China Box Office: ‘The Last Frenzy’ Takes Top Spot on Record May Day Weekend
“The Last Frenzy,” a comedy film about a dying man’s last hurrah, took the top spot in mainland Chinese cinemas ahead of chasing pack of new releases.
It earned $30.7 million (RMB218 million) between Friday and Sunday, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. Over its full five-day opening session, it accumulated $55.2 million.
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In second place was patriotic action thriller “Formed Police Unit” which focused on Chinese peacekeeping forces. It earned $24.6 million over the weekend, but an even higher $59 million over the five days from its May 1 release.
In third place was “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In,” a Hong Kong-produced action thriller that a week earlier had topped the box office chart through preview screenings alone. Over its first official weekend of release, it earned $21.5 million. That gave it a cumulative total of $47.2 million.
Contemporary Japanese animation “Spy x Family: Code White” took fourth place with $13.1 million over the weekend. It opened on April 30 and over its six-day opening session accumulated £32.5 million.
Fifth place belonged to “Howl’s Moving Castle,” a Studio Ghibli classic film that from 2004 that has not previously released in Chinese cinemas. It earned $6.8 million over the weekend and $16.9 million over its six-day opening run.
The widely-spread box office bounty represented further confirmation of the May Day holiday weekend becoming a reliable high point in the Chinese box office. Local media reported that 11 films targeted their releases at the holiday period.
Online ticketing firm Maoyan, reported that nationwide box office in the five-day May 1-5 period was $211 million (RMB1.52 billion), earned from the sale of 37.6 million tickets. It said this was a record for the period and reported that the most active demographic segments were women and people older than 25.
Artisan Gateway reports that the Friday-Sunday weekend was worth $109 million to Chinese cinemas. That increment advanced China’s annual box office total to $2.85 billion. That is some 2.4% ahead of 2023’s total at the same point. It also conforms China as the world’s largest box office market so far in 2024.
Directed by Rina Wu, “The Last Frenzy” stars Jia Bing, Tan Zhuo, Xiao Shenyang and Yu Yang, in a tale of love, friendship and hometown nostalgia as a man with ten days to live spends his fortune and reconnects with those in his past.
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