China Box Office: ‘No Time to Die’ Reaches $49 Million After Second Weekend

Happy Friday International Insiders, Tom Grater here delivering your post-Thanksgiving rundown of the week’s top headlines. To get this sent to your inbox every Friday, sign up here.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“The Battle at Lake Changjin” has become the highest grossing film of all time in China, after nearly two months of release. Co-directed by a trio of major helmers, Dante Lam, Chen Kaige and Tsui Hark, it is also the top earning film in the world this year.The Chinese record was achieved on Wednesday evening local time when the film passed the RMB5.69 billion total achieved in 2017 by “Wolf Warrior II,” another patriotic war film.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefCrime comedy film “Be Somebody” expanded its box office take by 20% in its second weekend of release in China and joined in a 49% surge in nationwide gross revenues.Nationwide box office climbed from $43.1 million in the previous weekend to $64.3 million between Friday and Sunday.

China’s Foreign Ministry on Friday stuck to its line that it wasn’t aware of the controversy surrounding tennis professional Peng Shuai, who disappeared after accusing a former top official of sexually assaulting her.

Rebecca Davis editorJust after China’s long National Day holiday on Oct. 10, Chinese social media was plastered in red-and-gold memes and posts celebrating the annual box office to date hitting the $6.26 billion (RMB40 billion) mark.

Rebecca Davis editorChinese real estate giant Evergrande has sold its entire remaining stake in the film and TV streaming company HengTen Networks Group for $273 million, part of efforts to avoid defaulting on its massive debts.The world’s most indebted developer, some $300 billion in the red, is struggling to meet interest payments on its loans, and has been selling off shares to raise funds.At the beginning of the year, Evergrande owned a majority stake in Netflix-like HengTen.

Rebecca Davis editorDisney’s “Jungle Cruise” didn’t manage to catch a swift current in its China debut, drifting to a slow $3.3 million first three-day weekend, according to data from the Artisan Gateway consultancy. The Maoyan data platform currently estimates it will gross a total of just $6.19 million.The adventure tale has clearly lost steam since its simultaneous release in U.S.

website that beginning Monday, new player registrations would be closed. Furthermore, the game server will be shut down and users will not be able to log in beginning at 11:00 a.m.

The partner of a teacher who has been in a coma for nine months in a Chinese hospital after a routine clinical procedure went terribly wrong has stated: "They’d rather she died."

Refresh for latest…: MGM/Eon/Universal’s No Time To Die, as projected, crossed the $600M global mark this weekend, leading international box office play with an additional $51.9M from 72 combined Universal and MGM markets. That lifts the offshore cume to $472.4M and worldwide to $605.8M.

Rebecca Davis editorUnfortunately for “No Time to Die’s” China debut, government authorities have decided that it’s currently no time for citizens to risk dying of COVID-19 at the movies and are taking extra precautions to suspend cinema operations across the country this weekend as new outbreaks occur.Hollywood is catching a tough break in China this month.

MGM/Eon/Universal’s No Time To Die brought James Bond to China today, with an RMB 52M ($8.1M) No. 1 opening (including a smattering of Thursday midnights). This is the third biggest Hollywood opening day of 2021 in the market and is ahead of the launch days of the most recent comps Dune (+33%) and Free Guy (+53%). With a great social score, No Time To Die is now looking at a China bow in the $30M range.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefJames Bond franchise movie “No Time to Die” claimed the honor of deposing record-breaking local film “The Battle At Lake Changjin” from the top of the Chinese box office. But 007’s unspectacular first day trajectory will leave studio and audiences neither shaken nor stirred.Throughout Friday, “No Time to Die” tracked comfortably at the top of the Chinese chart, with market share as high as 55% in the morning sessions.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe global box office recovery is accelerating. Revenues in 2021 could hit $21.6 billion, according to a new forecast from research firm Gower Street Analytics.That compared with the firm’s previous $20.2 billion estimate made a couple of months ago.“We anticipate a potential additional upside that could see the current year finish around $22 billion globally.