Top Gun: Maverick broke box office records in Taiwan, taking in $3.4 million in its opening week, according to NBC news. Taiwanese moviegoers were heartened at the reappearance of the Taiwanese flag on the iconic bomber jacket worn by Tom Cruise, which had been removed in its 2019 trailer. But don’t look for the China release of the film for the same reason. Not that Paramount needs China – the film passed $500 million globally in 64 markets and has yet to open in Korea which has a huge Cruise fan base. In fact, there have been a lot of discussions lately about how Hollywood can do without the Chinese market after the global success of Doctor Strange.

But the numbers for Jurassic World Dominion, which will open in China on June 10, will still be carefully watched. Its presales are way ahead of other films.

Shanghai emerged from the city-wide lockdown last Wednesday, only to have certain neighborhoods closed down again 24 hours later as more Covid cases emerged. A negative Covid test is required to use mass transit or enter public spaces. The stringent zero-Covid policy includes mass testing, forced quarantines, and sudden lockdowns, a situation that is likely to continue for months. For those movie fans who go to the cinema and other public places, QR codes have to be scanned on their phones to alert authorities to the locations of covid outbreaks for contact tracing purposes.

 For the weekend of June 2-4, these are the top ten films in China.

The new release My Blue Summer, a Chinese film about unrequited love among young people, led the box office for the weekend with $8.47 million over four days.

Dreamworks’ The Bad Guys reclaimed the No. 2 spot with a total of $ 6.24 million for the weekend with a cumulative $39.59 million over 38 days. Till it gets out-grossed by Jurassic, it remains the most successful Hollywood movie so far this year in China.

Last weekend’s top film, the Japanese Doraemon: Nobita’s Little Star Wars 2021, fell to No. 3. The animated space opera parody of Star Wars, No. 41 in the Doraemon series, and a remake of the 1985 Doraemon: Nobita’s Little Star Wars, grossed $3.7 million with a total of $10.10 in 9 days of release.

Octonauts: The Caves of Sac Actun, a rereleased Netflix animated feature film from 2020 with a Chinese voice cast, came in at No 4 with a weekend take of $2.48 million. Based on the television series written by Vicki Wong and Michael C. Murphy, it is about eight little cartoon characters who live beneath the sea and go on adventures. There have been five TV seasons and two feature films.

The Chinese action film Man on the Edge, came in fifth, earning $1.48 million, with a total gross of $23.84  million in 52 days of release.

Another new release, the Chinese-Italian co-production, The Italian Recipe, about a Chinese pop star who hooks up with a Chinese chef while filming a reality show in Rome, took the sixth spot, earning $1.87 million over 3 days.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, still hanging in the top ten though still considered an underperformer, was No. 7.  Its total gross in China is now $28.21 million in 59 days.

Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania was eighth, earning $16.64 million so far in 64 days of release.

Rounding out the top ten, Uncharted was No. 9 with a total gross of $22.39 in 84 days; and 2021’s horror film sequel Escape Room: Tournament of Champions rounded out the top ten with $10.76 in 65 days of release.