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By Robert Cain for China Film Biz (Bennett, Janet and Thomas, this one’s for you)

November 14, 2013

Long before they reach retirement age, most action movie stars naturally slide (or sometimes plummet) into box office obscurity. At 67 and 66 years of age, respectively, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger have valiantly fought this trend, but they are long past their peak box office years in most places around the world.

But not in China. PRC audiences have embraced these two senior citizens and breathed new life into their action movie careers. In a land where the young are taught to treat their elders with respect, Schwarzenegger and Stallone’s recent film offerings have gotten lots of love from China’s teenaged and twenty-something filmgoers.

Take the pair’s current action-thriller, Escape Plan. In its first 10 days of release the picture has already grossed more in China, with nearly $26 million, than it will earn in its entire North American run. It nearly won last week’s box office crown against the far costlier Thor: The Dark World, with a 128 million RMB total versus Thor’s 129 million, despite Thor’s huge advantages of a bigger screen count, higher 3D ticket prices, and a rare day-and-date PRC release. Escape Plan will wind up with around $35 million in China, making it the highest grossing buyout film this year.

In fact, between them Sly and Arnold have appeared in 5 films that have each grossed more than 100 million RMB at China’s theaters, an exceptional record that is matched by few Chinese stars.  Their core audience in China has no doubt grown up watching the pantheon of Rocky, Rambo and Terminator movies on TV and DVD, and is now finally getting their chance to see their movie heroes on the big screen.

With such a big, welcoming audience in China, Sly and Arnold are undoubtedly looking for more movie vehicles to propel their newly vibrant careers. So I offer a few ideas below, completely free of charge (just send me my participation checks when the profits roll in):

Not So Total Recall. This action flick kicks follows a geriatric man who goes for a virtual vacation but is tragically unable to enjoy the early-bird Chinese buffet because he’s forgotten to bring along his virtual dentures.

The Lost Action Hero. A young Chinese fanboy’s dream of teaming up with his favorite 80’s action movie hero turns sour when he finds the now enfeebled and amnesia-prone codger stuck on Beijing’s 3^rd ring road, unable to find a way to exit and make his way back to the retirement village.

The Dependables – a team of elderly mercenaries are stymied in their attempt to eliminate a North Korean dictator when the dictator’s henchmen cruelly cut off their supply of adult diapers.

Stop or My Great Granddaughter Will Shoot – a once-tough detective’s life and work are disrupted by a Golden Week visit from his 6 year-old, pacifier sucking descendant, who embarrasses him by turning out to be a better crime-fighter than he is.

Rocky Rolls – 78 year-old Rocky Balboa comes back for one more title bout staged in the Forbidden City, fighting this time from his electric wheelchair. You’ll cry tears of nostalgia as you watch Rocky slowly glide up the steps of Beijing’s Temple of Heaven, arms raised in victory, in his wheelchair stair climber.

For the week ending November 10^th, PRC box office totaled a solid $56 million, 43 percent better than the same frame last year. After the one-two finish of Thor and Escape Plan, Hotel Transylvania took in $3.5 million in its second week of release for a two-week cume of $9.3 million, quite respectable considering its status as a buyout film and its China release delay of more than a year.

Russia’s Stalingrad crumbled against the Hollywood competition, dropping by nearly 70 percent in its second week. Although it debuted at number one in the prior week—making it the first non-Hollywood, non-Chinese movie to top the charts in China—the film has quickly faded and will fail to reach the 100 million RMB level.

The rest of November and December will witness a crush of new releases, more than in any previous year. On Singles Day (an unofficial holiday on 11-11) nine new domestic releases cannibalized each other, leaving nearly all of them with dismal results. November 15^th will see Red 2 and Olympus Has Fallen open against each other, and early next week Gravity, Rush, and the Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire will all open within a few days of one other.

Although China’s box office results in November have so far fallen a little short of general expectations, the rest of the year should be flush with activity and the year-end tally should well exceed $3.5 billion.

Robert Cain is a producer and entertainment industry consultant who has been doing business in China since 1987. He can be reached at rob@pacificbridgepics.com and at www.pacificbridgepics.com.