At the Cannes Film Festival going on now, the China Film Co-Production Corporation (CFCC) set up the China Film Pavilion at the Marché du Film and a China booth at the Palais des Festivals to establish “confidence in the development of the industry and restart international exchanges and cooperation in the field.” There are no Chinese films being screened at the Festival aside from a handful of shorts. The Chinese animated film, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man directed by Liu Jian, which was to screen in the Directors’ Fortnight program, was pulled at the last minute.

The CFCC pointed out that in 2021, even in the middle of the pandemic, the world’s largest film market earned $7.4 billion and recovered two-thirds of its audience.

However, 2022 is a different story with the resurgence of the pandemic locking down cities and creating economic havoc because of the administration’s ‘dynamic zero-Covid’ strategy. The BBC is reporting that thousands of new cases daily are recorded and more than 60 million people are affected. Roadblocks are put in place to prevent people from traveling.

China’s YTD box office is down 35% from last year to $2.2 billion. There are not many new films in cinemas; holdovers and re-releases continue to screen making low numbers. One new release this week entered with low expectations: Downton Abbey: A New Era. Last week’s new Hollywood release, Jennifer Lopez’s Marry Me fell out of the top 10 to No. 17 and barely made half a million dollars cumulatively in ten days of release.

For the weekend of May 20-22, some fans did make it to the movies despite the Covid challenges. According to the Global Times, 7,817 theaters, or 65%, are still open.

DreamWorks’ The Bad Guys retained the first spot with a total of just under $5 million for the weekend with a cumulative $25.63 million over 24 days. It will be the most successful Hollywood movie so far this year in China once it overtakes Fantastic Beasts which it is on track to do.

It was briefly supplanted by Love Will Tear Us Apart on Friday, a Chinese movie originally released on May 20, 2021. It was re-released for its one-year anniversary and came in at No. 2 for the weekend with a total gross of $54.55 million over 368 days. It made $3.58 million on Friday alone.

Again in third place is Man on the Edge, the Chinese action film that made $1.48 million Friday to Sunday, with a total gross of $19.68 million in 37 days of release.

The Chinese comedy Stay With Me which took third place on Saturday, fell to No. 4 on Sunday. The film about young people and their long-distance relationships took in $­2.03 million over the weekend for a total of $23 million over 24 days.

Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania remained in fifth place, earning $15 million so far in 50 days of release with $0.79 million over the weekend.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore was No. 6 and its total gross in China is now $26.20 million with a weekend take of $0.81 million in 45 days.

Universal’s Downton Abbey: A New Era is in seventh place on Sunday for a total of $0.85 million in three days of release. It opened on May 5; in Chinese netslang, the number 520 means ‘I love you,’ so that day is reserved for the release of romantic movies. A promotional video for the Chinese market was made by the cast but the audience is limited for these kinds of movies – the first sequel only made $3 million in 2019.

Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg’s Uncharted continues to bring in fans and is now in eighth place. Its total gross is now $20.73 million in 70 days of release.

2021’s horror film sequel Escape Room: Tournament of Champions came in ninth with a total gross of $9.65 million in 51 days of release.

The US flop, Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall starring Halle Berry and Patrick Wilson, is still playing with 59 days in release, earning about half its worldwide gross in China alone for a total of $22.50 million. It rounds out the top ten.