China’s first post-Golden Week frame has a new leader, but the more useful signal sits below the ranking. Sony’s horror reboot Resident Evil took RMB81.2 million ($12.1 million) over the Oct. 9–11 weekend, according to Artisan Gateway. Since opening on Monday, Oct. 5, in the late stretch of Golden Week, the film has collected $40.7 million in China.
That was enough to push Chen Sicheng’s period crime drama Traces of Justice to second place. The film added $8.3 million in its second session and has now banked $73.4 million since Oct. 1. The top five were a mix of import IP, local crime drama and long-tail holdovers.
Top five, Oct. 9–11
- Resident Evil – $12.1M weekend / $40.7M cume
- Traces of Justice – $8.3M / $73.4M
- Mr. & Mrs. Pardon – $5.7M / $43.6M
- Go for Broke 2 – $1.0M / $7.9M
- Once Upon a Time in the Middle East – $0.8M / $353M
Resident Evil‘s win matters because a known franchise can still lead the mainland chart in a quiet frame. But market-level numbers are more useful for planning. The overall weekend dropped to $30.8 million as theatrical traffic normalized after the National Day holiday rush.
The number planners should track
China’s year-to-date box office now stands at $4.63 billion, trailing the same period in 2025 by 29.4%. A #1 finish for an imported franchise does not close that gap. It does, however, show what is working: recognizable titles, star-driven local dramas, and films with long theatrical tails.
Once Upon a Time in the Middle East is still in the top five in its ninth weekend, evidence that holdovers can carry a soft frame. Traces of Justice shows how quickly a strong local crime cast can accumulate. But the annual shortfall makes China selective, not broadly rebounding.
The planning read
For global distributors, China’s trajectory affects release timing, marketing spend, and break-even assumptions. For media planners and entertainment marketers, the benchmark is less who wins the weekend than whether the annual gap narrows. A strong import or local holdover can deliver an audience, but budgets should reflect a cooling market rather than peak-growth assumptions. For platforms buying or licensing Chinese-language content, the same discipline applies: a top-ranking film or series does not guarantee a healthy market.
Source: Variety
