Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean rolls out red carpet in China for world premiere of Dead Men Tell No Tales
With Hollywood chasing a bigger share of China’s growing cinema box office revenue, stars Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Javier Bardem parade on red carpet in Shanghai at Pirates of the Caribbean 5 global launch
Walt Disney Co’s latest outing of Pirates of the Caribbean rolled out the red carpet in Shanghai on Thursday in a rare world premiere in China for a Hollywood blockbuster as US producers look to woo movie-goers there.
What Johnny Depp, Chow Yun-fat and a Hong Kong pirate legend have in common
In the shadow of Disney’s newest theme park, which opened last year, hundreds of Pirates fans lined up to catch a glimpse of stars Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Javier Bardem ahead of an afternoon viewing.
Despite a slowdown in box office sales in the Chinese market, US studios are increasingly looking to it to boost global revenues, though they face issues from a local quota system for imported films to questions over censorship.
China’s box office slowed markedly last year, but grew at its fastest pace in more than a year in April, driven by Universal’s high-octane action movie The Fate of the Furious .
The China premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales puts it among a small number of US films to screen for the first time in China. Films like Point Break and Iron Man 3 have premiered or opened earlier in China.
The trend reflects the growing influence of China’s 1.4 billion potential cinema-goers, who are increasingly driving global box office sales.
