“Gravity” has scored entry into the most exclusive club in the movie business — China.
Alfonso Cuaron’s 3D space drama will be released in the People’s Republic next month, according to a report in Beijing News. It has been approved by the country’s Film Bureau.
A spokesman for Warner Bros., which is distributing the picture, did not immediately respond to TheWrap‘s request for comment.
Also read: Tom Hanks Gets Box-Office Groove Back With ‘Captain Phillips’
It’s good news for “Gravity” which will get one of the few remaining slots afforded to foreign films. China only allows 34 foreign films to screen in its borders annually, and favors pictures that can be shown in 3D and IMAX. For “Gravity,” which is being credited with reviving domestic audiences’ appetites for the tinted specs and premium screen formats, that’s a check and a check.
Getting into China, which last year surpassed Japan as the world’s second largest market for movie ticket sales, can add tens of millions of dollars to a film’s bottom line.
So far “Gravity,” which cost $80 million to make, has taken in nearly $200 million worldwide.