The unbreakable Jackie Chan is ecstatic about Duncan Jones’s Warcraft. While speaking at the kickoff event for his namesake Jackie Chan Action Movie Week program at the Shanghai International Film Festival, the Hong Kong movie legend discussed the seismic change in the global film market, which was once dominated by the United States, and how Warcraft’s success in China is frightening Americans. “Warcraft made 600 million RMB ($91 million) in two days — this has scared the Americans,” Chan said. “If we can make a film that earns 10 billion ($1.5 billion), then people from all over the world who study film will learn Chinese, instead of us learning English.”
The movie ended up with $145 million in China in just four days; along with its $10.7 million domestic opening, it’s made $276.9 million internationally. Stephen Chow’s comedy-fantasy The Mermaid, which grossed $528.6 million earlier this year, remains the highest-grossing film in China. Warcraft was partially produced by Legendary Entertainment, which was bought by Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group for $3.5 billion in January.
