Maxtime Pictures’ “Her Story,” a comedy-drama film told from a largely female perspective, topped the mainland China box office for the second consecutive weekend. Disney’s “Moana 2” debuted in second place.
Data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway showed “Her Story” improving its previous weekend’s showing by earning RMB140.9 million ($19.8 million) between Friday and Sunday. The film now has a cumulative total of $54.6 million in the Middle Kingdom.
“Her Story” is directed by Shao Yihui (2021’s “B For Busy”). Its fast-paced story focuses on two women – one a recently unemployed single mom, the other a new neighbor who is more troubled than she appears – who become friends. Together they face up to various relationship challenges, including an abusive ex-husband and new romantic possibilities.
“Moana 2” earned $6.6 million in second place. With a worldwide $300 million weekend, according to Comscore, “Moana 2” was the highest grossing film in the world. This includes a mighty $221 million over the five-day Thanksgiving holiday frame in the U.S., creating a new box office record.
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In its second weekend, Shin-Ei Animation’s Japanese animation “Crayon Shinchan: Our Dinosaur Diary” collected $3.6 million in third place and now has a cumulative total of $14.1 million.
In fourth place, Good Luck Film and TV’s Chinese comedy “Good Luck,” directed by Zhu Lingfeng, debuted with $3.5 million.
Rounding off the top five was Tamil-language Indian film “Maharaja,” from The Route. Directed by Nithilan Saminathan, the film stars Vijay Sethupathi, with Indian auteur Anurag Kashyap continuing his acting sojourn in Tamil films, playing the antagonist. The film earned $2.5 million over the weekend and now has a cumulative total of $3.2 million including previews.
The new release and holdover titles together swelled the nationwide weekend box office to $47.4 million and the year-to-date running total to $5.68 billion. That is still 20.9% below the same point in 2023.