Justin Lin’s Star Trek Beyond has landed a Sept. 2 release date in China.
That’s good news for the third installment in Paramount’s rebooted sci-fi series. The last film, Star Trek Into Darkness, grossed almost $60 million in the Middle Kingdom in 2013, and the Chinese box office has only grown since then.
Star Trek Beyond begins its global assault this week, including in North America, where it opens July 22.
The movie sees Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, John Cho and the late Anton Yelchin reprise their roles. This time out, the crew of the USS Enterprise are stranded on an unknown planet, where they face a new enemy, the ruthless military commander Krall, played by Idris Elba.
It was a given that Star Trek Beyond would play in China, considering Jack Ma’s e-commerce giant Alibaba Pictures is an investor in both that film and Paramount’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, which is currently playing in Chinese cinemas.
Alibaba will serve as local marketing, promotion and merchandising partner on Star Trek Beyond, as it did for Paramount’s Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, which earned a stellar $135.6 million of its $682.3 million worldwide haul at the Chinese box office.
Star Trek Beyond isn’t the only Hollywood summer film learning of its China release date: Fox’s Ice Age: Collision Course will open there on Aug. 23, the same date already carved out for Universal’s Jason Bourne.
