China Box Office: New ‘Boonie Bears’ Film Takes $89M Over Lunar New Year
Sunday saw the conclusion of China’s six-day Lunar New Year holiday, traditionally the country’s biggest box-office period. Three local animated features were released last week alongside a slew of other high-profile Chinese films.
- The highest-grossing animated film of the holiday was Boonie Bears: Back to Earth, which took USD$89.44 million (according to Entgroup).
- It came in fourth place over the six-day holiday. Patriotic war film The Battle at Lake Changjin II topped the box office with $397.69M.
- Boonie Bears may be China’s biggest animated franchise. A feature is released around this time every year; the eight films to date have grossed almost $600M in China.
- Over the holiday, Dunk for Future grossed $15.36M. It too is linked to a major kids’ animation franchise, Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf.
- The third Chinese-produced animated release of the holiday, Run, Tiger, Run!, performed less well, grossing $2.76M.
- Overall, the new-year box office totaled around $950M, falling short of state predictions and last year’s tally. Covid is still causing disruption, with up to a fifth of cinemas shut due to local Covid flare-ups. The Beijing Winter Olympics are also providing competition.
- Meanwhile, Disney’s Encanto has managed only $12.09M in China after five weekends. Paw Patrol: The Movie is almost level after four weekends, with $12.04M.
Image at top: “Boonie Bears: Back to Earth”