Sonic The Hedgehog opened in China with just over $1 million in ticket sales while Christopher Nolan's Interstellar earned $2.85 million over the past weekend. Paramount's Sonic the Hedgehog opened in the United States and several other territories in February 2020, but the film's release in China was delayed to the coronavirus pandemic. The video game adaptation was finally released in China on July 31 while Interstellar, originally released in 2014, was one of a number of older titles re-released as the country's movie theaters reopen.
Sonic The Hedgehog broke records when it debuted in the U.S. and additional territories, grossing an estimated $57 million over the three-day holiday weekend. Having set a new record for the biggest opening weekend for a video game film in the U. S., Sonic the Hedgehog would go on to earn a worldwide total of $306 million. However, Chinese data tracker Ent Group estimates Sonic The Hedgehog earned only $1.27 million, being bested by local release Enigma of Arrival, which earned $3.34 million in its opening weekend.
Meanwhile, Christopher Nolan's Interstellar was re-released in Chinese theaters on Sunday and set a new single-day record for the country since theaters started to reopening following the coronavirus shutdown. The science-fiction film's single-day gross was enough to earn it the third-place spot at the Chinese box office this weekend, behind only Enigma of Arrival and Robert Downey Jr.'s Dolittle. A total of $660,000 of Interstellar's Sunday earnings came from 461 Imax screens.
According to a report by Variety, approximately 65% of China's movie theaters were re-opened as of Saturday but they did not fare too well in their second weekend of resumed operations. According to industry tracker Maoyan, Chinese multiplexes earned only $17.6 million in overall weekend grosses across the country. The outlet notes that the poor box office results in China can be attributed, in part, to the restrictions imposed on Chinese theaters due to the coronavirus pandemic. For example, venues can only sell 30% of their maximum capacity of seats in order to allow for social distancing.
Fortunately, the poor box office performance of Sonic the Hedgehog in China won't have any effect on the titular video game hero's future on-screen adventures. Last month, Sonic voice actor Ben Schwartz announced a sequel was already slated for release in early 2022.
However, the less-than-stellar box office revenue seen in China may suggest that audiences aren't eager to flock to theaters any time soon, at least not for older releases that could be pirated by now. On the other hand, the strong showing for Interstellar may indicate that moviegoers are still willing to experience what Christopher Nolan has to offer on the biggest screen possible, which could be a good sign for the filmmaker's upcoming blockbuster Tenet.