Despite a generally sluggish weekend at the Chinese box office, a few films have shown notable resilience. The Chinese crime action film “Go for Broke” (also known as “Chong Sheng”) led the charts with RMB35.4 million ($5.0 million) from Friday to Sunday, securing first place in its fourth weekend of release. This brings its total earnings to $53.4 million.
“Alien: Romulus,” which dominated the box office for the previous three weeks, dropped to second place with $4.5 million in earnings. However, it reached a significant milestone, becoming only the second Hollywood film this year to surpass $100 million in China, following “Godzilla x Kong.”
The Thai-produced comedy-drama “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” climbed to third place despite a decline in weekly earnings. It earned RMB18 million ($2.5 million) over the weekend, up from $3.3 million and fifth place the previous week. Since its release in China on August 23, it has accumulated RMB105 million ($14.8 million).
“Successor,” a heartwarming Chinese drama that had previously topped the box office for five weeks, held onto fourth place in its ninth week of release, earning RMB17.6 million ($2.4 million). Its total earnings now stand at $464 million since its July 16 release.
The Chinese crime drama “Untouchable,” directed by Wang Daqing and starring Shen Teng, Zhang Yuqi, and Jack Kao, earned $1.7 million in its third weekend, bringing its total to $23.2 million since opening on August 23.
Overall, the weekend’s box office grossed only $24.4 million, marking the second-lowest weekend of 2024. September is traditionally a slow month for the box office, as the summer season ends and distributors hold back major releases for the National Day public holidays on October 1. The year-to-date total stands at $4.75 billion, down more than 22% compared to the same point last year. August’s box office revenue was $568 million, a 48% decrease year-over-year, though it remains the third highest month of 2024. The summer season’s revenue of RMB11.6 billion ($1.6 billion) was the worst in a decade, excluding the COVID years of 2020-2022.
In terms of new releases, the Thai-Chinese animation “Out of the Nest” emerged as the highest-placed new film, earning $250,000.
