Warcraft is making waves in the Chinese movie industry; the film broke box office records earning 300.4 million Yuan  ($61.7 million) in ticket sales ahead of its opening this weekend.

The Hollywood movie with Chinese backing is becoming a blockbuster in China, the second-largest movie market in the world.

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Warcraft is co-produced by Wang Jianlin's Legendary Entertainment, which also controls the largest theater chain in China.

Nomura Holdings has predicted that Warcraft will sell up to 2 billion Yuan tickets in China. If this happens, Warcraft will be the second highest-earning movie in China next to Stephen Chow's The Mermaid which amassed 272 million Yuan.

Warcraft's success in China might be due to the game's popularity in the country. In fact, 10 percent of the 100 million fans of the online game World of Warcraft are from China.

"I don't believe Warcraft can put up numbers near $400m because it is squarely targeted at a single demographic," a China Film Insider, Jonathan Papish told International Business Times.

"That demographic made up of fervent 20- to 30-something Chinese men who played the game when they were younger, might be massive, but movies that have broken out past $300m in China tend to be ones that hit with general audiences," Papish explained.

Warcraft's success in China contradicts the film's poor performance in the U.S. Western movies fans have described the film as unwatchable and an epic fail.

TagsWarcraft, china, wang jianlin, Legendary Entertainment