Benefitting from one of the widest releases of all time in China, “Resident Evil: The Final Chapter” smashed its way to the top of the Chinese weekend box office. Its three-day total was $91.2 million, according to local data provider Ent Group, and $94.3 million according to Sony Pictures Releasing International.
The film opened on Friday with a $30.4 million score that already eclipsed its North American total of $26.5 million. It kept its lead with $35.7 million on Saturday and $25.1 million on Sunday, according to Ent Group. It played some 110,000 screenings on Friday. That was expanded to 120,000 on the following two days.
The Screen Gems/Constantin film was released in China by China Film Corp and Huaxia Distribution for Constantin Film’s local partner Leomus Pictures. “Throughout the whole course, Leomus have demonstrated professional understanding about the market, the audience and the IP, and came up with a very solid marketing & distribution plan that contributed to the huge box office success in China,” said producer Martin Moszkowicz at Constantin Films.
The only other new release of any significance, “Assassin’s Creed” took $17.4 million over the weekend, a score good enough for second place. Also opening on Friday, it played on some 55,000 screens daily, giving a significantly weaker average per screening than “Resident Evil.” Of these, 389 were IMAX screens, which earned a combined $3 million.
The two newcomers meant that English-language pictures accounted for the top five places at the Chinese box office this weekend. They were followed by “Sing,” “xXx The Return of Xander Cage,” and “La La Land.”
In its second weekend, “Sing” had a low key Friday before perking up on Saturday and Sunday for a weekend score of $7.16 million. Its cumulative after 10 days is $24.0 million.
"xXx” earned $6.62 million for the weekend. After 17 days its cumulative is $153 million.
"La La Land” earned $2.39 million. That expanded its total to $30.6 million after 13 days.
Lower places were taken by a trio of holdovers from Chinese New Year: Chinese drama “Duckweed” with $1.50 million for the weekend and a cumulative of $145 million after 30 days; "Kung Fu Yoga” with $1.34 million on the weekend and a 30 day cumulative of $242 million; and “Boonie Bears: Entangled Worlds” with $940,000 and a 30 day cumulative of $72.5 million.
Ninth place belonged to “The Game Changer” with $540,000 for the weekend and a $12.7 million 17-day cumulative. Tenth spot was held by “Lord of Shanghai” with just $210,000 for the weekend and a 10-day total of $1.85 million.