Lionsgate sets record year in China

Lionsgate’s market share of non-Chinese releases in the territory reached 8% according to senior executives. Action thriller Escape Plan opened on November 4 and is the leader on $40m, followed by the November 21 release of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Shanghai pictured) on $28m.

Now You See Me opened on October 10 and took $23m, while The Impossible arrived on August 29 and grossed $8.8m. Red 2 arrived on November 15 and grossed $8.5m while The Last Stand amassed $8m since the October 24 debut.

Through Sunday December 22 the company reported an estimated $1.227bn in combined international grosses and an estimated $1.025bn for North America, resulting in a $2.252bn worldwide tally.

Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Summit’s sleeper smash Now You See Me led the way.

The former stands at $765.6m globally – $393.6m internationally and $372m in North America – and in five weeks has overtaken the final $691m worldwide gross of The Hunger Games.

Now You See Me has grossed $236m internationally and $118m in North America for a total of $354m.

“Our strong box office performance for the second year in a row, domestically and internationally, underscores the consistency of our film slate and is a testament to the tireless efforts of our entire motion picture team,” said Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer and vice-chairman Michael Burns.

Another highlight of the year was the breakout performance of Instructions Not Included, which became the highest grossing Spanish-language film released in the US on $44.5m through Pantelion Films, Lionsgate’s joint venture with Grupo Televisa.

The global haul including $41.1m from international territories licensed by Highland Film Group reached $85.5m.