China box office: local films retain dominance

In Chinese box offices last week, local films have retained dominance with eight of the top 10 slots.

The crime action-thriller Cold War 2 stayed atop the Chinese box office last week with $41m in its second week.

Big Fish & Begonia held onto the second spot with $69m after 10 days, making it the second-highest-grossing local animation film.

Local youth romance Never Gone maintained the number three slot at $19m.

Four new Chinese films entered the weekly chart, making a total of eight local titles in the top 10.

Romantic comedy When Larry Met Mary, starring Bao Beier and Song Jia, fared the best in fourth place with $16m from its three-day opening weekend.

Chinese-Korean crime-thriller Tik Tok debuted in fifth with $7.8m from its first three days.

Action-comedy For A Few Bullets, starring Lin Gengxin and Zhang Jingchu, opened in seventh with $6m, while Chinese-Russian animation Sun Duck launched in ninth with $2.3m.

Local animation Rock Dog rounded up the chart with $1.7m for $5.7m after 10 days.

The only two Hollywood holdovers were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, which dropped to sixth place and and Now You See Me 2, which fell to eighth.

Despite the summer blockbuster season now being in full swing, last week's box office fell approximately 17% as new releases failed to heat up ticket sales.

More Chinese titles are scheduled for this week, including Skiptrace, Summer's Desire and One Night Only. Adding variety to the Chinese films are The Legend Of Tarzan and Japanese animation Doraemon: Nobita And The Birth Of Japan.