Christian Bale couldn't entice U.S. moviegoers to go see "Flowers of War," the most expensive movie in Chinese history, last weekend. Nor could director Zhang Yimou of "Hero" fame.
"The Flowers of War," a dark and violent Chinese-language movie about the Rape of Nanking that cost more than $90 million to produce, grossed an anemic $48,558 in 30 U.S. locations last weekend. Its per-location average: A mere $1,619.
"The Flowers of War" belly flop -- and the problems it has faced on the way to the U.S. market -- underscores the challenges Chinese movies can face in America.
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When it comes to attracting Stateside audiences, some Chinese movies, no matter how lavishly produced, get lost in translation.
Set in China during the 1930s, "The Flowers of War" revolves around a mortician (Bale) who protects convent girls and prostitutes from the invading Japanese army.
It has grossed nearly $100 million in China, making it one of the highest-grossing films in the country's history.
That might sound impressive, but producer and China film-industry expert Rob Cain called it underwhelming for a movie with a production budget of that size. His company, Pacific Bridge Pictures, estimates the movie's China gross at $95 million, a few million short of "Aftershock."
"They're going to need the picture to do $200 million in China to recoup that in China, and there's no way they're going to get that, so they need it to be a real international hit," he said.
Zhang disagreed.
"As long as the distribution work is done well, you can always make the money back in China," he told TheWrap through a translator. "China will be the largest market besides the U.S. in the next five years, so for me, I have the confidence to know that the market is going to be in play for my movie."
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Jay Cohen, who is putting together a film finance fund with basketball star Yao Ming points out that the Chinese market is different than Hollywood, where the focus is firmly fixed on the bottom line.
"They make movies for specific reasons," Cohen, head of independent film for Gersh, told TheWrap. "Sometimes, it's to introduce the culture of China to other markets, sometimes for cultural history. No one is going to lose money, but sometimes they do it for a sense of cultural pride."
The U.S. rollout for "Flowers of War" has been marred by false stops and starts, not to mention negative reviews. Domestic distributor Wrekin Hill moved up the movie's U.S. theatrical release date from early March to last Friday, in the second U.S. date change for the film, which was China's Oscar entry for foreign language film and was a Golden Globe nominee.
