‘Roma’ Secures China Arthouse Release In Bumper Year For Oscar Winners

While awards season drew to a close in the U.S. nearly two weeks ago, it’s evidently still open season in China. After Best Picture Oscar winner Green Book’s stunning debut at Middle Kingdom turnstiles last weekend, and amid news that four-time Academy Award laureate Bohemian Rhapsody will hit Chinese cinemas on March 22, comes word that triple Oscar winner Roma has been cleared for release.

China’s National Arthouse Film Alliance today said via its Weibo account that Alfonso Cuaron’s black-and-white drama is confirmed to be released in Mainland China. No date was given, although a poster celebrating Roma’s Academy Awards for Best Director, Best Cinematographer and Best Foreign Language Film accompanied the tweet equivalent (check it out below).

Oscar movies have seen halo effects in recent years, including on such titles as La La Land, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and last year’s Best Picture Oscar winner The Shape of Water. But this past weekend saw a surge. Green Book (which, like Roma, is backed by Participant Media) was fully embraced by the Middle Kingdom, opening to a fantastic $17.1M. It was coming off huge social scores and is the market’s 2nd highest-grossing Oscar Best Picture winner ever, behind only Titanic. Anticipation is also high for Bo Rhap which goes through the arthouse network beginning March 22.

Roma currently has a strong 8.1 score on Chinese reviews aggregator Douban. While this is an intensely personal film, Cuaron has history with wide audiences in the Chinese market where Gravity grossed $71M back in 2013.