'Wonder Woman 1984' stalled at the China box office with a 92% decline from last week

• "Wonder Woman 1984" earned $1.5 million at the China box office over the weekend, a 92% decline from its debut in the region.
• The Hong Kong action movie "Shock Wave 2" earned $64.5 million in China and the Chinese fantasy movie "Dream of Eternity" grossed $39 million over the weekend.
• "Wonder Woman 1984" scored a lackluster 7.8 on the Chinese ticketing app Maoyan and a 6.5 from the Chinese social network Douban, suggesting audiences weren't enthused about the movie.
• It fared better in the US over the weekend with $16.7 million, the best opening of the pandemic.

"Wonder Woman 1984" took a nosedive at the China box office in its second weekend in theaters in the region.

The superhero sequel earned just $1.5 million over the weekend, according to Artisan Gateway, a Chinese film consulting firm. It's a 92% decline from its debut weekend in China when it earned a disappointing $18 million.

It has grossed $85 million globally so far.

The movie's debut weekend was a slow one across the board for China, whose theatrical industry has otherwise started to rebound after being hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic (the Chinese box office has even surpassed North America as the world's biggest this year). The Chinese movie "The Rescue" also fell below projections with $36 million last weekend.

But this weekend was different, as the Hong Kong action movie "Shock Wave 2" earned $64.5 million in China and the Chinese fantasy movie "Dream of Eternity" grossed $39 million. Yet "Wonder Woman 1984" continued to flounder in the region.

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"Wonder Woman 1984" fared better in its debut in US theaters over the weekend. It made $16.7 million, the best opening since the pandemic began, but a sign that US movie theaters are far from a full recovery. 2017's "Wonder Woman" earned $103 million in its opening weekend in the US. It ultimately grossed $822 million worldwide, $90.5 million of which came from China.

"Wonder Woman 1984" debuted simultaneously on WarnerMedia's streaming service HBO Max in the US over the weekend (it's not available internationally yet). WarnerMedia said on Sunday that nearly half of its retail subscribers (those who subscribe directly to Max rather than through a cable provider) watched the movie on its first day on Friday, but didn't provide specific viewership numbers. Max had 12.6 million activations as of December 8.

Industry experts previously said that piracy could be an issue once the movie had become available to stream.

"A pristine, high-definition copy of the movie will be available in everyone's queues within days," Shawn Robbins, the Box Office Pro chief analyst, told Business Insider last week.

But a lack of enthusiasm for "Wonder Woman 1984" may have contributed to its dramatic decline at the China box office. It scored a 7.8 on the Chinese ticketing app Maoyan and a 6.5 from the Chinese social network Douban, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The movie has generally been favored less than its predecessor, "Wonder Woman," among audiences and critics.

It has a 65% Rotten Tomatoes critic score and a 73% audience score based on over 1,700 user ratings ("Wonder Woman" has a 93% critic score and 84% audience score). The sequel received a B+ on Cinemascore, which surveys audiences on a movie's opening night (the first movie received an A).