Hit Chinese comedy ‘Successor’ comfortably topped the mainland China box office this weekend, taking its grosses to more than $300 million. But “Deadpool & Wolverine” also enjoyed one of Hollywood’s strongest openings in this area this year.
“Successor,” a Chinese-produced comedy drama about escaping poverty, earned RMB364 million ($51.3 million) in what was its second official weekend of release and the third in actual production, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. The cumulative amount now stands at $317 million.
Deadpool & Wolverine raised $23.9 million this weekend. With previews, it has a total gross of $24.5 million. About $5 million of the weekend total came from Imax screens.
That was the second-biggest opening weekend of any Hollywood film this year, surpassed only by “Godzilla x Kong,” a film produced by Wanda-owned Legendary Entertainment and handled by Chinese subsidiary Legendary East. “Godzilla x Kong” earned an opening gross of $44.6 million in China.
Other Hollywood debuts this year include $10.2 million for “Inside Out 2”; $11.4 million for “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes”; $14.7 million for “Kung Fu Panda 4”; $17.7 million for “Despicable Me 4@; and $19.9 million for “Dune 2.”
Chinese title “The Traveler” earned $12.8 million in third place in its debut weekend.
“A Place Called Silence” earned $5.6 million in fourth place during its fourth weekend of release. The film, which features brutal depictions of school bullying, has now earned $174 million at the Chinese box office.
CMC Pictures’ “Decoded” took fifth place with $5.4 million from previews alone. It will be officially opened on August 3.
The weekend’s total theatrical receipts were $113 million. That puts this year’s running total above the $4 billion mark. But Artisan Gateway calculates that the $4.07 billion figure lags nearly 15% behind the 2023 total at the same point last year.
Chinese state media have sharply criticized overseas business news channel Bloomberg for suggesting that China’s summer season is weak. The Global Times accused Bloomberg of “political bias” and said his presenters had “sought to use the current performance of the Chinese film market to cast a shadow over the Chinese economy.”
