Barbie has been enjoying box office domination thanks to an inventive script, delightful performances, and a wonderful marketing campaign. We’re now four weeks out from Barbie‘s release, and the new movie‘s director, Greta Gerwig, has broken multiple records.
It beat out the competition from Oppenheimer and has retained its number 1 spot at the domestic box office. But as the weeks go on, it’s normal for ticket sales to drop. While Barbie’s plastic hands continue to stubbornly hold on for dear life, a film out of China had other plans this past weekend.
No More Bets, a crime action flick, stole the number one spot previously held by the Barbie cast. It’s not a massive surprise, given how China’s marketplace operates with an importance placed on home-grown content and has an audience that regularly catapults movies to success. Here are the numbers.
Comscore calculates No More Bets raked in $88 million between Friday and Sunday just in China. That number beats the $78.8 million Barbie earned globally during the same time. This means the former was the biggest movie at the box office over the weekend and the biggest Chinese movie of the summer.
The Meg 2 was also in contention. The creature feature, also Chinese-financed, came in third place with a global weekend draw of $56.4 million.
China has a strong market — 2022’s Water Gate Bridge was the 9th highest-grossing movie of the year globally — and can play a major part in a blockbuster’s international success, which is why studios such as Disney have tried to maintain good relations so as to have their output be allowed to play in the Middle Kingdom.
For more on 2022’s best shark movie, check out our Meg 2 review or do a deep-dive into the Meg 2 cast. We also have a guide going over whether to expect a Barbie 2 release date or not, and a list of the best movies of all time to sink your teeth into. And if you’re a numbers person, here are the highest-grossing movies of all time and a fun tidbit about how the three highest-grossing movies share the same actor.