"The Meg 2: The Hollows" easily overtook "Barbie" in China

Chinese box office receipts over the weekend were bigger than American box office receipts
"The Meg 2: The Hollows," the second instalment of the franchise about the confrontation between a prehistoric shark and Jason Statham, became the most successful film worldwide over the past weekend.

"The Meg 2" kicked off "on Friday and earned $53.7 million (381 million yuan) in three days, according to consultancy Artisan Gateway. Thus, the sci-fi action film easily earned more in a few days in this market than "Barbie" did in its entire run at the box office.

"Meg 2: The Hollows" only slightly lost the lead in China to the locally produced film project "Bet No More," which collected a total of $55 million (390 million yuan) over the weekend.

Nevertheless, the appearance of the two popular films at the top of the chart meant that China recorded the third highest box office weekend of the year with a total of $185 million.

It also meant that China's weekend box office receipts were higher than North America's (Comscore estimates were $176 million).

The Chinese film market is growing faster than the U.S. market
Cumulative box office receipts in China in 2023 already stand at $5.19 billion. According to Artisan Gateway, that's about 68 per cent better than the same period in 2022, and just six per cent behind the 2019 figure.