One Piece Film Red, a Japanese anime blockbuster, defeated Detective Conan: The Bride of Halloween, another anime franchise film, to take the top spot at China’s box office over the course of a sluggish weekend.
According to figures from local consultancy Artisan Gateway, Film Red, the fifteenth instalment in the renowned One Piece manga and film franchise created by Oda Eiichiro, opened in China on Thursday and made $10.5 million in its first four days. The movie has been a smash in numerous other major markets, including $130 million in Japan and roughly $13 million in North America, continuing the current rising trajectory for Japanese anime in theatres around the world.
After receiving an additional $1.8 million for a three-weekend total of $19.4 million, Toho’s Detective Conan: The Bride of Halloween dropped to second place. The Tipping Point, a Chinese veteran, earned just under $1 million more to take third. The criminal thriller, which has been in theatres for just under one month, has brought in around $21.3 million.
The second-largest economy in the world continues to suffer from China’s patchwork of inconsistent COVID policies. Beijing gave provincial administrations last week instructions to hasten a gradual relaxing of the harshest quarantine and testing standards in the face of mounting social dissatisfaction over the seemingly endless interruptions to daily life. But some estimates claim that only 50% of Chinese movie theatres are currently completely operational.
With Hollywood imports slowing to a trickle and the biggest Chinese tentpoles waiting and hoping for a smoother runway over the Chinese New Year vacation in January 2023, a lack of blockbuster content also continues to have a negative impact on ticket sales in the nation.
In the early stages of Beijing’s tentative exit from COVID zero, the market’s recovery will be put to the test by Disney and James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water, which is predicted to be the greatest box office draw in many months when it opens on December 15.
According to Artisan Gateway, China’s box office revenue for 2022 is already $4.02 billion, which is a decrease of around 36% from the same time in 2021.
