China’s box office weekend was marked more by the tussle for top spot between “Never Say Never” and “Chang An” than the entry of “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.” The Tom Cruise-starring U.S. blockbuster was the highest new release title, but landed in third place with an opening score of $25.9 million.

The weekend’s top-ranked film was “Never Say Never,” a holdover title that scored $46.1 million. Lightchaser Animation-produced “Chang An San Wan Li” (aka “Chang An 30,000 Miles”) earned a shade less, at $43.9 million, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway.

After 11 days of official release (plus substantial previews), “Never Say Never,” written and directed by actor Wang Baoqiang (“Lost in Thailand,” “Detective Chinatown”) has already become one of the biggest hits of the year. Its cumulative stands at $212 million. “Chang An” has accumulated $96.1 million in nine days.

Local data providers’ daily charts showed that “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” never rose above third place despite a wide release on Friday. It played some 98,000 sessions on Friday, but exhibitors cut that on both successive days, ending at 53,000 on Sunday. (Imax reports that some $3.97 million of the film’s China total came from its screens.)

“Never Say Never” also saw its screen count reduced as cinemas switched their real estate to support “Chang An,” despite the latter’s huge 168 -minute running time. “Chang An” enjoyed its best day on Sunday, its ninth day of release. The Tang Dynasty-set film mixes history and mythology and is touted as Lightchaser’s first from its New Culture series which are based on actual historical figures.

“Mission Impossible” enjoyed the fourth largest opening haul for a Hollywood movie so far this year. The China launch of “Mission: Impossible” is on a par with “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3” ($28 million opening and a cumulative of $89 million) but behind “Fast X” (opening of $51.1 million and $146 million cumulative) and “Transformers – Rise of the Beasts” (opening $38.9 million and running total of $96 million).

Smash hit, “Lost in the Stars” earned an additional $15.9 million as it fell to fourth place. It has now earned $474 million since June 22.

Another Chinese animation “Oh My School” took fifth place in its opening weekend with a $12.8 million. The picture is a body swap comedy involves a naughty pupil and a strict class teacher.

The weekend aggregate box office was a healthy $154 million, which propelled the year-to-date total to $4.36 billion. Artisan Gateway calculates that as being some 64% ahead of the same point last year, and only 9% behind that of 2019, the last pre-pandemic year.

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