The Financial Times is reporting that the Chinese money poured into Hollywood starting in 2012 is drying up. FT cites Rhodium Group, a research firm: “The peak came in 2016, when Chinese companies invested roughly $4.8bn in US media and entertainment companies, according to Rhodium. Much of that money came from Dalian Wanda, a property and entertainment group that paid $3.5bn for production company Legendary Entertainment. Other significant deals included a $500mn investment by Perfect World in Universal movie slates, and a partnership between Tencent rival Alibaba’s movie business and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners, with Alibaba taking a minority stake and board seat.”

A prime example of the withdrawal of funding is Tencent Holdings pulling out of its co-investment with Skydance from Top Gun: Maverick for fear of upsetting the Chinese government by putting money in a film that hyped the US military. FT reports that while no new partnerships have been formed with Chinese companies, Tencent still holds a minority stake in Skydance, and the entertainment company Huayi Brothers still has an investment in AGBO, the Russo brothers’ production company that has produced Marvel movies. Dalian Wanda has reduced its holdings in Legendary, pulled out of a deal to buy dick clark productions for $1 billion, resold a Beverly Hills real estate property it had acquired, and sold out of its investment in AMC theaters.

These are the top ten films at the China box office for the weekend of October 14-16, another moribund weekend with no end in sight to China’s stringent ‘zero-covid’ policy. No new films opened this weekend.

The patriotic film Home Coming leads the box office once more with $12.62 million over the weekend for a total of $194.55 million in 17 days. The film is about the heroic deeds of a Chinese diplomat and a civil servant who evacuate 125 Chinese from a war-torn North African country. It stars Zhang Yi and Karry Wang and is directed by Rao Xiao Zhi.

Give Me Five ended the weekend at No. 2 making $67.22 million in 38 days of release with $1.95 million grossed over the weekend. The time-travel Chinese film tells of a young man who goes back to the 1980s to help his Alzheimer’s-afflicted father remember his life. It is directed by Zhang Luan and stars Chang Yuan.

Ordinary Hero was briefly at No. 2 on Friday but ended third by the end of the weekend with $1.92 for a total take of $24.19 over 17 days. It is based on a true story of a rescue team racing against time to transport a 7-year-old boy with a severed arm over 1,400 miles from a Hotan village to a hospital in the Xinjian Autonomous Region. It is directed by Tony Chan and stars Li Bingbing, Huang Xiaoming and Feng Shaofeng.

The animated Xin Shen Bang: Yang Jian (New Gods) came in at No. 4 grossing $80.93 million in 59 days of release with a three-day take of $­­­0.73 million. It is directed by Ji Zhao and stars voice actor Kai Wang. Gkids has acquired the rights for both Chinese and English-dubbed versions for theatrical distribution in North America next year.

Space-themed animated entry, New Happy Dad and Son 5: My Alien Friend, rose to No. 5 with $10.68 million in 16 days, with $0.61 million over the weekend. It is the fifth film in the franchise that was started in 1995 and follows the adventures of the ‘small-headed’ father and ‘big-headed’ son.

Moon Man, one of the few success stories of the year, stays at No. 6 earning $458.98 million in 80 days. The Chinese comedy is based on a Korean comic book series “Moon You,” and 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 comes to believe the earth is destroyed and he is the last man alive in the universe. What is actually happening is that the whole world is watching him on live stream, including the woman he secretly loves.

Steel Will, a drama based on real-life stories, ended the weekend at No. 7 for a total of $10.92 over 17 days. The patriotic film which is about iron and steel production in Liaoning province, the largest Chinese iron and steel base, hasn’t gained much traction. It is described by china.org as a film revisiting “the historical moment when iron and steel production resumed on the eve of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. It will highlight the significance of iron and steel production to New China’s infrastructure and the Chinese forces during the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-53).” It is directed by Ning Haiquiang, and stars Lin Yongjian and Liu Ye.

The Tyrannosaurus Rex, an animated film that opened two weeks ago, takes eighth place for a total of $4.1 million over 16 days. Close behind at No. 9 is a reimagining of the Cinderella story, the animated Cinderella and the Spellbinder, earning $3.95 million in 16 days.

Rounding out the top ten is Table for Six which has grossed $14.76 million in 38 days. This Covid holdover comedy premiered at the Far East Film Festival in April where it was nominated for Best Screenplay and is about the complicated relationships of three brothers played out over a family reunion. It stars Dayo Wong, Stephy Tang and Louis Cheung and is directed by Sunny Chan.