Chinese Theaters Drop 92% of ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Screenings

Star Wars: The Last Jedi may have been a hit in the United States, but the Force was not with theater-goers in China.

Just seven days after a disappointing opening weekend for Disney’s blockbuster, theaters in China have decided to pull the plug on the majority of showings, pulling 92 percent of the film’s screenings. According to a report from Forbes, The Last Jedi went showing on 34.5 percent of screens in China this week, to just 2.6 percent of screens this weekend.

The poor performance of a Star Wars film overseas is unprecedented, but blame can be placed on a couple of other films that have been dominant in China over the last several weeks. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle has been performing extremely well in the country, as it has across the world. The biggest culprit however, remains a low-budget romantic comedy.

The Ex-Files 3: Return of the Exes was released one week before The Last Jedi, and gained an incredible amount of momentum. In its second week, against Star Wars, The Ex-Files won the box office with an $87 million haul. That dominated the mere $27 million earned by The Last Jedi.

In the week following its abysmal opening weekend, Star Wars earned just $7 million, bringing its seven day total to an alarmingly low $34.2 million.

While China certainly isn’t doing the film any favors, The Last Jedi is still one of the biggest films of 2017. Rian Johnson’s addition to the Skywalker Saga has earned just over $1.2 billion worldwide, with $578 million of that coming from the United States.