The impressive $27.4 million opening in China by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Terminator: Genisys” on Sunday reminded me of an off-the-record comment by an executive at a film company heavily invested in China a fewย years ago.
“Chinese moviegoers love big metal things that clank,” he said, “especially if they go fast.” I didn’t give it much thought because, unless we’re talking about the French and Jerry Lewis, broad generalizations about the tastes of an entire populace are rarely valid.
But I recalled it when Guillermo del Toro’s giant robot epic “Pacific Rim” made $100 million in China for Warner Bros. and launched a sequel after a so-so U.S.