China Box Office: ‘Resident Evil’ Retains Top Spot Over Quiet Post-Holiday Frame as Local Titles Wind Down — SkimNews
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- Resident Evil held the top spot with RMB62.5 million ($9.3 million) in its second full weekend, lifting its cumulative gross to $55.8 million since its Oct. 5 rollout.
- Traces of Justice stayed in second with $6.8 million in its third weekend, bringing its cumulative haul to $84.6 million since its Oct. 1 release.
- Mr. & Mrs. Pardon held third with $4.1 million, pushing its running total to $50.9 million since premiering Oct. 1.
- Once Upon a Time in the Middle East took fourth with $900,000 in its tenth weekend, firming its $354.3 million cumulative — positioning it among the year's biggest Chinese commercial hits.
- Three Kingdoms: The Beginning collected $800,000 over the two-day frame, reaching $14.7 million in cumulative grosses.
- The overall weekend gross of $26.7 million reflects a post-holiday slowdown, with mainland China's 2026 year-to-date box office at $4.67 billion, trailing the same 2025 period by 29.2%.
Why it matters: The headline 'retained top spot' masks a much softer story underneath: no major new releases arrived, local titles are winding down, and the overall weekend took just $26.7 million — while China's 2026 year-to-date box office now trails the same point in 2025 by 29.2%, a roughly $1.9 billion shortfall that underscores a sustained contraction in the world's second-largest theatrical market.
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