{"id":161,"date":"2018-01-23T12:53:44","date_gmt":"2018-01-23T18:53:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/?p=161"},"modified":"2018-01-24T22:29:38","modified_gmt":"2018-01-25T04:29:38","slug":"jumanji-and-the-last-jedi-china-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/jumanji-and-the-last-jedi-china-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Jumanji and the Last Jedi China Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Star-Wars-Dwayne-2.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"162\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/jumanji-and-the-last-jedi-china-problem\/star-wars-dwayne-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Star-Wars-Dwayne-2.jpg?fit=642%2C361\" data-orig-size=\"642,361\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Star-Wars-Dwayne-2\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Star-Wars-Dwayne-2.jpg?fit=300%2C169\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Star-Wars-Dwayne-2.jpg?fit=642%2C361\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-162\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Star-Wars-Dwayne-2.jpg?resize=300%2C169\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Star-Wars-Dwayne-2.jpg?resize=300%2C169 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Star-Wars-Dwayne-2.jpg?w=642 642w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>First let&#8217;s tackle <em>Jumanji<\/em> stealing Star Wars wave of audience attendance. Any movie following <em>The Last Jedi<\/em> was only supposed to be able to surf on the Star Wars wave not steal their momentum. It was unthinkable that the Sony rehash of the old <em>Jumanji<\/em> property would actually gain this much traction. Sony made a smart bet to cash in on holiday movie going by following in the <em>Star Wars<\/em> franchise wake, it was more successful than they could have dreamed and probably will never happen again (for Sony). However Disney now has to live with a target on their back, other studios now know even the biggest brand has flaws and smart completion can undercut juggernauts to make a lot of\u00a0 money.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_166\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-166\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/jumanji-welcome-to-the-jungle.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"166\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/jumanji-and-the-last-jedi-china-problem\/jumanji-welcome-to-the-jungle\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/jumanji-welcome-to-the-jungle.jpg?fit=618%2C412\" data-orig-size=\"618,412\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"jumanji-welcome-to-the-jungle\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/jumanji-welcome-to-the-jungle.jpg?fit=300%2C200\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/jumanji-welcome-to-the-jungle.jpg?fit=618%2C412\" class=\"wp-image-166 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/jumanji-welcome-to-the-jungle.jpg?resize=300%2C200\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/jumanji-welcome-to-the-jungle.jpg?resize=300%2C200 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/jumanji-welcome-to-the-jungle.jpg?w=618 618w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-166\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Worldwide: $768,272,140<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>At first Sony only entertained hopes of breaking even on their $90 million dollar budget, but the well-made, smartly edited, smartly cast and most of all smartly written <em>Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle<\/em> out preformed wildest expectations becoming the very definition of a surprise hit. Bottom line all of this happened because <em>Jumanji<\/em> drafted off then stole <em>Star Wars<\/em> momentum. Of course it\u2019s not going to challenge TLJ&#8217;s billion plus dollar total record, however to make the point <em>Jumanji<\/em> co-opted the momentum that rightfully belonged to Disney I am going to substitute the box office results for Star War Last Jedi starting Star Wars 3<sup>rd<\/sup> week with <em>Jumanji\u2019<\/em>s domestic take. This I think will be fair because a major franchises first two weekends pretty much make the movie and without a direct act of God this pretty much doesn\u2019t change. However <em>Star Wars<\/em> movies usually have very long legs staying top earners until pulled from theaters. This is where <em>Last Jedi<\/em> stumbles and <em>Jumanji<\/em> takes up the slack.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>End of the second week (Dec 22nd-28<sup>th<\/sup>) Star Wars was at $464,698,228 domestic.<\/li>\n<li>Jumanji 2<sup>rd<\/sup> week (Dec 29<sup>th<\/sup>&#8211; Jan 4<sup>th<\/sup>)\u00a0 $89,421,473\u00a0\u00a0 : actual SW TLJ\u00a0\u00a0 $84,264,374<\/li>\n<li>3<sup>rd <\/sup>\u00a0(Jan 5<sup>th<\/sup>-11<sup>th<\/sup>) $47,763,243\u00a0\u00a0 :\u00a0 actual SW TLJ\u00a0 $31,311,982<\/li>\n<li>4<sup>th<\/sup>\u00a0 (Jan 12<sup>th<\/sup>-18<sup>th<\/sup>) $40,809,239 : actual SW TLJ\u00a0 $17,443,892<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For a total of $177,993,955 that we will add to Last Jedi\u2019s numbers instead of their own for $642,692,183 or $662,732,183 with the weekend of Jan 19th-22<sup>nd<\/sup>\u00a0 included, instead of the actual total $604,284,476. May not seem like much of difference for a movie that should have broken the $1 billion domestic record, however in my opinion a nothing $90 million dollar movie performing better illustrates not only did <em>Jumanji<\/em> draft off the success of a major franchise they stole their momentum by stealing people who fill the seats. I have no doubt Disney is very aware of this but they also had other problems in 2017.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/pirates-of-the-caribbean-dead-e1516727993562.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"171\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/jumanji-and-the-last-jedi-china-problem\/pirates-of-the-caribbean-dead-men-tell-no-tales\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/pirates-of-the-caribbean-dead-e1516727993562.jpg?fit=393%2C350\" data-orig-size=\"393,350\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Film Frame&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;\\&quot;PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES\\&quot;..The villainous Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem) pursues Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) as he searches for the trident used by Poseidon..Ph: Film Frame..\\u00a9Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;\\u00a9Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;&#8220;PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES&#8221;..The villainous Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem) pursues Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) as he searches for the trident used by Poseidon..Ph: Film Frame..\u00a9Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/pirates-of-the-caribbean-dead-e1516727993562.jpg?fit=300%2C267\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/pirates-of-the-caribbean-dead-e1516727993562.jpg?fit=393%2C350\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-171 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/pirates-of-the-caribbean-dead-e1516727993562-150x150.jpg?resize=150%2C150\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/pirates-of-the-caribbean-dead-e1516727993562.jpg?resize=150%2C150 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/pirates-of-the-caribbean-dead-e1516727993562.jpg?zoom=2&amp;resize=150%2C150 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In a year of big successes Disney had two big missteps in 2017, first was the Johnny Depp rent money vehicle <em>Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Buy No Tickets which<\/em> came upon rough seas with a story that essentially was all the previous Pirates scripts processed though a Mad Libs algorithm, the second of course is <em>The Last Jedi<\/em> which under preformed in a big way and outright flopping in China (which is not as important as most people think). Both movies didn\u2019t fulfill the most important function of being a satisfying movie for the audience and being a movie they would want to return to again and again. I think Disney is well aware of it now after theaters finally free from their obligation to Disney chose to drop Star Wars (the biggest brand in the history of movies) at a point in time where the ticket revenue would favor the theater owners. The fact theater owners are eager to move on from Star Wars would be unthinkable just two years ago when <em>The Force Awakens\u00a0<\/em>was maintaining its hold on the top three sales positions. Theaters owners have no other bias other than wanting to make money, they are the ones on the front lines making the sales that make the Hollywood system work, the fact they jettisoned TLJ as soon as they could I believe shows an over all audience dissatisfaction not reflected in the positive press. In my opinion Disney has to know this is a misfire just because of their other series which continue to expand or at least maintain attendance numbers. The audience for Star Wars is still there and can be grown just not with paltry offerings like T<em>he Last Jedi<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/china-box-office--e1516728574311.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"165\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/jumanji-and-the-last-jedi-china-problem\/china-box-office\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/china-box-office--e1516728574311.jpg?fit=579%2C173\" data-orig-size=\"579,173\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"-china-box-office-\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/china-box-office--e1516728574311.jpg?fit=300%2C90\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/china-box-office--e1516728574311.jpg?fit=579%2C173\" class=\"aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-165\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/china-box-office--e1516728574311-150x150.jpg?resize=150%2C150\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/china-box-office--e1516728574311.jpg?resize=150%2C150 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/china-box-office--e1516728574311.jpg?zoom=2&amp;resize=150%2C150 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/china-box-office--e1516728574311.jpg?zoom=3&amp;resize=150%2C150 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Lets tackle the China problem, Last Jedi flopped. Bigly. Some say it was because the Chinese were not familiar with the brand, only recently being introduced to it. To remedy this Disney spent a lot of money trying to promote the brand in china since 2015, in 2017 they put a tremendous effort in reaching out to the Chinese people. Some think the TLJ flop is because the brand is not a staple of the Chinese culture, which is true and a fair point to some degree however Star wars has known success in China under conditions of nearly no brand awareness.<\/p>\n<p>TLJ defenders go on to say since the Chinese are not familiar with the franchise they didn\u2019t know what to make of the traditional darker middle story.\u00a0\u00a0 I do not think this holds water at all, far as darker tone of middle stories is nothing new to story telling, certainly nothing not new to movies. I do think the part of problem with TLJ there was no balance in the tone. It is a constant kick in the face for the rebels. The Chinese essentially live under the First Order why would they want to watch this? What from their point of view would be entertaining about bad side missions and disappointing mentors, while the oppressive &#8220;<em>obey us or die&#8221;<\/em> form of government gets more oppressive?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/obey-e1516726655788.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"163\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/jumanji-and-the-last-jedi-china-problem\/obey\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/obey-e1516726655788.jpg?fit=515%2C820\" data-orig-size=\"515,820\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"obey\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/obey-e1516726655788.jpg?fit=188%2C300\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/obey-e1516726655788.jpg?fit=688%2C688\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-163 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/obey-e1516726655788-188x300.jpg?resize=188%2C300\" alt=\"\" width=\"188\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/obey-e1516726655788.jpg?resize=188%2C300 188w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/obey-e1516726655788.jpg?w=515 515w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 188px) 100vw, 188px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here is where I think is unfamiliarity with the series comes in to play, also the reason I believe western critics had an initial positive reactions is because of how long this franchise has been in our culture. Rian Johnson neglects a large swaths of the audience by engineering his story to \u201cdefy&#8221; western expectations only. Only western audiences have baked in expectations of Luke Sywalker style protagonists, Princess Leia leading ladies, Yoda &amp; Obi-Wan mentors, Darth bagmen, Sidious dictators, with assorted droids and space ships. Take all of that away and what do you have? Not much. Think back to the movie, remove all the knowledge of what characters in the are supposed to be, leaving the rest of the trappings in place and what do you have? A lot of scenes tailored to people who have a life long knowledge of the situations and characters, only they have the ability to react to the situations the way the director intends, which is a fundamental mistake in story telling. Last Jedi was crafted for a niche western audience, some of whom found the departure refreshing. More importantly it ignored the outline of mythical quests and the very mythical nature of this franchise in particular.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/1imj7d.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"174\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/jumanji-and-the-last-jedi-china-problem\/1imj7d\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/1imj7d.jpg?fit=600%2C341\" data-orig-size=\"600,341\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"1imj7d\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/1imj7d.jpg?fit=300%2C171\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/1imj7d.jpg?fit=600%2C341\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-174\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/1imj7d.jpg?resize=300%2C171\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"171\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/1imj7d.jpg?resize=300%2C171 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/treedofliberty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/1imj7d.jpg?w=600 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>OK, quickly on why the flop in China doesn\u2019t matter. Simply it is because although the studios like to brag about how big their audience in China is and how big their totals are with the Chinese box office receipts, the fact of the matter is in terms of the real dollars the studios see from China it is very little. I believe at the current time studios (are supposed to) receive only 25% of the total Chinese box office, for reference the rest of the world after accounting for things like local taxes and theater percentage of the ticket price is between 60 and 40%. China also has a history of withholding the funds from studios, so the studios while reporting record-breaking box office were actually getting nothing with the promise of maybe someday the Chinese government might release the funds. It&#8217;s no wonder why, the potential of China is so great any studio would be willing to eat a loss (at least temporary) to be able to someday realize the full potential of this new marketplace.<\/p>\n<p>Biggest reason it doesn&#8217;t matter is we also do not know TLJ actually flopped in China, the Chinese government might be playing with the ticket sales. It has happened before and we can\u2019t be certain the Chinese government didn\u2019t decide to make an example of the biggest movie franchise in the world. Or maybe it is down to Rian Johnson crafting a movie only a niche western audience could enjoy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First let&#8217;s tackle Jumanji stealing Star Wars wave of audience attendance. 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