By Louise Watt
BEIJING (AP) --The record-breaking "Star Wars" opened Saturday in China, where it is far from certain to draw in enough moviegoers to knock off "Avatar" as the world's all-time biggest grossing movie.
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is the highest ever grossing film in the North American market, where it was released three weeks ago.
But internationally, it still has a long way to go to beat "Avatar," James Cameron's science-fiction movie with blue aliens. The international box office of the latest "Star Wars" movie stands at $1.6 billion, compared to the $2.8 billion "Avatar" made in 2009.
Richard Huang, an analyst at Nomura Securities, expects the movie to roughly match the $229 million in Chinese box-office sales that "Jurassic World" generated last year.
Not many Chinese are familiar with "Star Wars." The franchise's three prequel films released from 1999 to 2005 were shown in China, but at a time when there were much fewer screens in the country.
Promotional events organized by Disney in the months leading up to the release included the placing of 500 Stormtrooper figures on the steps of the Great Wall and the illumination of the movie's Chinese title on the guard towers for a light show in October.
It enlisted the marketing power of actor and singer Lu Han, who appeared in promotional videos and released a music video on Thursday called "The Inner Force" with images from the film.
In an overt bid to appeal to Chinese audiences in next "Star Wars" film, "Rogue One," bosses have cast Hong Kong martial arts actor Donnie Yen and Chinese actor and director Jiang Wen in it.
China is expected to surpass North America as the world's largest movie market as soon as next year, and Hollywood is casting Chinese actors and incorporating Chinese elements to appeal to the massive audience.
“Scandal” cast will reunite for online script reading for hurricane relief in western North Carolina
The cast of ABC's hit political drama "Scandal" may need to brush up on their snappy, speedy delivery known as "Scandal-pace," because they're reuniting for a good cause. Its stars including Kerry Washington, Tony Goldwyn and Bellamy Young will take part in a live virtual script reading on Nov. 17 to raise money for hurricane relief in western North Carolina.
Beginning Friday, fans can go online and donate to reserve a spot for the online reading. Proceeds will benefit United Way of North Carolina. Everyone who donates will be able to take part in a virtual pre-event with the cast and Shonda Rhimes will give an introduction.
Additional guest stars will also be announced. The online fundraising platform Prizeo is also holding a contest where one person who donates online via their site will be selected to read a role from the script with the actors. The winner should not worry about the "Scandal"-pace, assured Young over Zoom.
"Whomever the lucky reader is can read at whatever pace they want," she said.
Young, who played Mellie Young, the first lady and later Republican presidential nominee on "Scandal," was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina. She came up with the idea for the effort with a friend and took it to her fellow "Scandal" actors, who all jumped on board. Young said this is the first script reading the cast has all done together since the show ended after seven seasons in 2018.
Which episode they will be reading has not been announced yet.
Young said it's "been devastating" to see so many parts of her hometown badly damaged by Hurricane Helene, which ravaged western North Carolina one month ago.
To research the best use for donations, Young spoke with numerous political leaders, including North... Read More