Star Trek Beyond opens big in China

After struggling to find box office success in Western markets, Star Trek Beyond has got off to a strong start in China. Weekend actuals are in, and with $30.7m from 6,259 locations, it opened 105% larger than the previous installment, Star Trek Into Darkness, and 33% beyond Jason Bourne. It continued to lead comfortably through Monday. (All data via Deadline.)

It’s not the first film of this year to perform strongly in China, with Warcraft being saved by its box office returns over there. So much so, in fact, that the sequel might end up being made exclusively for the market.

It’s curious that Star Trek Beyond has struggled to pull in audiences anyhow – it being of a higher quality, arguably, than certainly Into Darkness. But perhaps that’s the problem: that film didn’t really make audiences desperate for a sequel and they have been quite self-contained movies. Paramount Pictures will just have to hope that there are enough Trekkies in China to help carry the film to at least break-even, considering its large $185 million budget.