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China passes US at movie box office

By Bian Jibu in New York ( China Daily USA ) Updated: 2015-03-03 12:08:15

China passes US at movie box office

Moviegoers leave a Wanda theater in Yichang, in central China's Hubei province, in January. Wanda bought AMC Theatres in 2012. Propelled by the Spring Festival, Chinese movie theaters rang up $650 million in revenue in February. Zhou Jianping / Asianewsphoto

A record Lunar New Year at movie theaters helped box-office revenue in China pass the United States in February for the first time, making China the world's biggest box-office market for the month, according to research firm Entgroup.

The holiday brought in $650 million in the world's second-largest movie market, according to data from Entgroup. The US total was $640 million, and $710 million for all of North America in February.

Before February, the biggest box-office month ever in China was July 2014, with $580 million. The Lunar New Year has become the peak moviegoing period in China. This year, it ran Feb. 18-24. Box office during that week alone amounted to $270 million, according to data site 58921.com

The top movie in China for February was The Man From Macau II, starring Chow Yun-Fat, which brought in $104 million, followed by historical action movie Dragon Blade, starring Jackie Chan, John Cusack and Adrien Brody, which had $95 million in box-office receipts during the month.

In third place was the $40 million Sino-French epic Wolf Totem, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, which brought in $72 million.

In fourth was Zhong Kui: Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal, a $30 million, 3D, VFX fantasy action adventure co-directed by Peter Pau and Zhao Tianyu and produced by Ann An of Desen International Media, with $56 million, followed by Xu Jinglei's romance Somewhere Only We Know with $44 million.

Running Man, an adaptation of a Korean reality-TV format, made $42 million in February.

In the US, the biggest Hollywood movie in the month was The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, which brought in $36 million. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1, the latest installment in Lionsgate's YA film franchise, amassed $35.5 million in China in February.

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