‘Captain Marvel’ Lands Day-and-Date China Release

By Rebecca Davis

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Marvel Studios’ hotly anticipated blockbuster “Captain Marvel” will hit Chinese theaters on the same day as it debuts in North America. The Brie Larson-starring picture will release on March 8, 2019, which is also International Women’s Day.

Written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, the film tells the story of Carol Danvers, a former fighter pilot who joins an elite military team called Starforce and becomes a hero as Earth is caught between two warring alien worlds. Set in 1995, it also stars Samuel L. Jackson, Jude Law, and Djimon Hounsou, among others.

Expectations will be high for the title’s performance in China, as ’ last film, “Avengers: Infinity War,” was the top-grossing foreign film last year and the fifth-highest grossing film of 2018. It took a massive $351 million (RMB2.39 billion).

“” will hit screens two weeks after the China debut of 20th Century Fox’s “Alita: Battle Angel,” another effects-laden action film with a strong female lead, which is set to open Feb. 22, a week after its U.S. release. Produced by James Cameron and Jon Landau and directed by Robert Rodriguez, the movie will be one of the first Hollywood blockbusters released after the early February Chinese New Year holiday, when authorities typically block out foreign films to promote viewership of local ones.