‘xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage’ tops China box office

xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage delivered a strong opening post-Chinese New Year holidays in the week of Feb 6-12. With $61.85m from its three-day debut, this easily outshone its performance in North America (a cumulative total of $42m since Jan 20) as well as doubled the three-day weekend of Star Trek Beyond last September and more recently, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in China.

Both Huahua Media and Shanghai Media Group are co-financiers and local marketing partners for the third instalment of Paramount’s action thriller franchise. In addition to Vin Diesel whose Furious 7 remains as the top grossing non-Chinese film ever in China, the sequel features Ip Man action star Donnie Yen (last seen in Rogue One) and local rising star Kris Wu (Journey To The West: The Demons Strike Back) in his first Hollywood debut.

Chinese New Year blockbusters continued to dominate the charts after two weeks. Jackie Chan’s action caper Kung Fu Yoga fell to second place and added $49.65m from $228.30m after 16 days, making it the eighth highest grossing film ever in China. It is on course to soon overtake Journey To The West: The Demons Strike Back to become this year’s highest grossing Chinese New Year title.

Duckweed held well in third place with $37.38m for $129.10m after 16 days, turning Han Han into the most successful writer-turned-director in recent years. His time-travel father-son drama has significantly fared better than Guo Jingming’s Tiny Times franchise and Zhang Jiajia’s See You Tomorrow.

Stephen Chow and Tsui Hark’s collaboration Journey To The West: The Demons Strike Back dropped to fourth place with $27.60m for $230.98m after 16 days. The fantasy sequel is currently China’s seventh highest grossing film ever.

Local family animation Boonie Bears: Entangled Worlds remained in fifth place with $13.93m for $69.83m after 16 days.

Cook Up A Storm opened in fifth with $12.28m from its first three days. Originally scheduled for a Chinese New Year release, the culinary comedy stars Nicholas Tse who has a popular TV show Chef Nic and Korean actor Jung Yong-hwa.

Wang Baoqiang’s directorial debut Buddies in India dropped to seventh with $10.36m for $107.10m after 16 days. It was ahead of local action comedy Once Upon A Time In The Northeast on $5.14m for $13.62m after 10 days; new local gangster drama The Game Changer on $4.70m from its first three days; and Gaumont’s French animation Ballerina on $2.15m for $5.35m after 12 days.

La La Land will open tomorrow (Feb 14) for Valentine’s Day, along with Love Contractually and Revenge For Love. Sing will open on Feb 17.