The Chinese box office has rebounded with a bang as moviegoers thronged cinemas during the Lunar New Year holiday week which started last Sunday with its plethora of new releases and the lifting of Covid restrictions. According to the business website China Briefing, quoting data from Dengta Database which tracks box office sales in real-time, the sales for January 21-27, including presales, reached 6.6 billion yuan or $972.9 million.

According to Bloomberg, this is the most important holiday of the year, the most traveled, and the peak of the moviegoing year, and is watched as a barometer of economic recovery.

The blockbusters Full River Red and The Wandering Earth 2 dominated the box office with receipts of $467.99 million and $380.20 million, respectively, over the past seven days. Each film deals with nationalistic subjects which are increasingly appealing to Chinese moviegoers.

Tracking for the two upcoming Marvel releases, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania, opening February 7 and 17, respectively, doesn’t show much enthusiasm from fans. According to the ticketing site Maoyan, about 221,746 fans have expressed interest in Wakanda, and a mere 165,960 say they will see the latest Antman at the time of this writing, not necessarily indicating the ultimate box office performance but an indicator of interest.

What is causing chatter on Chinese social media is the Oscar nomination of Michelle Yeoh for her performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once which has not been released in China. Yeoh is famous in the country even though she is Malaysian. Fans are familiar with her action movies opposite stars like Jackie Chan and Jet Li. “Make Asian women proud” read one post on Weibo. Another read, “She’s doing it for all of us.” One hundred thirty million views of the hashtag of her nomination have been recorded on the platform.

Avatar: The Way of Water, well on its way to surpassing Titanic to become the fourth highest-grossing movie worldwide, giving director James Cameron three of the four films at the top of the list, will expand into more screens in the next days after losing some during the Lunar New Year Holiday. It still managed to stay seventh on the list this weekend, China being the second highest-earning territory aside from North America.

Here are the top ten films for the weekend of January 27-29.

Director Zhang Yimou’s Full River Red (Man Jiang Hong), seized the top spot after being second for only a day (last Sunday), earning $467.99 million in eight days, with $143.71 million grossed over the weekend. The film is a historical suspense movie starring Shen Teng and Jackson Yee that deals with treachery in the Southern Song dynasty.

The Wandering Earth 2 fell to no. two with total receipts of $380.20 million over eight days, and a weekend take of $103.35 million. The sci-fi disaster film stars Andy Lau, Wu Jing and Li Xuejian and is directed and co-written by Frant Gwo. It deals with the heroic efforts of a crew to move the earth out of its orbit to a new solar system because of the danger of being obliterated by the dying sun. The film has a limited release in the US.

Boonie Bears: Guardian Code, the ninth animated sci-fi comedy in the franchise, rose to no. three with a total of $136.90 million over eight days, and $43.49 million for the weekend. It is directed by Lin Yongchang and Shao Heqi.

The World War II espionage thriller, Hidden Blade, fell to no. four, grossing $86.99 million in eight days and $22.27 million over the weekend. It stars superstar Tony Leung, Wang Yibo and Zhou Xun, and is directed by Cheng Er. The story is set during the Japanese occupation of Shanghai and focuses on the intelligence agents who risked their lives to save the motherland.

The Deep Sea (Shenhai), a Chinese animated film directed by Tian Xiaopeng, rose to no. five with a total of $66.94 million over its eight-day run and a weekend take of $21.43 million. The film is an underwater fantasy story in 3D based on the POV of a young girl.

The Chinese comedy-fantasy Five Hundred Miles comes in at no. six with $46.57 million over eight days. The story is of the fantastic journey of two estranged friends and their opportunity to fix the friendship. It stars Lei Jia Lin and Zhang Xiao Fei and is directed by Lun Su.

Avatar 2 stays at no. seven with a total of $242.41 million over 45 days.

Ping Pong of China, a sports film based on the true story of the comeback of the China men’s table tennis team at the 1995 World Table Tennis championships in Tianjin, opened in previews at no. eight on Saturday with $6.64 million over two days. Its official release is on February 17.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish ended at no. nine on Sunday with a total gross of $6.71 million over 38 days.

The animated films Restaurant in a Tree and One Piece Film Red traded places for no. ten over the weekend with minuscule earnings.