“Alien: Romulus” had strong showings Saturday and Sunday in Chinese theaters, taking a solid opening weekend win and staying ahead of Japanese anime “Detective Conan: The Million Dollar Pentagram.”
“Alien: Romulus” grossed 186 million yuan ($26.2 million) over the Friday-to-Sunday weekend in China, according to data from consulting firm Artisan Gateway. About $5.02 million of that came from Imax screens.
These numbers are strong considering that Hollywood films have generally struggled over the past five years, compared to the early 2000s when audiences were more attuned to Western values and local films were weaker.
The numbers are also strong considering that the “Alien” franchise doesn’t have deep roots in China. “Alien Covenant” was released in June 2017 and made $29.1 million in its opening weekend before going on to gross $45.5 million overall. But “Prometheus,” released in 2012, never played in theaters in China.
Things weren’t looking good for “Alien: Romulus” over the weekend. On its opening day Friday, “Detective Conan: The Million Dollar Pentagram” beat the film, according to local data providers. The tables were turned on Saturday. On Sunday, “Detective Conan” was in third place. (Preliminary live data for Monday shows “Detective Conan” recovering to second place behind “Alien: Romulus.”)
“Detective Conan” came in second with 119 million yuan ($16.7 million) between Friday and Sunday, Artisan Gateway said.
Another new Chinese film, the weekend’s leading Chinese film, took third place. Crime thriller “Go for Broke” (also known as “Chong Sheng”) made 102 million yuan ($14.3 million) over three days, despite being in second place on the daily charts on Sunday. Directed by Mark Ma, the actor-turned-writer-director-producer who helmed last year’s “Wolf Hiding,” the film tells the story of a man whose family is destroyed by drug dealers. He takes revenge by secretly teaming up with the police to take down a criminal group.
The family drama “Caliph,” the biggest hit of the summer in China, added $8.8 million to fourth place. Since its release a month ago, on July 16, “Caliph” has grossed 3.13 billion yuan ($441 million).
The Chinese animated fantasy “White Snake: Floating” took in 49.5 million yuan ($7 million) and dropped to fifth place in its second weekend. (The film was scheduled to open on Saturday, Qixi Day, or Chinese Valentine’s Day, and had made $19 million in two days.) After nine days, its total has now reached $41.8 million.
Numerous reports in Chinese state media have spoken of strong showings during the unofficial summer box office season, including a total revenue of 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) from June 1 to August 17.
Two Hollywood films still playing in Chinese theaters have crossed the $50 million mark. “Despicable Me 4” has grossed about $53 million and “Deadpool & Wolverine” has grossed about $58 million, according to Chinese data providers.
Artisan Gateway had previously reported revenue of 7.6 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) from June 1 to July 31, down 41% from the same period last year. China’s total box office revenue so far stands at $4.48 billion, which the company calculates will be a 20.7%, or nearly $1 billion, deficit through 2023. That’s despite a 4.6% increase in the number of operating cinema complexes, to 12,515, according to state media.
