Roland Emmerich’s big-budget sci-fi disaster pic Moonfall has been set for a March 25 release in China (check out the new poster below). The movie, which released via Lionsgate domestically on February 4, is heavily backed by China’s Huayi, so this is an important piece of its recoupment prospects. The China date falls one week after the PRC start of Warner Bros/DC’s The Batman.
The $146M independent pic sold out at Cannes in 2019 and was one of the market’s hottest titles. Partners also include AGC Studios and its international distribution network, Centropolis, CAA Media Finance, East West Bank, MUFG Union Bank and SPG3 Entertainment.
So far, box office has been far from out of this world with just $19M in North America and $39.4M global. Several markets in Asia are still to go along with some key European hubs. Emmerich’s last film, 2019’s Midway, did $42M in China while 2016’s Independence Day: Resurgence made over $75M.
Moonfall stars Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, John Bradley, Michael Peña, Charlie Plummer, Kelly Yu, Eme Ikwuakor, Carolina Bartczak and Donald Sutherland.
The story sees a mysterious force knock the moon from its orbit around Earth and send it hurtling on a collision course with life as we know it. With mere weeks before impact and the world on the brink of annihilation, NASA executive and former astronaut Jo Fowler (Berry) is convinced she has the key to saving us all – but only one astronaut from her past, Brian Harper (Wilson), and conspiracy theorist KC Houseman (Bradley) believe her. The unlikely heroes mount an impossible last-ditch mission into space only to find out that our moon is not what we think it is.
Emmerich directed and penned the script with Harald Kloser and Spenser Cohen. Emmerich and Kloser are producers.
Here’s the new China poster:
