China Box Office Pauses Ahead of Patriotic New Year Surge

Bill Maher couldn’t hide his contempt for the country hosting the Winter Olympics on his Friday Real Time. 

third-highest grossing film in American box office history, passing the $760.5 million run of James Cameron’s “Avatar.” Though the two films came out 12 years apart and under dramatically different circumstances for movie theaters, both were able to take advantage of a lack of competition and overwhelmingly strong word-of-mouth to bring moviegoers back again and again for repeat viewings. While “Avatar” started with a modest opening and then continued to reign as No.

Warner Bros/Legendary Pictures’ Dune has hit a new milestone, crossing the $400M mark worldwide. Through Monday, the international box office cume is $292.3M with $107.8M from domestic for a an estimated global haul of $400.1M so far.

Though the two films came out 12 years apart and under dramatically different circumstances for movie theaters, both were able to take advantage of a lack of competition and overwhelmingly strong word-of-mouth to bring moviegoers back again and again for repeat viewings. While “Avatar” started with a modest opening and then continued to reign as No.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“The Battle at Lake Changjin II” passed $500 million in total sales and remained unchallenged atop the mainland Chinese box office over the latest weekend.Data from consultancy Artisan Gateway showed no positional change among the top five films on a weekend that came a week after the Chinese New Year holiday wound down. Bona’s “Lake Changjin II” earned $43.5 million over the Friday to Sunday weekend, ahead of comedy “Too Cool to Kill” with $37.3 million over the same three days. In third place over the weekend was drama “Nice View” with $21.6 million and animation “Boonie Bears: Back to Earth” with $14.0 million.

The New York Times is being taken to the woodshed on social media for using the term “overrepresented” in an article on Asians in figure skating.

Nathan Chen has won Olympic gold!

Nathan Chen has earned his place in the Olympics record book!

Nathan Chen has earned his place in the Olympics record book!

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefPatriotic blockbuster “The Battle at Lake Changjin II” earned just short of $400 million over the Chinese New Year holidays at a mainland China box office that weighed in at some $950 million.Data from consultancy Artisan Gateway showed “Lake Changjin II” earning $152 million over the Friday to Sunday weekend, comfortably ahead of comedy “Too Cool to Kill” which took $111 million over the same three days. In third place over the weekend was drama “Nice View” with $45.4 million and animation “Boonie Bears: Back to Earth” with $38.8.

Refresh for latest…: While Spider-Man: No Way Home continued to lead the international box office for studio films this weekend, weaving its way to a worldwide cume of $1.77B through Sunday, the biggest overseas action was out of (and limited to) China.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“The Battle at Lake Changjin II” passed the $200 million landmark at the China box office at midday local time on Thursday, the film’s third day of release. Data from Alibaba’s Beacon data tracking service showed the film lying comfortably on top of the mainland Chinese box office chart with RMB166 million (26.1 million) earned on the third morning of the Lunar New Year holidays.

The Lunar New Year is here and the stars are celebrating it in style.

The Battle At Lake Changjin II (aka Water Gate Bridge) led the Chinese New Year box office on day one today, coming in at an estimated RMB 657.6M ($103.4M). While that’s certainly an enviable single-market one-day score — and is the second-biggest CNY opening day ever — it’s about 35% below the record-breaking debut day of last year’s CNY release Detective Chinatown 3. What’s more, across all movies today, the total was down 12% to RMB 1.49B from RMB 1.69B last year, per Maoyan estimates.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorMunich-based world sales company Global Screen has closed further deals in major territories for the family entertainment adventure “School of Magical Animals,” the most successful German film at the local box office last year. Global Screen will also be selling the sequel, it announced Tuesday.Deals have been closed for China (A-Quest Culture Media), Japan (Fine Films), Latin America (Discovery), Hungary (ADS), Serbia and Croatia (Investacommerce), and Portugal (NOS).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“The Battle at Lake Changjin II” lived up to its blockbuster billing with a more than $75 million box office haul by lunchtime on Tuesday, its opening day in mainland Chinese theaters.The film, aka “Watergate Bridge” had grossed RMB487 million ($76.5 million) by 1.30 pm, according to online ticketing agency Maoyan and Alibaba’s Beacon data service. At this pace a $100 million opening day is possible.State media has forecast that the film may propel the Chinese New Year (aka Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival) week to over $1 billion and that the 149-minute film could eventually become the highest-grossing film of all time in China.To do that, it would have to surpass “The Battle at Lake Changjin” which was released on Oct.

After being forced to sit out the annually lucrative Chinese New Year period as the Covid crisis was just beginning in 2020, Chinese box office blasted to an all-time high during the comparable 2021 session. This week, the Year of the Tiger will be ushered in beginning February 1 with eight movies poised to potentially set new records. Projections are in the RMB 7B-8B+ range ($1.1B-$1.26B). Last year in the world’s biggest box office market, the week-long holiday reached RMB 7.8B ($1.2B at historical rates).

Billions across the globe will be celebrating Chinese New Year this week - but do you know your Chinese zodiac sign?