This past weekend saw three different films lead the Chinese daily box office on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Chinese drama The Enigma of Arrival debuted on Friday with $1.38 million. It also led the weekend overall with $3.35 million.
The second weekend of Universal’s fantasy comedy Dolittle led on Saturday with $1.45 million, including $400 thousand from Imax. The film, originally released domestically in January, came in a close second for the weekend overall with $3.26 million, after leading last weekend with $5.14 million.
Sunday was led by the re-release of 2014’s science fiction Interstellar with $2.60 million, including $660 thousand from Imax. That was good enough for third place in the weekend overall, despite not playing on Friday or Saturday, since its Sunday was the highest-grossing day for a film in China since cinemas were allowed to reopen on July 20. The previous best had been Dolittle with $2.10 million on Sunday, July 26.
Christopher Nolan’s upcoming Tenet is scheduled for release in 70 countries on August 26, in select domestic cities September 3. So the re-release success of Nolan’s Interstellar in China may be a promising sign for the writer-director’s upcoming project there, whenever it’s eventually released in that market.
Interstellar‘s original Chinese release in 2014 earned $121.9 million, the second-largest market behind only the U.S. with $188.0 million.
Rounding out the top five this weekend were Chinese crime thriller Sheep Without a Shepherd with $2.30 million and Chinese animated title Mr. Miao with $1.47 million.
Next weekend will see the Chinese releases of 1917 and Ford v. Ferrari.
According to EntGroup, which tracks the Chinese box office, one U.S. dollar is equal to about 6.872 Chinese Renminbi.
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