THE SACRIFICE (2020): Chinese War Flick Takes in $150 Million at Box Office

The Sacrifice Takes in $150 Million at Box Office

War movie The Sacrifice has topped Chinese box offices for the third weekend in a row, bringing its total to $150 million since it was released on October 23rd.

Over the past weekend, Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups and Hellboy came in a distant second and third at $5.5 million and $4.6 million respectively. Find Your Voice, a Hong Kong-U.S. joint production starring Andy Lau, came in at number four at $3.5 million. The Sacrifice overtook smash hit My People, My Homeland in its seventh week, which took in $3.1 million, bringing its total to $422 million.  Director Li Xiaofeng‘s crime thriller Back to the Wharf, dropped out of the top five after debuting last week, and Harrison Ford starrer Call of the Wild failed to make the top five in its opening weekend.

The consistently strong performance of Sacrifice helped keep the Chinese box office profitable at $35 million per weekend for the second straight weekend, which is considered a strong performance during a typically slow time of year. In previous winters, Chinese blockbusters and Hollywood tentpoles have been allowed three weeks in theaters before restrictions are put in place. $35 million is also impressive considering there were no new major releases this weekend. In fact, each of the top three titles in China each exceeded U.S. box office topper Freaky, which came in at $3.7 million in North America.

The year-to-date box office in China is $2.35 billion, according to data from Artisan Gateway, which is a 73% drop relative to the last year-to-date total. Although with over 90% of Chinese cinemas now open, China’s lead over the U.S. market is certain to grow. The biggest problem facing the Chinese exhibition industry will now be finding enough viable content in the next three months before the Chinese New Year holiday season, which begins on Feb. 12th, 2021.

Many of the biggest Chinese films that have been made this year are intended to target the highly coveted Chinese New Year slot, going up against at least two studio tentpoles that were delayed due to the pandemic. Given that there aren’t going to be many big Hollywood releases until 2021, the Chinese box office shouldn’t expect to get much help from the U.S.

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