The Dark Knight Rises may have the edge over The Amazing Spider-Man when it comes to global box-office, but Christopher Nolan’s final Batman film didn’t have enough appeal with Chinese audiences to topple Sony’s rebooted wall-crawler when the two films opened in direct competition in mainland China yesterday.
According to Variety, The Dark Knight Rises enjoyed a $4.5 million opening day - more than any of the Harry Potter movies except Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, giving Warner Bros. a record for its highest-ever 2D opening in China - but it wasn’t enough to claim victory over The Amazing Spider-Man, with the Marc Webb-directed reboot pulling in a solid $5.46 million.
Despite opening in direct competition, the lucrative Chinese box office should provide a healthy boost to both films; as it stands at the moment, The Dark Knight Rises looks all but certain to break the $1 billion mark globally and overtake The Dark Knight to become the biggest Batman film of all-time, although The Amazing Spider-Man remains some $80 million adrift of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 and looks set to end up as the lowest-grossing instalment of the Spider-Man franchise.
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