‘Successor’ Debut Pushes ‘Despicable Me 4’ to Third Place

“Successor,” a newly released Chinese comedy-drama, captivated audiences and claimed the top spot at the Chinese box office over the recent weekend. “Despicable Me 4,” though well-received, came in third.

According to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway, “Successor” earned RMB358 million ($50.4 million) from Friday to Sunday. This film tells the story of a poor dad and a hardworking mom living in a dilapidated yard. The couple sees their son, Ma Jiye, as their only hope for a better life.

The official synopsis explains, “Ma Chenggang and Ma Chunlan ride their donkey to work and see their son, Ma Jiye, as their only hope of improving their situation. Jiye excels academically and is full of determination. However, as he grows up, he notices the people around him are acting increasingly strange.”

Co-directed by Yan Fei and Peng Damo, who previously worked on “Hello, Mr. Billionaire” and “Goodbye, Mr. Loser,” the film stars Shen Teng, Ma Li, Shi Pengyuan, Sa Rina, and Xiao Bochen.

Chinese ticketing agency Maoyan predicts the film will continue to perform well, with a projected lifetime gross of RMB1.6 billion ($220 million).

“A Place Called Silence,” which was last week’s top film, slipped to second place while dropping only 22% week-on-week. It earned $32 million over the weekend, bringing its cumulative total to $121 million since its release on July 3.

“Despicable Me 4” earned $17.7 million in its opening three days. This is considerably less than “Despicable Me 3,” which opened with $64 million in 2017 and went on to accumulate $158 million. Maoyan forecasts the new film will gross around RMB370 million ($51 million). This would place it on par with “Kung Fu Panda 4” and “Dune,” the second and third-ranked Hollywood films in China this year, with RMB373 million and RMB353 million, respectively.

There was a noticeable gap between the top three films and the lower-ranked titles. Bona Film’s “A Legend” officially opened on Wednesday, July 10, and earned $2.8 million between Friday and Sunday. Including previews and an early start, its total by Sunday was $9.8 million.

Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” earned $2.3 million over the weekend, dropping from second to fifth place. Since its release in China on June 21, the film has accumulated $43.1 million.

The strong performance of the top three films helped lift the overall weekend box office in China to $111 million. The running total for the year in China now stands at $3.61 billion. This is 14% behind the year-to-date score at the same point in 2023. It’s also behind Comscore’s $4.11 billion estimate for North America’s current total in 2024.

Source: Variety