China Box Office: ‘To Gather Around’ Dethrones ‘Venom: The Last Dance’

Drama film “To Gather Around” topped the mainland China box office over the weekend and deposed “Venom: The Last Dance.”

The film, which also goes by the title “Brave New World,” is directed by Liu Xunximo and stars Deng Chao and Deng Jiajia in a tale of an internet company employee who is caught up in workplace dispute. He joins forces with others in order to defend his rights, but ends up in a bigger spiral of trouble.

According to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway, “To Gather Around” earned RMB63.8 million ($9.0 million) over the weekend from Friday to Sunday.

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“Venom: The Last Dance,” in its fifth weekend of release in China, earned $4.9 million. That lifted its total to $90.7 million since releasing in China on Oct. 23. The film was the top title in China in its first, second and fourth weekends and is now the third best performing Hollywood picture of the year in China. Only “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” and “Alien Romulus” have done better.

Columbia Pictures reported this weekend that the film has reached $309 million outside North America, overtaking predecessor “Venom: Let There Be Carnage.” The China contribution is 29% of the international figure and 21% of its $436 million global total.

Hong Kong-made nuclear disaster film “Cesium Fallout” earned $4.1 million in third place. That lifted its cumulative to $32.8 million since releasing in China on Nov. 1.

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” became the sixth “Harry Potter” rereleased title in a row to debut in mainland China’s top five. It earned $2.9 million.

Fifth place over the weekend belonged to Chinese horror film “Yuanyang Lou.” Directed by Wang Shenghe, the film earned $2.6 million in its third weekend and now has a cumulative total of $11.3 million.

The weekend aggregate across China was $32.5 million, lifting the year-to-date total to $5.56 billion. Artisan Gateway calculates that is some 21% below 2023 levels.