Chinese sci-fi comedy Moon Man, continued its domination of the Chinese box office, revitalizing the theatrical industry. It has already made $297.28 million in just ten days of release, with almost $60 million over the weekend, and is the highest-grossing movie internationally although it is only released in the China market. It is on track to be the sixth highest-grossing movie in China, estimated to bring in $640 million by the end of its run.

The film is directed by Zhang Chiyu of the comedy troupe Mahua Funage, and its two top stars, Shen Teng and Ma Li, also from the troupe, are top comedians in China. They are reunited in this movie seven years after they starred together in Goodbye Mr. Loser, a blockbuster from 2015.

Moon Man is based on a Korean comic book series “Moon You.” It is the story of a maintenance worker left behind on the moon unintentionally by a lunar crew that was sent to save the earth from an asteroid strike. The worker, Dugu, comes to believe the earth is destroyed and he is the last man alive in the universe, except for a kangaroo that was also transported to the moon. What is actually happening is that the whole world is watching him on live stream, including the woman he secretly loves.

“I shot the movie for nearly five months, spending most of my time in soundstages with the walls covered by green cloth (a practice to replace backdrops),” Shen told AsiaNews. 15 soundstages were used, covering a 40,000 square meter area in Qingdao, Shandong province.

Paramount’s Sandra Bullock-Channing Tatum action-adventure comedy The Lost City did not register in the top twenty on Friday, barely made it to No. 20 on Saturday, and is No. 19 on Sunday. It hasn’t even cracked half a million dollars yet, coming in at $0.33 million after ten days of release. It’s possible that since its theatrical release on March 25 internationally, its streaming release on Paramount+ on May 10, and its DVD release on July 26, it has been extensively pirated, Bullock and Tatum, being big stars in China.

For the weekend of August 1-7, these are other films on the top ten list.

Warriors of the Future, a sci-fi action adventure film opened this weekend grossing $29.88 million in three days. The Hong Kong film was three years in the making and is directed by visual effects artist Ng Yuen-fai and stars Louis Koo, Sean Lau, and Carina Lau. The plot deals with a killer plant called Pandora that crashes into Earth in 2055 and ravages everything in its path.

CG animated film GG Bond: Ocean Mission comes in at No. 3, the seventh in the franchise of cartoon character Agent G who has an undersea adventure in the story. It made $2.14 million in two days of release.

In fourth place is the hit Lighting Up the Stars which has grossed $247.86 million in 45 days, with a three-day weekend take of $1.84 million. The film is directed by Liu Jiangjjiang and tells the story of a funeral director (Zhu Yilong) and a young girl (Yang Enyou) who become friends once he gets out of prison.

Romantic comedy Almost Love takes the fifth slot, grossing $10.05 million in four days of release and a week of previews. It was higher in the rankings on Friday and Saturday. The story is about two misfit students in a small town high school who strike up an unlikely friendship. It is directed by Luo Luo and stars Li Wen Han and Xu Ruo Han. 

Chinese serial killer murder mystery Detective vs. Sleuths fell to No. 6 and made a total of $102.31 million in 31 days of release including a week of previews. The story is set in Hong Kong and stars Sean Lau as a former detective force who had a mental breakdown. On his own, he goes after a serial killer called the “Sleuth.” The film costars Raymond Lam and Carman Lee Yeuk-tung and is written and directed by Wai Ka-fai.

Kaka, an animated adventure film, takes seventh place. It is directed by Xuhui Xing and made $2.84 million in nine days of release. Animated film My Little Pony: A New Generation earned $01.63 million in nine days of release to come in at No. 8. It was originally released on Netflix in 2021 because of the pandemic, and its voice cast includes Vanessa Hudgens and James Marsden. Jurassic World: Dominion has now grossed $156.86 million in 59 days of release and is No. 9 on the list. Octonauts: The Caves of Sac Actun, a rereleased Netflix animated feature film from 2020 with a Chinese voice cast rounds out the top ten. It has grossed $11.19 million in 30 days.