In its third weekend of release, the comedy “The Last Frenzy,” which tells the story of a dying man’s last gasp, reclaimed the top spot in mainland Chinese theatres.
The biggest title one week prior, “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” dropped to fourth place.
Hollywood was once again let down by “The Fall Guy,” which debuted outside of the Chinese top ten. Based on 10,000 screens, Universal Pictures believes that it made $900,000. Ent Group, another data source, estimates that the movie cost $740,000 over three days.
The overall picture, however, reveals a lowish national aggregate of about $37.1 million and minimal variation in performance among the top four titles. The theatrical surge that has propelled China to the top of the global box office rankings thus far this year is starting to level out in the dead zone that separates China’s summer season from the May Day vacation.
According to consultancy firm Artisan Gateway, China’s box office for the first half of the year has brought in $2.98 billion. The progress made in comparison to 2023 has now diminished to less than 1%.
In a similar vein, China’s advantage over the US market is eroding. According to ComScore, the value of the most recent North American weekend was $99 million, with a running total of $2.45 billion.
According to Artisan Gateway, “The Last Frenzy” made $6.9 million (RMB48.8 million) during its third weekend of release. It now has a cumulative value of $85.4 million after 19 days.
Returning to second place was “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In,” the crime action movie helmed by Soi Cheang and set in the now-demolished Kowloon Walled City of Hong Kong. It brought in $5.9 million and has $75.9 million in total revenue.
“Hovering Blade,” the biggest new release of the weekend, debuted with $5.8 million, placing it in third place. The iQiyi-backed revenge-action movie is a Chinese translation of Higashino Keigo’s crime book, which is set in Japan and centres on a father who goes on a mission of vengeance after learning that his school-age daughter has been murdered and raped. Both the 2009 Japanese picture and the 2004 source material, which was also titled “Hovering Blade” in English, are the same.
During the second weekend of its Chinese premiere, “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” brought in $5.4 million. After being released on May 10, its total value is currently $20.7 million.
“18×2 Beyond Youthful Days” secured the fifth position with its Sunday release, coinciding with China’s unofficial Valentine’s Day on May 20. The film made $2.3 million, which included several Saturday screenings. Fujii Michihito is the director of this ambitious co-production romance movie between Taiwan and Japan. Since March, it has been commercially released in other East Asian countries. It has also been featured in festival play in Hong Kong and at the Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy.
