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China’s cinema box office trod water in the weekend ahead of the Chinese New Year holidays and an imminent surge of new release titles. These mean that the next few days could add up to the biggest week in Chinese movie history.

Over the latest weekend, though, the nationwide aggregate was a paltry $21.4 million, the lowest weekend this year, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway.

“Fireflies in the Sun,” a Wanda Pictures-backed thriller, said to be a remake of “John Q,” climbed back to first place with a $4.1 million take. It was first released in mid-December and has now built a cumulative of $174 million.

Patriotic pandemic film “Embrace Again” slipped to second place with $3.9 million, giving a running total of $148 million. Comedy, “Another Me” took $2.9 million for a $73 million cumulative since release on Jan. 1, 2022. Chinese crime thriller “G Storm” earned $2.8 million over the weekend for a total...

“The Matrix: Resurrections” fell out of the top five chart positions at the mainland Chinese box office over the latest weekend. The top spots were reclaimed by local, holdover titles.

China Film Co.’s patriotic pandemic drama “Embrace Again” was the top film over the latest Friday to Sunday weekend, with a weekend score of $5.3 million, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. Since Dec. 31, 2021, the film has accumulated $139 million. The previous weekend, it had taken $6.8 million in second place.

In second place over the latest session was “Fireflies in the Sun,” a Wanda Pictures-backed thriller, said to be a remake of “John Q.” It was first released in mid-December but bubbled back with a $4.4 million weekend, lifting its cumulative to $169 million.

Chinese crime thriller “G Storm” earned $3.4 million over the weekend in third place for a cumulative of $93.2 million since releasing on Dec. 31.

Comedy, “Another Me” earned...

After a rocky 2021 in China, Hollywood kicked off 2022 with its first revenue-share studio release of the year in Disney’s lush animated movie “Encanto.” The musical family film conjured up $3.22 million in the Middle Kingdom, according to data from the Maoyan platform.

The Colombia-set musical about the boisterous Madrigal family and their magical gifts placed sixth at the box office, behind a slew of holdover local titles.

“Encanto” grossed $43.3 million in theaters over its five-day Thanksgiving weekend stateside back in November before releasing on Disney Plus near the Christmas holiday. It has grossed $92.4 million in the U.S. and $216 million globally since, with the biggest overseas market being France. The Disney Plus platform does not operate in China.

Maoyan currently estimates “Encanto” will gross $6.68 million over the course of its full mainland run, which may feel like a drop in the bucket for the well-received yet expensive film that has...

‘Encanto’ approaching $200m worldwide; ‘Matrix 4’ unloads across the globe.

Worldwide box office December 24-26, 2021

RankFilm (distributor) 3-day (World) Cume (world)3-day (Int’l) Cume (Int’) Territories 1. Spider-Man: No Way Home (Sony) $202.9m $1.054bn $121.4m $587.1m 62 2. The Matrix Resurrections (Warner Bros) $47m $69.8m $35m $47.3m 76 3. Sing 2 (Universal) $42.9m $65.8m $19.2m $24.8m 39 4. Fireflies In The Sun (Wanda Pictures) $35.8m $113.5m $35.8m $113.5m 1 5. The King’s Man (20th Century Studios/Disney) $13.3m $16.9m $6.9m $6.9m 8

Credit: Comscore, all figures estimates

’Spider-Man: No Way Home’ is first $1bn hit of pandemic

Updated: Columbia Pictures/Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man: No Way Home has crossed the $1bn...

In another quiet weekend in China, Korean War blockbuster “The Battle at Lake Changjin” was at last eased out of the top five for the first time since its Sept. 30 debut. It was replaced by a new Korean War film with lower production values.

“Crossing the Yalu River” from China Media Group debuted Friday to a $3 million three-day opener, coming in fourth. It stars frequent portrayer of Mao Zedong Tang Guoqiang as the controversial leader and Sun Weimin as Zhou Enlai.

Meanwhile, Wanda Pictures’ “Fireflies in the Sun,” an adaptation of the 2002 Nick Cassavetes film “John Q,” opened first with $54.2 million, according to data from Artisan Gateway. It tells the story about a family that lived a poor but happy life until the son has an accident and needs an expensive treatment, which his father does whatever it takes to obtain.

The original film starring Denzel Washington was not especially...