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Jackie Chan’s latest film Ride On has taken the number one spot at the Chinese box office, earning a modest $11.7 million in its opening weekend. The comedy drama, which sees Chan pay tribute to the stunt players he has worked with over the years, was released just after the Ching Ming holiday, when many Chinese people honor their ancestors. Although Chan’s star power is waning in China, Ride On was still enough to beat out other new releases, including The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which took fourth place with a weekend gross of $6.8 million.
‘Suzume’ and ‘Hachiko’ Continue Strong Performances
Suzume, a Japanese animated film, had held the top spot for the previous two weekends but was knocked down to second place by Ride On.
It still managed to earn $8.0 million over the weekend, bringing its cumulative total to $103 million after 17 days in Chinese theaters, setting a new record for a Japanese animation film in China.
Hachiko, the Chinese remake of the famous Japanese tale about a faithful dog, earned $7.8 million in its second weekend of release, bringing its total to $27.1 million after ten days.
‘Post-Truth’ Takes Fifth Place
Post-Truth, a drama about a Chinese investigative journalist, took fifth place over the weekend with a haul of $2.8 million. It has now earned a cumulative total of $93.9 million since its release on March 10.
The nationwide weekend cinema aggregate for China weighed in at $46.8 million, which is a median performance for 2023 but significantly weaker than the tracking needed to reach the $8 billion full-year forecast that has been aired in state media.
Year-to-date, the total box office gross stands at $2.45 billion, which is 19% ahead of the same stage last year. However, comparisons with 2022 will become increasingly meaningless as Chinese box office operated under severe anti-COVID restrictions until mid-December.
The year finished with a $4.30 billion total. Year-to-date comparisons with 2018 and 2019 are more instructive, with the gross to date in 2023 being 14% below the $2.92 billion to April 8, 2022, and some 23% below the $3.19 billion equivalent for 2018.
Maoyan Predicts Lifetime Totals for ‘Ride On’ and ‘Super Mario Bros’
Ticketing agency Maoyan has predicted that Jackie Chan’s Ride On will earn a lifetime total of RMB209 million ($31.0 million) in China, and that Super Mario Bros will make a total of RMB121 million ($17.6 million).
