Romulus’ Haul Overtakes North American Total

“Alien: Romulus” claimed a third weekend win at the mainland China box office. And Thai comedy “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” climbed into the top five on its second week of release in the Middle Kingdom.

But those bright spots for imported titles underlined the currently poor performance of Chinese-made films which have dragged the Chinese summer season lower.

“Alien: Romulus” earned RMB63.4 million ($8.9 million) between Friday and Sunday, according to data supplied by consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. That gives it a total of RMB661 million ($93.1 million). The figure is higher than the $88.8 million the film has earned to Sunday in the North American market.

The running total is the second-highest achieved this year by any Hollywood film in China (behind only “Godzilla x Kong”) and has surprised many commentators. Just as surprising, it was achieved in August, a month which in previous years was considered to be part of a blackout period or ‘Chinese film promotion month.’ Those restrictions have quietly been shelved as Chinese cinemas crave standout new content.

Chinese crime actioner “Go for Broke” climbed from fourth place to second, and its weekend take registered only a 13% week-on-week decline. It scored $6.2 million for a 17-day cumulative of $44.9 million.

The summer’s biggest hit film, “Successor” also climbed back into the top-five. It earned $3.7 million to record a smashing $459 million aggregate.

Crime drama, “Untouchable” earned $3.7 million in its second weekend of release, down from $10.3 million.

Thai comedy-drama hit “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies,” which a week earlier opened outside the top five, took fifth place. It scored $3.3 million (down from an estimated opening of $4.4 million) and now has a cumulative of $10.7 million since opening in China on Aug. 23.

Artisan Gateway reports that the nationwide weekend box office was worth an aggregate $40.8 million. That is the lowest figure for ten weeks and edges the running total to $4.70 billion – a more than 22% decline compared with this time last year.

Maoyan, one of China’s leading film ticketing agencies, says that the summer season (which it calculates as running June to August, inclusive) was 44% down on last year.

“Box office for the summer season in China’s film market in 2024 was RMB 11.64 billion, representing a year-on-year decrease of about 44%. This was mainly due to a reduction in the number of blockbuster films,” the company reports. “However, the total number of films released and those grossing over RMB100 million during this summer season reached a near six-year high, with a variety of new domestic films being released.”

“This summer season featured a highly diverse range of domestic films, and imported IP films performed exceptionally well. In terms of new domestic films, the genres covered include comedy, suspense, drama, crime, science fiction, animation, and more. The top performing films overall were both domestic titles: ‘Successor’ and ‘A Place Called Silence,’ [which] had a total box office of RMB1.35 billion.”

“As for new imported films, there were nine films grossing over RMB 100 million this summer season, both in number and box office higher than in 2023. Notably, ‘Alien: Romulus’ performed better in China than in North America,” Maoyan reported.