Chinese audiences on Tuesday were the first in the world to see the new "Transformers" film, which is set to break box office records this summer.
Director Michael Bay, actor Josh Duhamel and actresses Isabela Moner and Laura Haddock as well as Chinese singer Jason Zhang, who sang a Chinese promotional song for the film, patrolled the red carpet for an hour to sign autographs and pose for selfies for the screaming fans, everyone sweating in the humid air.
As everyone wished for rain, their prayers were answered later as the cast and crew and the audience outdoors held umbrellas to finish the premiere events, also held to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Hollywood blockbuster franchise at Guangzhou's Haixinsha Asian Games Stadium.
Before the event, there was an IMAX screening of the upcoming "Transformers: The Last Knight," and Michael Bay and his team were present to greet cinemagoers. Bay said he had just finished the film two days earlier, so it really was the first show in the world. The director was also adamant, once again, that this would be his last "Transformers" film though he had said the same thing after the fourth installment.
Bay is set to revolutionize the IMAX format again and create unprecedented movie experiences. He is one of the first filmmakers to shoot a film in native IMAX 3D and he's the first filmmaker to take two of the bulky IMAX cameras and use them on a 3D rig.
The 10-year-old franchise also reflects China's fast growing film market, which makes Bay one of the most recognized Hollywood directors in China, as the previous four installments grossed 3.8 billion yuan (US$551.84 million) in the world's second largest market. The fourth one, "Transformers: Age of Extinction," raked in a stunning 1.97 billion yuan (US$320 million) in China - its biggest foreign market - which is even more than its North American gross of US$245.4 million. It was once the biggest grossing film ever in China until it was dethroned by later films like "Furious 7" and "Mermaid."
The 10th anniversary celebration was held to thank fans for their support, with 7,000 fans, reporters and guests attending after six million votes in an earlier online poll pointed to Guangzhou, in south China's Guangdong Province, as the best location to mark the anniversary.
The "Transformers" series of films have an advantage due to a huge fan base, as they resonate with Chinese generations born in the 1970s and 1980s. An American animated series of "The Transformers" became a hit when it was introduced to China in 1988, and childhood memories survive.
Paramount executives and Chinese film industry observers both expected the fifth installment to set new box office records in China, which will open on June 23 in China, just two days after its American release.
Source: china.org by zhang rui