Chinese box office: “The First Slam Dunk” brings in $55 million in four opening days

The highly anticipated Japanese animated feature film “The First Slam Dunk” topped the cinema box office in mainland China during its opening weekend. He broke several records as he did.

The film grossed $38.5 million (RMB 266 million) over the Friday-Sunday weekend, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. However, it opened on Thursday, a day earlier than the norm in China, and racked up $55.2 million in the four-day opening period.

The film is based on an IP well known to a generation of comic book fans and viewers in China (early middle-aged men would have been particularly interested) and has already proven itself in other parts of China. Asia. (Comscore estimates the film made $211 million worldwide.)

Approval went beyond just one demographic segment, however. “The First Slam Dunk” has received positive reception on major film rating platforms in China, including a rating of 9.2 out of 10 from Douban users and 9.4 out of 10 from ticketing platforms Maoyan and Taopiaopiao. .

The film performed particularly well in Imax theaters, occupying 731 Imax screens in China. Imax China reported that the film earned 38 million RMB ($5.51 million) over four days. It was the biggest opening for any foreign animation title on Imax and for any Japanese film on Imax in China. Imax screens also accounted for 10% of China’s box office weekend total, a figure the company called its index.

Artisan Gateway figures show ‘The First Slam Dunk’ held nearly 74% of the total Chinese box office market in a weekend (Friday-Sunday) worth 52.3 million of dollars.

The high-scoring newcomer easily edged out Jackie Chan’s vehicle “Ride On,” which had topped the Chinese box office the previous two weekends. “Ride On” earned $2.9 million over the weekend for a cumulative 19-day total of $28.3 million.

“Hachiko,” a Chinese retelling of a Japanese dog-human loyalty tale, earned $2.4 million in its fourth weekend of release. This has helped it rack up $39.4 million since its March 31 release.

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” retained fourth place. It earned $1.8 million in its third weekend. While the film reached a worldwide run of $877 million, only $19.4 million came from China.

The fifth place of the weekend was another Japanese animation, “Suzume”. It has grossed $1.7 million for a cumulative $112 million since its release in China on March 24.

Last weekend brought China’s year-to-date box office total to $2.58 billion, according to calculations by Artisan Gateway. This is 23% ahead of a year 2022 affected by COVID and 15% behind on the same point in 2019.