“Resident Evil” held first place at the mainland China box office for a second straight weekend, though a thin market limited the prize. The horror reboot grossed RMB62.5 million ($9.3 million) from Friday to Sunday, according to Artisan Gateway data. That is a drop of about 23% from the $12.1 million it took the weekend before, when it overtook the crime drama “Traces of Justice.” The film, from Constantin Film and Sony Pictures, has collected $55.8 million in China since opening Oct. 5 during the late stretch of the National Day holiday.
The wider market slid with it. Mainland cinemas took in $26.7 million over the weekend, down from $30.8 million a week earlier, as audiences continued to drift away from the holiday rush. Year-to-date revenue stands at $4.67 billion, which trails the same point in 2025 by 29.2%. That gap has barely moved in recent weeks, narrowing only slightly from 29.4% a week ago.
Local releases kept fading. Beijing Joy Fun Pictures’ body-swap comedy “Mr. & Mrs. Pardon” held third place with $4.1 million, down from $5.7 million the previous weekend. A week earlier, “Traces of Justice,” a period crime drama from director Chen Sicheng, had accumulated $73.4 million since its Oct. 1 opening. Both films still outearn “Resident Evil” in China overall, a reminder that the reboot has won weekends without leading the season.
The China numbers matter beyond the mainland. Before the Chinese launch, the Zach Cregger-directed film, led by Austin Abrams, had reached $245.4 million worldwide through its third weekend. Industry watchers expected the China run to lift it past the $270 million that Cregger’s “Weapons” earned, his previous best. At $55.8 million and counting in China alone, the film is closing that gap.
IMAX has helped. Daily tracking from the first post-holiday week showed the film holding most of the premium-format screens, with more than 4,000 IMAX showings on a single Thursday. The weekend leaves little room for competition. The Light Chaser trilogy opener set during the late Eastern Han dynasty, directed by Xie Junwei, entered the market, but the data available Monday did not show how it fared against “Resident Evil.”
