China Box Office: ‘The Tipping Point’ Makes Nearly $9 Million Debut

Patrick Frater
·2 min read
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Chinese-made crime thriller “The Tipping Point” leaped to the top of the mainland China box office over the weekend with an $8.8 million three-day haul.

The film, directed by Hong Kong’s David Lam (“Z Storm”), is adapted from real events and sees a newly-appointed detective called on to investigate the death of a female school student who had fallen from a building. The policeman discovers a ring of corruption involving the city’s major businessman. The film stars Zhou Yiwei, Qin Hailu, Julian Cheung and Eric Tsang.

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New releases into Chinese theaters have been scarce for several weeks as distributors remain cautious about the weakness of the market outside holiday peak periods and nearly all foreign titles are excluded.

“The Tipping Point” claimed a 69% share of the overall box office market over the weekend, according to data from consultancy and research firm Artisan Gateway. Last week’s new release “Serendipity Love” tumbled to $580,000 (RMB4.2 million) and fourth place after scoring $2.3 million (RMB16.6 million) in its opening session. It now has a cumulative total of $3.9 million (RMB27.9 million) after ten days on release.

“Home Coming,” which previously topped the Chinese chart for six weeks, held on to second place with a $2.4 million (RMB17.4 million) increment. That gives it a $215 million (RMB1.55 billion) total since releasing at the end of September.

“Give Me Five,” which released at the beginning of September, took third place over the latest weekend. It took $1.1 million (RMB8.3 million) for a cumulative of $74.3 million (RMB535 million).

Animation film “Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank” (aka “Blazing Samurai”) was given a theatrical release on Saturday and scored $250,000 (RMB1.8 million). The film is co-directed by Rob Minkoff, who has strong China connections and previously directed Jet Li-starring co-production film “The Forbidden Kingdom.”

Artisan Gateway now calculates that the year-to-date box office total in China is $3.90 billion. That is some 35% adrift of 2021 levels at the same point in 2021.

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