‘Transformers One’ Takes Top Spot

“Transformers One” took top spot at the China box office over its debut weekend. It was the only major title to release on an atypical Friday that precedes next week’s National Day holiday season. That also made the latest Friday-to-Sunday session the lowest-grossing weekend of the year for mainland Chinese cinemas.

Released only a week after its North American debut, “Transformers One,” an animated spin-off from the “Transformers” franchise which has been enormously popular in the Middle Kingdom, earned $4.9 million, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. Including its previews, the film finished Sunday with a running total of $8.0 million in China.

In second place, “Like a Rolling Stone,” a drama film about a 50-year-old woman who decides to take charge of her own life and embarks on a driving tour, earned RMB15.2 million ($2.3 million). That lifts it to an 15-day cumulative of $15.6 million.

“Stand by Me,” the story of two orphaned or abandoned children who meet up and help each other as teenagers, slipped from first place to third. It grossed $1.8 million for a cumulative of $33 million since releasing on Sept. 13. It stars Karry Wang, leader of the popular TFBoys boy band.

“Alien: Romulus” reappeared in the top-five chart, while more recent release “The Wild Robot” dropped out. “Alien: Romulus” earned $1.1 million, advancing its total to $131 million since releasing on Aug. 16.

Chinese title “Go for Broke” also made a reappearance. It earned $1.0 million for a cumulative of $65.2 million, since also releasing on Aug. 16.

Artisan Gateway reports that the nationwide box office aggregate over the weekend was just $16.1 million. That leaves the year-to-date running total at $4.88 billion, some 23% adrift of the figure at this time last year.

Significant hopes are now placed on the National Day titles that launch (unusually) on weekdays.

On Monday, the first of these will be Chen Kaige’s “The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death,” the second part of a war trilogy.

On Tuesday (Oct. 1), it will be joined by: Ning Hao and Xu Lei’s comedy-drama “The Hutong Cowboy”; Lu Chuan’s sci-fi monster film “Bureau 749”; Liu Jiangjiang’s disaster drama “Give You A Candy”; Oxide Pang’s action thriller “High Forces”; Wu Bai’s crime film “Tiger Wolf Rabbit”; Zhang Luan’s Jackie Cha-starring action-comedy “Panda Plan”; Chinese animation “New Happy Dad and Son 6: Shrunk”; and “A Tapestry of a Legendary Land,” which is adapted from a stage production.