On its fourth weekend of release, Wolf Warrior II — already the highest-grossing film of all-time in China — punctuated its historic run with a fourth consecutive weekend atop the box office charts, fending off fierce competition from fellow action flick Paradox.
China’s “domestic protection month” (国产保护月) — this summer lasting a full six weeks — drew to a close this weekend as local movies had one last gasp to make some big box office bucks before increased competition from Hollywood barrels back into Chinese theaters starting Friday, August 25.
Wolf Warrior II continued its charge into the history books with a fourth consecutive weekend atop China’s box office charts (it narrowly missed four weekends on top of the global charts, losing out to Annabelle: Creation) and earned RMB 225 million* ($33.8 million). Through Wednesday, August 23, actor/director Wu Jing’s flag-waving crowd-pleaser has earned RMB 4.902 billion* ($735.8 million) and sits behind Avatar and Star Wars: The Force Awakens as the third highest-grossing film ever from a single territory.
Highest-Grossing Films in a Single Territory
| Film (Year Released) | Gross (USD) | Territory |
| Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) | $936.7 million | North America |
| Avatar (2009, 2010) | $760.5 million | North America |
| Wolf Warrior 2 (2017) | $735.8 million | China |
| Titanic (1997, 2012) | $658.7 million | North America |
| Jurassic World (2015) | $652.3 million* | North America |
Hong Kong-China co-produced action film Paradox (杀破狼贪狼) actually outgrossed Wolf Warrior II on both its opening Thursday and Friday, but narrowly missed a weekend box office victory grossing RMB 198 million* ($29.8 million) in second place. Paradox is the third installment in the SPL action series, the first two of which starred Wolf‘s own Wu Jing.
Paradox received high audience ratings across Chinese film sites, but with a raft of Hollywood releases on Friday, it will have a difficult time matching the RMB 560 million ($90.3 million) its predecessor grossed back in 2015.
Twenty-Two (二十二), a documentary about China’s surviving “comfort-women” who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army during World War II, rode a wave of state-sponsored buzz to score RMB 55 million* ($8.3 million) this weekend.
Since its debut on August 18, Twenty-Two has earned RMB 138 million ($20.7 million) and is already the highest-grossing documentary ever on the Mainland.
It’s lights up on Friday as Hollywood films once again are allowed into Chinese theaters. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Cars 3, Baby Driver, and Manchester By The Sea all open.
*All listed grosses in this article are adjusted to remove online ticketing fees. For a primer on why CFI reports this way, see here.
