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Patriotic blockbuster “The Battle at Lake Changjin II” earned just short of $400 million over the Chinese New Year holidays at a mainland China box office that weighed in at some $950 million.

Data from consultancy Artisan Gateway showed “Lake Changjin II” earning $152 million over the Friday to Sunday weekend, comfortably ahead of comedy “Too Cool to Kill” which took $111 million over the same three days. In third place over the weekend was drama “Nice View” with $45.4 million and animation “Boonie Bears: Back to Earth” with $38.8. The Zhang Yimou- and Zhang Mo-directed “Snipers” was fifth over the weekend with $22.7 million.

Data from other sources show that the first three days of the six-day holiday period – Tuesday to Sunday – were the strongest, indicating that the cumulative scores at the end of Sunday are more important.

“Lake Changjin II” completed its first six days in Chinese theaters with $395 million, according to Artisan Gateway.

The reign of Sony’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” atop the U.K. and Ireland box office has finally ended with Universal’s animation sequel “Sing 2” claiming the throne.

“Sing 2,” directed by Garth Jennings and featuring a stellar voice cast of Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson and Taron Egerton among many others, debuted in pole position with £6.8 million ($9.2 million), according to numbers released by Comscore.

Another Universal release, Kenneth Branagh’s awards season favorite “Belfast,” retained its second position from last week with £1.8 million and now has £6 million after two weekends.

After six weeks as box office champion, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” placed third with £1.7 million. After seven weekends, the film has swung to a total of £90 million and is in sixth place on the all-time U.K. and Ireland charts. The film’s next target is “Avatar,” which currently occupies fifth place with £94 million.

Paramount’s...

“The Battle at Lake Changjin II” lived up to its blockbuster billing with a more than $75 million box office haul by lunchtime on Tuesday, its opening day in mainland Chinese theaters.

The film, aka “Watergate Bridge” had grossed RMB487 million ($76.5 million) by 1.30 pm, according to online ticketing agency Maoyan and Alibaba’s Beacon data service. At this pace a $100 million opening day is possible.

State media has forecast that the film may propel the Chinese New Year week to over $1 billion and that the 149-minute film could eventually become the highest-grossing film of all time in China.

To do that, it would have to surpass “The Battle at Lake Changjin” which was released on Oct. 1, 2021 and, over a prolonged run in cinemas, earned $913 million to become the second biggest film worldwide in 2021, behind “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”

Despite the short interval between the two outings, there is a reasonable chance...

After being forced to sit out the annually lucrative Chinese New Year period as the Covid crisis was just beginning in 2020, Chinese box office blasted to an all-time high during the comparable 2021 session. This week, the Year of the Tiger will be ushered in with eight movies beginning February 1, and with potential new records on the horizon. Last year in the world’s biggest box office market, the week-long holiday reached Rmb 7.8B ($1.2B at historical rates).

The first full weekend of this Lunar New Year’s festivities dovetails with the beginning of the Winter Olympics in Beijing. It’s likely that Friday’s opening ceremony will be widely watched at home, but tickets to the Games are not being sold to the general public in an attempt to avoid further Covid flare-ups. Box office could still see some impact.

China’s cinema box office trod water in the weekend ahead of the Chinese New Year holidays and an imminent surge of new release titles. These mean that the next few days could add up to the biggest week in Chinese movie history.

Over the latest weekend, though, the nationwide aggregate was a paltry $21.4 million, the lowest weekend this year, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway.

“Fireflies in the Sun,” a Wanda Pictures-backed thriller, said to be a remake of “John Q,” climbed back to first place with a $4.1 million take. It was first released in mid-December and has now built a cumulative of $174 million.

Patriotic pandemic film “Embrace Again” slipped to second place with $3.9 million, giving a running total of $148 million. Comedy, “Another Me” took $2.9 million for a $73 million cumulative since release on Jan. 1, 2022. Chinese crime thriller “G Storm” earned $2.8 million over the weekend for a total...

Eight local titles come out in China on February 1

The Battle At Lake Changjin II looks set to conquer the China box office when it hits cinemas on February 1, which marks the first day of the highly lucrative Chinese New Year holiday.

At time of writing, the action sequel has clocked up more than $40m (RMB258m) in advance ticket sales for its opening day alone, according to real-time box-office data from the country’s leading online ticketing platform Maoyan.

The release of the 1950s-set patriotic war epic was only officially announced less than three weeks ago as a late...

Wu Renyao (Liu Haoran) performs motorcycle stunt shows while hustling for customers at the docks. He is friends with Zhou Huansong (Liu Haocun), a restaurant waitress who dreams of big city life, and her pompous yet sincere older brother, Zhou Huange. Ah Yao has also recently reunited with his gadabout father Wu Renteng (Shen Teng), whom he has not seen for many years.

A fervently competitive motorcycle team calling themselves the “Undefeated Legends” but have never won a competition. A group of amusing and cute nobodies. Their fates are intertwined! Both Ah Yao and Huansong are determined to live differently from their parents, be there for each other and still be independent. But they are not always on the same wavelength. In an unpredictable world, they reluctantly leave their hometown and face an unknown journey. Ah Yao’s skills will be unexpectedly put to the test. What will happen to his relationships with his family,...

“The Battle at Lake Changjin 2: Water Gate Bridge,” the sequel to China’s highest grossing film of all time, will debut on Feb. 1, the first day of the lucrative Chinese New Year holiday.

The weeklong vacation is typically China’s biggest box office period of the year and thus is subject to intense competition. This year, “Lake Changjin 2” is set to go up against 10 other hotly anticipated titles. The sequel currently ranks third in popularity based on votes from the “want to watch” metric from the Maoyan database.

Its top competitor is “Nice View,” the next feature from “Dying to Survive” director Wen Muye, which currently has the highest number of people indicating they “want to watch” the film on the Maoyan platform, with 447,000 votes.

Trailing “Nice View” in popularity is director Han Han’s “Only Fools Rush In,” with 389,000 votes. The comedy “Too Cool To Kill” from director...