“The Battle at Lake Changjin II” continued its domination of the mainland Chinese box office into a third week. But cinemagoing activity continued to slow down after peaking at the beginning of the month with the Lunar New Year holidays.
Hollywood new release “Death on the Nile” did not have enough impact to make it beyond fourth place or to change the overall direction of the market.
“Lake Changjin II” earned $19.8 million over the weekend, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. That lifted its total to $589 million since opening on Feb. 1, 2022.
Chinese comedy “Too Cool to Kill” held on to second place with $17.4 million, good for a cumulative of $374 million. Drama “Nice View” earned $113 million, for a cumulative of $193 million.
“Death on the Nile” was a step lower, earning $5.9 million in its opening three days. Ticketing agency Maoyan forecasts that the film will reach $13.5 million (RMB85.7 million) over the entirety of its Chinese theatrical run. Audience feedback was mixed. On Maoyan, viewers gave it a score of 8.1 out of ten, while on the rival Taopiaopiao ticketing platform it earned 7.9 out of ten. On the more highbrow Douban it got a mediocre 6.1 rating.
“Death on the Nile” was only narrowly ahead of “Me and My Winter Games” a Chinese-made animation film released to coincide with Beijing hosting the Winter Olympic Games. “Me and My Winter Games,” which brings together beloved Chinese animation characters from over 50 years and renders them all in sparkling CGI, earned $5.4 million in its opening frame.
Wider market data from Artisan Gateway showed the aggregate box office over the latest weekend to be $74.7 million. That puts China’s year to date box office total at $1.99 billion. That is 6% lower compared with a $2.13 billion figure at this date last year, when the later Lunar New Year holiday was still having a greater impact.