China’s summer box office (June 1-July 31) was down 40.9% year-on-year to $1.1bn (RMB7.6bn), despite July being the second highest month of 2024 boosted by the success of comedy drama Successor, according to consultancy Artisan Gateway.
July concluded with $757.3m (RMB5.4bn), only behind February’s takings of $1.6bn (RMB11.1bn) from a record-breaking Chinese New Year. But despite being the second-best month of the year to date, July was down 38.3% on the same period in 2023.
Family-themed feature Successor topped the month with $341m (RMB2.4bn), accounting for 45% of the monthly total. It is the summer season’s highest grossing film in China and the fourth highest of 2024 to date, behind Chinese New Year titles YOLO, Pegasus 2 and Article 20. Successor moved up to become the third highest grossing film of the year to date on August 1.
The film follows a rich couple who pretend to live a poor life in a bid to show their young son the values of hardship. It marks the first reunion of top-grossing stars Shen Teng and Ma Li with co-directors Yan Fei and Peng Damo since 2015’s Goodbye, Mr Loser, a phenomenal box office hit that shot the team from theatre troupe Mahua FunAge to fame.
Malaysia-born director Sam Quah’s A Place Called Silence ranked second in July with $178m (RMB1.3bn), taking a 23.5% market share. The crime thriller about school bullying is a remake of Quah’s own Taiwan-set film of the same name that premiered in Busan’s New Currents competition in 2022.
The new film was shot in Quah’s hometown of Penang, Malaysia, and features a new cast comprising Taiwanese actress Janine Chang, China’s Eric Wang and Hong Kong’s Francis Ng. Quah’s feature debut Sheep Without A Shepherd was a sleeper hit in 2019 with takings of $187.7m (RMB1.3bn), while his short film The Free Man was shortlisted for an Oscar in 2015.
Universal/Illumination animation Despicable Me 4 ($43m/RMB305.1m) was the top import of July as well as the third biggest Hollywood animation of the year, following Kung Fu Panda 4 and Inside Out 2.
The summer season, which started in June and continues till August, has failed to sizzle so far, as several star-studded films such as Customs Frontline, A Legend and The Traveller have performed below expectations.
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