“Ant-Man” held top spot in China at the box office over the week to Sunday, but it was run very close by local suspense drama “The Witness” which topped the weekend rankings.
The Hollywood superhero movie added $19.4 million in the seven days to Sunday, and advanced its 17 day cumulative total to $101 million, according to Ent Group data. But that represented a drop of 51% over the previous week.
“The Witness,” which stars fan girls’ favorite Mini Yang, topped the chart in the three day weekend from Friday to Sunday. Showing at some 41,000 screenings per day, it managed to win all three days’ outings.
“Hotel Transylvania” scored $12.3 million in six days, after its Sunday (Oct. 25) release. That was good enough for third place, but its per screening average was below that of “Ant-Man” and on a par with “The Witness.”
Previous chart topper, “Goodbye Mr Loser,” added $11.1 million, as it dropped from second to fourth place in its fifth week of release. After 33 days its cumulative is $223 million.
Japanese animation “Detective Conan: Sunflowers of Inferno,” took fifth place with a sharply reduced $3.39 million. After 10 days its total is $12.5 million. European animation, “The Little Prince” added $2.75 million for a 17 day total of $24 million.
Chinese romantic comedy “Youth Never Returns” added $2.67 million, for a 10 day score of $7.62 million.
Behind that in eighth place in the weekly chart, the full release of auteur Jia Zhangke’s “Mountains May Depart,” achieved $2.65 million in three days. The film had a minor release in Shanghai in September in order to create advance publicity and allow it to qualify for China’s foreign-language Oscar selection, although the choice went elsewhere. The score was strong for an art-house title in star-obsessed China and the film tracked in fifth place over the three days of the weekend.
“Pan” continued its dismal Chinese career, earning less than $1 million in its second week of release and falling to ninth place in the chart. After 10 days its cumulative stands at $4.42 million.
Chinese horror, “Midnight Whisper” brought up tenth place in its first weekend, with a score of just $810,000.
