The patriotic Chinese film "The Battle at Lake Changjin II" continued to reign supreme in the box office for a fourth weekend in China.
On its second weekend of release, Hollywood's "Death on the Nile" was booted out of the top five.
According to figures from consultancy Artisan Gateway, "The Battle at Lake Changjin II" raked in $11 million. Since its premiere on February 1 it has earned a total of $610 million.
"Too Cool to Kill," a Chinese comedy, bagged the second spot with $9.5 million, bringing the total to $393 million.
The drama "Nice View" made just $6.3 million, bringing the total to $204 million.
With "Death on the Nile" rapidly fading, "Boonie Bears: Back to Earth," a Chinese animated series picture, retreated to fourth place with $3.8 million, giving it a total of $147 million since its February 1 release.
There is a new release -- "I Fell in Love Like a Flower Bouquet" -- a Japanese film, debuted in fifth place with $3.3 million during the weekend and $5.3 million since its release on Tuesday.
Doi Nobuhiro directed the romantic drama about strangers at a train station.
With February nearly over and the effect of Chinese New Year's staggered dates essentially undone, the comparison between the two years isn't too rosy.
According to Artisan Gateway, the Chinese box office has finally breached the $2 billion mark, reaching $2.07 billion, but it is still 15% behind 2021.
Meanwhile, "Uncharted" remained at the top of the South Korean box office for the second weekend in a row, despite the fact that it was the quietest weekend of the year for Korean flicks.
According to data from Kobis, the Korean Film Council's tracking service, the Tom Holland-starring "Uncharted" made just $1.05 million from Friday to Sunday.
This was generated from 1,238 screens and accounted for 38% of total revenue in the United States. After two weekends, "Uncharted" has earned $4.77 million.
According to recently released financial records, Korean movie theater companies continued to lose a significant amount of money in the previous year.
And, while theater operator CJ-CGV recently mentioned "Uncharted" and "The Batman" as presenting a good vibe for a 2022 resurrection, that has yet to materialize.
The Feb. 25-27 weekend total was the lowest of the year, with only $2.79 million generated by all movies across the country.
During the Christmas-New Year season, when "Spider-Man: No Way Home" attracted moviegoers to theaters that had been mostly abandoned since the pandemic broke out, Korean box office activity reached a new high.
In the first two months of the year, however, neither Hollywood nor local films have reached that mark in a huge way. The release of "The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure" over the Lunar New Year marked just a brief lull in the downward trajectory.
