $310 million, several millions past Tenet’s $303.5 million.