The Great Wall

Tentu, mari kita lanjutkan dengan Part 9 The Great Wall Analysis

​💰 The High-Stakes Gamble: Budget and Box Office Performance (Part 9/20)

​The Costliest Co-Production
​The Great Wall was monumental in its financial scope, holding the distinction of being the most expensive film ever shot entirely in China, with a reported production budget of around $150 million. This massive investment was the result of a first-of-its-kind, high-stakes partnership between Hollywood powerhouses (Universal Pictures, Legendary Entertainment) and major Chinese film companies (China Film Group, Le Vision Pictures).
​The film was explicitly designed as a global tentpole—a monster epic intended to appeal equally to North American and Chinese audiences, bridging the world’s two largest cinema markets. The use of a recognizable Western star like Matt Damon, combined with the direction of Chinese auteur Zhang Yimou, was the formula intended to guarantee success on both fronts.
​A Mixed Financial Outcome
​Despite its ambitious goals, the box office performance of The Great Wall was widely considered a financial disappointment relative to its gargantuan cost (which did not include the substantial global marketing budget, estimated at over $80 million).
​Global Gross: The film earned approximately $334 million worldwide.
​China Success: The movie performed strongly in China, grossing over $170 million, accounting for more than half of its total revenue. This proved the formula did work for the Chinese market.
​U.S. Underperformance: Conversely, its domestic (North American) gross was significantly low for a film of this scale, earning only around $45 million.
​When considering the high production and marketing expenses, industry reports indicated that The Great Wall generated a significant net loss, estimated by some sources to be as much as $75 million. This failure sent shockwaves through the industry, putting a definitive damper on the future of large-scale, similarly structured U.S.-China co-productions.
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