How 'Warcraft' took China's box office by storm last week

Bolstered by a bevy of marketing partners and the exhibition muscle of its parent company's cinema chain, Legendary Entertainment's "Warcraft" smashed its way into the box-office record books last week in China, earning 156 million in its first five days in theaters. The long-awaited fantasy film based on Blizzard Entertainment's popular "Warcraft" video game series occupied nearly two-thirds of all screens on the mainland upon its opening Wednesday, with 120,000 screenings alone on its first day in theaters – a record, according to Dalian Wanda, which purchased Legendary this year. The opening-week performance of "Warcraft" already has outstripped the entire China runs of other major Hollywood films released this year including "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and "Kung Fu Panda 3." And the movie's China receipts have been some six times greater than its domestic earnings. Near the end of "Warcraft" -- an elaborate, exhausting cinematic collision of humans and Orcs, live actors and digital extras, geek enthusiasms and multiplex dollars -- the director Duncan Jones grants us a breather from all the thundering mayhem. Near the end of "Warcraft" -- an elaborate, exhausting cinematic collision of humans and Orcs, live actors and digital extras, geek enthusiasms and multiplex dollars -- the director Duncan Jones grants us a breather from all the thundering mayhem.