Hollywood franchise films heat up box office battle

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01:39

Two Hollywood franchise films hit Chinese theaters on Friday, heating up the box office battle. "Bumblebee," a spin-off of the "Transformers" series, and MGM's boxing drama "Creed II" are set to step into the ring in the Chinese mainland.

As the sixth installment and a prequel to the Transformers series, "Bumblebee" will take the audience back to the year 1987 when the whole adventure began, and present the origin story of Bumblebee, the main character.

A Chinese poster of the film "Bumblebee." /VCG Photo

Expectations are high for the film's box office performance in China. The last Transformers series movie "Transformers: The Last Knight," grossed a total of 1.34 billion yuan (around 200 million U.S. dollars) in 10 days after its release. Its total box office collection in China exceeded its sales in North America.

Meanwhile, more than a month after its U.S. debut, MGM's boxing drama "Creed II" is ready to woo the Chinese audience, this marks the "Rocky" franchise's debut in mainland theaters.

The sequel to 2015's "Creed" has so far brought in about 134 million U.S. dollars at the global box office since its U.S. debut on November 21, but has yet to surpass its predecessor's 173-million-dollar global box office total.

With the power of the China market behind it, however, "Creed II" could be set to break the franchise's record.