‘Batman v Superman’ To Get Day-And-Date China Release

Warner Bros.’ superhero duel “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” is to be released in China on Mar 25.

The news emerged on a Chinese social media account for the film. It was subsequently confirmed to Variety by sources close to Warner.

The date of the China outing means that the picture can get a near simultaneous day-and-date release with North America and many other major territories.

That in turn minimizes the erosive effects of piracy in the world’s second largest theatrical marketplace, and maximizes the effect of the global publicity and marketing campaigns.

Chinese regulators have often appeared to want to throttle or limit the box office performance of Hollywood movies, in order to ensure that Chinese productions have a majority market share – but that is not always the case.

China was the last country in the world to open “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” opening on January 9, three or more weeks after most other territories. With one day of its run remaining “Star Wars” has a cumulative score of $125 million after 29 days. “Kung Fu Panda 3,” which was a Chinese-U.S. co-production, got a day-and-date release on Jan. 29 and currently stands on $101 million after 9 days.

The advanced confirmation of the China release date for “Batman v Superman” is also longer than many Hollywood imports have to prepare their campaigns in the Middle Kingdom.

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