Despite being cut by 14 minutes, “Logan” and Hugh Jackman dominated the Chinese box office this weekend. Hollywood films accounted for the top eight chart places, including “The Lego Batman Movie” which failed to excite.
It scored $48.0 million, giving a cumulative of $48.9 million including previews, according to data from Ent Group. (20th Century Fox reported $46.3 million.) Tracking showed that the film opened with 85,000 screenings on Friday, with that pattern boosted to some 95,000 on Saturday and Sunday.
Censors removed substantial amounts of footage for nudity and violence. The film also carried in-cinema written warnings suggesting that the experience would be physically and mentally challenging for youngsters. Contacted several times by Variety, Fox made no comment on the censorship cuts or the unusual warnings that come in the absence of an official film ratings system. Some commentators described “Logan” as the first film affected by the new Film Promotion Law, which came into effect from March 1.
In the end the popularity of Jackman, a superstar in China, was a enough of a positive for 9.98 million spectators to buy tickets. That total kept the film’s market share at more than double the next contender.
Holdover, “Resident Evil: The Final Chapter” tussled with new release “A Dog’s Purpose” for second spot. After a “Resident Evil” win on Friday, places were reversed on Saturday and Sunday with “Dog’s” get a big screen increase. “Dog’s” finished with $17. 3 million, according to Ent Group. “Resident Evil” took $17.1 million for the weekend, extending its cumulative to $138 million over ten days.
A large gap to the next placed film saw “Lego Batman” play an average of 20,000 screenings per day but score only $3.73 million over its opening three days.
In its third week, “Sing” managed $1.85 million for fifth place. That gives it $2.5 million after 17 days. “La La Land” added $1.05 million in its fourth week. Its cumulative amounts to $32.5 million after 20 days. Giving Hollywood its eighth place, “Assassin’s Creed” added $750,000 for a cumulative of $22.8 million.
In ninth place, Chinese-made horror “Frightening Embroidery Shoes” opened with $450,000 in three days. Enduring Chinese animation, “Boonie Bears: Entangled Worlds” added $250,000 in tenth place, for a $74.8 million cumulative after 37 days.