The big release this weekend in China is Universal’s Jurassic World: Dominion which opened to $14.9 million on Friday, June 10 on 60,000 screens — only about 75% of Chinese cinemas. On Saturday, it made almost $21 million. For the 3-day weekend, JWD earned $52.64 million, a respectable amount though not as much as the previous 2018 sequel, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which grossed $111 million on its opening weekend in China and an overall $261 million through its run.

JWD is the biggest Hollywood opening this year, surpassing Universal’s The Bad Guys. The sixth and last film in the series has earned $390 million worldwide so far. Obviously, Covid has a lot to do with the low numbers with all the Shanghai theaters closed as well as some in Beijing, but still, for the year, China’s box office is $2.4 billion, 40% below last year’s numbers when Covid was still prevalent.

While fewer and fewer Hollywood titles are opening in China – no Marvel movies including Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness or Spiderman: No Way Home, no Top Gun Maverick, – those that did get releases didn’t live up to expectations like The Batman which has made only around $25 million in that market. There have been a few exceptions like Free Guy, Godzilla Vs. Kong, and Fast 9 that made significant money, but the media narrative prevailing today is that Hollywood doesn’t need to kowtow to the Chinese censors anymore.

One other note of interest: the 25^th Shanghai International Film Festival has been canceled this year. No surprise, obviously. Last year, the festival did take place but it had very few foreign participants due to travel restrictions. An official statement added: “If conditions permit, we will plan and hold relevant film festivals and themed events in the second half of this year.”

For the weekend of June 10-12, these are the other films in the top ten in China.

Last week’s new release My Blue Summer, a Chinese film about unrequited love among young people, came in second for the weekend with $2.73 million for a total of $14.79 million over 11 days.

The Bad Guys fell to No. 3 with a total of $ 2.07 million for the weekend with a cumulative $43.05 million over 45 days. As predicted, it was out-grossed by JWD, and will now be the second most successful Hollywood movie so far this year in China.

The Japanese film Doraemon: Nobita’s Little Star Wars 2021, came in at No. 4. 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 $0.68 million over the weekend with a total of $11.32 in 16 days of release.

Octonauts: The Caves of Sac Actun, a rereleased Netflix animated feature film from 2020 with a Chinese voice cast, was fifth with a weekend take of $2.88 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 Australian prison film from 2020, Escape from Pretoria, starring Daniel Radcliffe and Sam Neill, made $0.69 million in three days of release for the sixth spot. It is based on the true story of the escape of political prisoners in 1979 from a South African jail.

Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania is still in the top ten at No. 7, earning $16.90 million so far in 71 days of release.

The Chinese action film Man on the Edge, came in eighth, grossing $24.51 million in 59 days of release.

2021’s horror film sequel Escape Room: Tournament of Champions made $11million in 72 days of release and took the ninth spot.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore rounds out the top ten with a total gross of $28.37 million in 72 days of release.

Uncharted, Moonfall, and Downton Abbey: A New Era are still in the top 20, with the last film considered a flop making under $2 million in 24 days, especially considering the 75-25% split in China’s favor of the box office receipts.