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SUNDAY PM: Figures updated from AM. Maoyan will be releasing their Chinese New Year box office figure on Tuesday, the holiday weighed from Tuesday, Feb. 17 through Monday, Feb. 23. Industry estimates have the top five pics in the Middle Kingdom minting over $738M. As we told you earlier, this weekend’s global box office was always China‘s to win, not Hollywood. Though the second weekend of Warner Bros/MRC’s Wuthering Heights did $40.5M WW, it ranked fourth at the worldwide weekend against China’s racing car movie Pegasus 3 (Comscore weekend $152.1M/Maoyan reported cume since Tuesday of ($392.9M/2.691B RmB) which was No. 1. That’s all from China. Imax portion was $21.7M which is the large format exhibitor’s highest grossing result for the franchise. Pegasus 3 is the biggest Chinese language film since last year’s animated phenomenon Ne Zha 2 which debuted to RMB 3.12B ($430.3M, not accounting for inflation and currency swings) last year (that sequel finaled at $2.2 billion in China, the highest grossing animated movie ever).
Lijun CHEN in Blades of the Guardians © Well Go USA Entertainment / Courtesy Everett Collection
On a weekend basis, Comscore is calling the feature take of Chinese manga Blades of the Guardians: Wind Rises in the Desert in second with $50.8M and that’s from eight territories, largely driven by the Middle Kingdom and including $478K from its limited release over the weekend in the U.S. at 184 sites. Maoyan reports that the 6-day cume for the Jet Li and Wu Jing movie is $105M/719M RmB. Imax’s haul for the Super Lion movie was $3M.
Comscore is calling the opening weekend of Zhang Yimou’s spy thriller Scare Out in third with $41.4M from six territories. Maoyan says that the pic’s Chinese gross stands at ($117.6M/806M RmB) since Tuesday. Imax hubs did $500K. All in from the trio of features, Imax’s Chinese New Year rang in at $25.2M. Add in monies from Wuthering Heights and EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert and the Rich Gelfond led exhibitor did $25.2M.
Wuthering Heights $40.5M second frame in 77 markets was comprised of $26.3M abroad and $14.2M in second place stateside. The top grossing second weekends included UK ($5.5M, -47% at 1,371 theaters for a $22.5M running cume); Italy with $3.1M, -28% at 680 sites for a cume of $9.4M); Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie’s Australia with $2.7M, -38%, at 330 sites and a cume of $8.3M); Mexico with $2.3M at 2,553 screens, -28% and a $6.4M current total, and Germany with $1.6M at 580 sites, -26% with a cume of $5M. Updated territories include Spain ($4.8M), Poland ($3.5M), France ($3.4M), Brazil ($2.7M), Holland ($2.1M), Argentina ($1.4M) and Belgium ($1.1M).
Comscore is calling China’s Bonnie Bears: The Hidden Protector in fifth for the weekend with $35.7M in two territories. Maoyan counting China’s running cume since Tuesday at ($96.5M/661M RmB).
We can’t forget Sony Pictures Animation’s original title GOAT which trots across the global century mark with $102.3M running total at 10,600+ screens ($44M foreign in 51 markets, $58.3M domestic). As we told, GOAT ripped Heathcliff and Cathy out of No. 1 in its second weekend with a $17M second frame. Pic’s global weekend was $34M in 6th place ($17M from foreign). Nine new markets debuted this weekend which are running 69% ahead of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, 46% above Space Jam: A New Legacy, and 43% higher than The Bad Guys for the same group at current exchange rates. Germany opened to No. 1 and led new markets with $2.2M. In holdover markets, the UK shot up 28% and grossed $3.8 million for a territory total of $14.5 million. In France, GOAT leaped was up 17% in France with a take of $1.4M for a cume to date of $3M. Mexico rang up $1.3M, -24%, to raise its cume to $3.4M. Other notable markets include: The Netherlands (+128%), Belgium (+103%), Hong Kong (+34%), Taiwan (+4%), Peru (-2%), Brazil (-7%), Italy (-25%), Poland (-27%), Spain (-29%), and Ukraine (-33%). Thre are more territories to open including Australia (March 12), China (March 14), Saudi Arabia (April 23) and South Korea (April).
The running cume for the Jackie Chan sequel Panda Plan 2 over six days is ($26.4M/181M RmB) per Maoyan.
We’ll have more international B.O. updates for you tomorrow.
THURSDAY UPDATE: The biggest movies at this weekend’s worldwide box office won’t be from Hollywood — sorry, Wuthering Heights — but rather China, where the Year of the Fire Horse has been in full swing since Tuesday.
Overall, we’re hearing from distribution sources that Gower sees the Top 5 movies alone doing a combined total of $805M for the six-day stretch of Tuesday through Sunday. Realize that Hollywood’s highest week ever at the domestic B.O. was $536.4M, when Avengers: Endgame led the April 26-May 2, 2019, frame. We could never reach such scale.
According to Maoyan, total box office since opening across all titles screening during the Chinese New Year window has reached RMB 3.1 billion ($452.6M) to date. This figure also includes carryovers. Note that Hollywood films aren’t allowed to open in China during the Chinese New Year stretch, but they can hold on to screens, read Zootopia 2 and Avatar: Fire and Ash.
Imax over Feb. 17-19 has collected $14.5M at its auditoriums. The large-format exhibitor’s market share in the Middle Kingdom is 3.5%, achieved on less than 1% of the total screens.
It remains to be seen whether this year will rival last year’s $965.4M New Year’s mega-haul, which was led by Yu Yang’s animated sequel Ne Zha 2 ($430.3M). So far during the first 3 days of New Year 2026, Pegasus 3, Han Han’s F1-like racecar-driver movie starring Shen Teng, is leading the bunch with $219.5M, of which Imax is driving $13.4M. Imax indexed at 7% on the pic’s opening day with $6.3 million, delivering a franchise-best opening day gross and opening index. The previous movie (unadjusted for inflation and currency swings) opened to $105.6M ($4.6M) from Imax and finaled at $422.3M off a 9.7 on Maoyan. This one has a 7.5M Douban score out of 10 with Gower predicting a No. 1 win at $400M for Pegasus 3 in a movie that is attracting everybody from kids to 80-year-olds. Interesting that AG China lifetime’s forecast for the movie is at $420M to half-billion, but now sources believe it’s much higher at $610M-$700M. The blurb for Pegasus 3: Bearing the glory of being the “King of Bayanbulak,” Zhang Chi once again embarks on his racing journey, aiming not only to win the race but also to achieve something beyond the competition itself.
In second place is Zhang Yimou-directed espionage movie Scare Out, which is aimed at ages 18-60, with a Feb. 17-19 box office of $70.5M. Gower is forecasting a $160M 6-day opening with a final cume of $300M. Imax is delivering $300K. Douban score is 6.3/10. When vital intelligence is leaked, a national security team vows to find the traitor, but arrests failed repeatedly. As tension mounts, suspicion turns inward to the team itself. Chaos ensues. The Pic stars Jackson Yee (Yi Yangqianxi) and Zhu Yilong.
Family animated title Bonnie Bears: The Hidden Protector is aiming for third with $54.2M over the last three days and a six-day projected at $110M. Huida Lin directs the pic. Gower foresees the final B.O. for the pic at $189M. Logline: Briar, Bramble and Vick encounter the legendary Year Monster, Nian, who bestows them with mysterious powers, thrusting them into the hidden, chaotic, magic-infused realm of Eve City.
Fourth is Blades of the Guardians: Wind Rises in the Desert starring Wu Jing and Jet Li (remember him?) and directed by Yuen Woo-Ping. The movie is based on a Chinese manga and pulling in a younger audiences ages 20-40, we hear, with a Feb. 17-19 cume of $49M (Imax $800K so far) and Gower projection of $95M for the weekend and ultimate end gross between $155M-$185M. Blurb for Blades of the Guardians: Dao Ma, the “second most wanted fugitive,” who is entrusted by his benefactor, the chief of Mo family clan, to take on a mysterious escort mission-escorting the “most wanted fugitive,” to Chang’an.
In fifth is the Jackie Chan live-action movie Panda Plan 2: The Magical Tribe with $17M over the last 3 days on its way to $40M per Gower, and $60M-$72M final. Families, yes, but older guys are still into Chan.
Sources tell us that Chinese audiences, whose moviegoing tastes change rapidly, are embracing more Hollywood-style local titles with broad stories and VFX versus the patriotic movies of yore, i.e. Wolf Warrior ($81.4M final, unadjusted for currency swings and inflation). Such politically themed fare would be hard sell to today’s audiences. Although unemployment is high among the younger, college-educated demographic, moviegoing isn’t that expensive and still has momentum. Tier 1 and 2 cities can charge around $10 (non large-format), while lower0tier cities can charge around $4-$7 per ticket.
In regards to box office trajectory of local Chinese New Year movies, they often can be back-loaded. Presales are less predictive than they used to be, and Day 2 or 3 holds — driven largely by word-of-mouth — tend to determine the ultimate pecking order. As such, early audience scores matter.
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