The four strongest Chinese titles launched over the Lunar New Year holiday continued to dominate the mainland China and global office charts for the third weekend in a row, albeit with a ranking change that put Zhang Yimou’s “Article 20” at the top spot.
Global box office tracking service ComScore showed that “Article 20,” “Pegasus 2,” “YOLO” and “Boonie Bears: Time Twist” ranked first, second, fifth and sixth, respectively, in the world over the recent weekend.
Within mainland China, the quartet’s numbers were strong enough that the year-to-date total now closely resembles 2023’s numbers. Even in their third week, the quartet were many miles ahead of newcomer Argylle.
Chinese data, provided by consultancy Artisan Gateway, showed that “Article 20” generated $40.1 million (285 million Chinese yuan) between Friday and Sunday. After finishing fourth in the opener and third in the second weekend, the latest win on the weekend means the gaps between the cumulative results of the top four titles are now narrowing. “Article 20” grossed $290 million, surpassing the animated film “Boonie Bears.”
“Pegasus 2” topped the daily box office on a few occasions, but never had a weekend win. Over the last weekend, it grossed $35.6 million, bringing its total to $432 million.
“YOLO,” which topped the list for the past two weekends, fell to third place, earning $25.2 million from Friday to Sunday. He remains the top holiday scorer with a total of $463 million.
“Boonie Bears: Time Twist” is the tenth film in the Fantawild film and television series that launched in 2014. The latest week’s performance also makes it the biggest in the series. Artisan Gateway shows the film made $22.5 million over the weekend for a total of $257 million.
The dominance of the top four was such that Chinese media reported that some other films released on the occasion of the Lunar New Year – “The Movie Emperor”, “Viva La Vida”, “Huang Pi – God of Money” and “Bai Jie” – It was withdrawn from cinemas early by its distributors so that it could be re-released later, at a time when market conditions were more favourable.
“Argylle,” a box office disappointment in most other territories, was no different in China. It opened as the best new release of the weekend, earning just $1.4 million in China.
The total box office in China from the beginning of the year to date is $1.89 billion. That’s just 3% below the equivalent point in 2023, Artisan Gateway reports.