According to enFilmbase’s China film boxoffice statistics, mainland boxoffice gross in the 22th week (May 28- Jun. 03, 2012) reached $52.22 million, up 19% from last week. Moviegoers this week totaled 8.16 million, for an increase of 15% when compared to last week’s numbers.
"Men in Black III” topped the boxoffice chart in mainland China for the second week in a row, adding $27.61 million for a total of $52.43 million in its second week of release. “The Pirates! Band of Misfits” debuted at the second place bringing in a surprisingly strong boxoffice cume of $5.82 million over three days in release. “The Avengers” sustained its tremendous theatrical run, soaking up $4.71 million during its fifth week for a total $87.28 million here over the past thirty days in release. Yet again, this week mainland boxoffice was dominated by the top four titles, all of which were imported from Hollywood. Together, these blockbusters accounted for 82% of the weekly gross.
With ten newly released films, this weekend landed on International Children’s Day. Most of last week’s top ten chart did not make the cut this week. The only films that remained were “Men in Black III”, "The Avengers” and “The Grey”.
"Men in Black III” won the top spot for the second week in a row with $27.61 million in receipts after a decade-long hiatus. In the threequel, Will Smith’s character travels back in time, where he joins up with a young Agent K, played by Josh Brolin, to fight against the evil alien. Tommy Lee Jones returns to play the older Agent K. The amusing lines as well as the eye-popping visual effects stole the hearts (and the wallets) of mainland audiences again this past week.
The marvel flick “The Avengers” has hauled in $87.28 million over thirty days in release in mainland theaters. This week however, it seemed to continue loosing its steam, dropping to third place while being overtaken by "Pirates!". Around the world “The Avengers” has earned $1.36 billion, passing “Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows Part 2” (totaled a gross of $1.33 billion worldwide) to move in to third place on the all time chart.
"The Pirates! Band of Misfits”, an animated pirate adventure, done in stop-motion style by Aardman Animations debuted at second place with an impressive $5.82 million over three days in mainland release. The clay animation and the storyline appealed to kids and adults in different ways. “Mirror Mirror,” starring Julia Roberts, gained $4.7 million over three days in release, after going head to head with “Pirates”.
Somewhat surprisingly,director Martin Scorsese' s 3D fantasy "Hugo" took in a paltry $2.19 million in ticket sales since opening on 31 May. It is only being screened in 3D. As an Academy Award winning film, “Hugo” has garnered wide critical acclaim elsewhere, while it seemed failed to achieve the same inspiring result at the mainland boxoffice. Some of that is due to the deluge of piracy here, where certain internet websites allow viewers to see the film before it is even released in theaters.
According to enFilmbase statistics, regardless of the more than thirty films playing in theaters this week, “Men in Black III” emerged as the undeniable ruler of mainland boxoffice screenings, enjoying 41% of the market share in terms of total number of screenings, followed by “The Avengers”, which took 12% of the weekly screenings. Newly-released films "The Pirates! Band of Misfits” and “Mirror Mirror” took 8% and 8.5% respectively. “The Grey”, which garnered 5.6% of the weekly screenings, made for bleaker weekly box office draw than “Hugo” ’s or “Happy Little Submarines 2” ’s, though it has been playing for over two weeks. That could be largely due to a lower average ticket price (“The Grey” only played in 2D format while the other two titles have 3D versions) as well as poor average admissions per screen.
Next week (Jun. 04- Jun.10, 2012), the following films will be released in Mainland China.
The third entry of DreamWorks’ Madagascar animation serious will bow at Chinese mainland cinemas starting on Friday, according to China Film Group Corporation and Huaxia Film Distribution Co. Ltd, the film’s mainland distributors. Local comedy “Million Dollar Crocodile” and four other new films are also scheduled to join the mainland's box office battle on June 8.
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