Chinese Marvel fans will get to Spider-Man: Far From Home first, as the sequel is set to release in China on June 28, several days ahead of its U.S. release. Directed by Jon Watts, the movie will follow Peter Parker on a school trip through Europe, which gets hijacked when Nick Fury recruits Spider-Man to fight against a new threat: the Elementals.
Spider-Man: Far From Home is the third and final Marvel Studios release of the year, and also the last Marvel Cinematic Universe movie on the official slate. It marks the end of the MCU Phase 3, which recently reached a climax with the epic team-up movie Avengers: Endgame. Still reeling from the death of his mentor, Tony Stark, Peter is looking to take a break from the superhero gig for a while - but as with most superheroes, trouble always seems to find him.
As reported by Deadline, Spider-Man: Far From Home is now set to release in China on Friday, June 28, ahead of its North American release on Tuesday, July 2. The reason for the early release in China is the country's summer blackout on foreign movies. China imposes strict limits on the number of foreign movies that can be released in theaters, and also has blackout periods during the Chinese New Year and the summer holidays to ensure that Chinese films don't have any foreign competition at the box office during the most popular times of the year for moviegoers.
Releasing on June 28 means that Spider-Man: Far From Home will get a week in Chinese theaters before the blackout begins, which will likely mean a huge opening weekend for the movie as Chinese fans flock to see it before the window closes. China represents a massive share of Marvel's target market, with Avengers: Endgame grossing $629.1 million (so far) in China alone, so this early release of Spider-Man: Far From Home should give the movie a solid boost before it arrives in North American theaters.
If any U.S. fans are feeling jealous of Chinese moviegoers getting to see Spider-Man: Far From Home before they do, it's worth noting that this is a reversal of fortune from the first movie. Chinese fans had to wait two extra months to see Spider-Man: Homecoming - again, because of the summer blackout. With that in mind, an early release for the sequel seems pretty fair.
Source: Deadline
