‘Barbie’ opened in fifth place at the China box office, unable to match the number one success it has achieved in several other key international territories around the world.
Released by Warner Bros, the US feature starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling took just $8.2m across the three-day weekend from July 21, according to consultancy firm Artisan Gateway.
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which Universal Pictures opened in numerous territories globally over the weekend, has secured a China release but no date has yet been assigned by regulators meaning a launch is unlikely for at least a month.
Hollywood titles are returning to theatres in China in greater numbers than recent years but not achieving the same box office success. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One opened in third place last weekend, with $25.9m, down from Mission: Impossible Fallout‘s $76 million debut in 2018.
Leading the China box office over the weekend was Creation Of The Gods I: Kingdom Of Storms, which earned $42.1m across the three-day weekend. Released on July 20, it earned $53.7m over four days, of which $8.6m came from Imax screens (16% of the total). The fantasy drama is directed by Wuershan and is the first in the Fengshen Trilogy, based on a classic Chinese fantasy novel that has been dubbed the country’s Lord Of The Rings.
In second place was Chinese animation Chang An, which took $40.6m on its third weekend of release to reach a cume of $168m. Placing third was fantasy feature Wonder Family, which opened with $31.3m and is the latest from comedy troupe Mahua FunAge, known for titles such as Moon Man.
Wang Baoqiang’s Never Say Never dipped to fourth place on its third outing, taking $20.6m over the weekend to reach a cume of $261m since its July 6 release.
Across all titles, the weekend box office was $167.9m, taking the year-to-date total to $4.63bn – up 70% year-on-year but still down 6.5% on pre-pandemic 2019.
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