Gaff over China’s Looper takeaway

A bizarre error triggered much confusion in the trade papers last week.

A Rubicon appeared to have been crossed when Looper, the nifty time-travel hit, registered larger opening weekend takings in China than in the US. Deadline, a prominent industry blog, announced that Looper earned about $24 million in China against $20 million in the US. Many respected organs worldwide began speculating about a seismic shift in the economics of the entertainment industry.

Except it was all nonsense.

It seems that somebody, somewhere mistook the takings in Chinese yuan for the dollar equivalent. It now looks as if Looper took about $5 million on its debut in the People’s Republic.

We can all calm down again.