China made history this weekend with record ticket sales of nearly $ 775 million (RMB5.0 billion) in the first three days of the Chinese New Year holiday, led by an incredible $ 424 million (RMB2.74 billion) debut “Detective Chinatown 3.”
This marked the first time that the country’s national box office broke RMB 1 billion ($ 155 million) per day for three consecutive days, an achievement achieved despite the maximum capacity limits of the theater at 75% in most parts of the country and 50% in areas particularly at risk for COVID-19, such as Hebei province, adjacent to Beijing.
More than 55 million individual tickets were purchased at an average price of $ 7.74 (RMB50) for director Chen Sicheng’s long-awaited third installment for the “Detective Chinatown” franchise – with ticket prices much higher than average of $ 5.40 (RMB35) seen at other times of the year reflecting high demand. It accounted for an average of 42% of all projections in the country over the weekend.
To put the numbers in perspective, in three days, “Detective Chinatown 3” earned more than $ 100 million more than Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” worldwide and nearly tripled the global sales of “1984’s Wonder Woman.”
Second place was the unexpected success with the “Oi, mama” theme, which raised US $ 195 million (RMB 1.26 billion), according to real-time data from the Lighthouse industry data aggregator, supported by Alibaba.
The film, which was written and directed by its main actress Jia Ling, must be the underdog title of the Lunar New Year launch window thanks to the very strong word of mouth. Nearly 80% of users of the top three local rating apps gave four stars or more, according to Chinese media. “Thanks to such a strong reception, the film’s box office potential will certainly be revealed,” wrote one vehicle, Ynet.
Third was the adventure film “A Writer’s Odyssey”, with sales of $ 53.4 million (RMB345 million), while the latest offering for children in the local cartoon franchise “Boonie Bears”, “Boonie Bears: The Wild Life “, reached fourth with $ 36.5 million (RMB 236 million).
The period costume “O Mestre YinYang” raised $ 26.3 million (RMB170 million) to come in fifth place, while the animation “New Gods: Nezha Reborn” – another one of many interpretations about the life of his popular sharpening divinity in his teens – it was the sixth with earnings of $ 22.8 million (RMB147 million).
Of the seven films that opened on Friday, “Endgame”, starring Andy Lau, came in last with $ 13 million (RMB84.3 million).
Comments left by local viewers online about their experiences of going to the cinema indicate that some of the most common feelings this year include that tickets were difficult to obtain and also quite expensive. In fact, the average ticket price for the seven new launches reached around US $ 7.54 (RMB48.7).
The strong performance in China also made history for Imax. The company saw its best opening weekend for a Chinese New Year holiday this year, with gains of $ 25 million – 45% more than its count in the same period in 2019. “Detective Chinatown 3”, which was filmed entirely with Imax cameras, it was responsible for the victory, accounting for $ 23.5 million, or 94%, of Imax sales. The other two new releases available at Imax were “New Gods” and “A Writer’s Odyssey”, which features over an hour of expanded proportion footage.
This marked the company’s biggest three-day debut for a Chinese film, surpassing the highlight of 2019 Chinese New Year, “The Wandering Earth”. “Detective” also generated Imax’s strongest Friday-Sunday admissions in China, selling 2.1 million tickets to beat 1.94 million “Avengers: Endgame”. Sales of Imax “Detective Chinatown” represented 6% of the national box office total of the title, but only 1% of the screens.
Friday also marked the first time that Imax registered more than one million admissions in a single day in any global market.
Edwin Tan, CEO of Imax China, assessed that the case in China indicates that “the public emerging from the pandemic [are] seeking the most engaging theater experience in the world. “
His colleague, Imax CEO Rich Gelfond, called China’s strong performance this weekend “an important milestone on our path to global box office recovery”.
“We suspected that our fans would perform in the Chinese New Year in style, but these initial returns have destroyed even our most optimistic projections,” he said.