Blockbuster storms festival film charts

Despite few films making a major splash like Ne Zha 2 during the post-Spring Festival period, the just concluded Qingming Festival holiday wrapped up with a promising box-office rally.

According to the movie data platform Beacon, the festival — which screened a total of 10 films — grossed more than 360 million yuan ($49.3 million) between Friday and Sunday.

Topping the holiday box office was A Minecraft Movie, a live-action blockbuster adapted from the popular video game Minecraft. Starring Jason Momoa and Jack Black, the film follows the adventure of four misfits as they journey into the game's fantastical world.

Coming in second on the box-office charts was filmmaker Feng Xiaogang's latest directorial effort, We Girls, starring actress Zhao Liying. The film tells a poignant story of a woman who takes a desperate risk to buy her daughter a 200,000-yuan cochlear implant but ends up being sentenced to prison. There, she embarks on a new journey through an unexpected friendship with several fellow inmates.

During a promotional event organized by the China Movie Channel earlier this month, Zuo Yi, the producer, said that the film aims to deliver a positive message about how ordinary people can confront adversity and fate with courage and mutual support.

Riding on its runaway momentum from Spring Festival, Ne Zha 2 continued to draw audiences to theaters, becoming the third highest-grossing film during the Qingming Festival.

It was followed by actor Zhang Yixing's film Mumu as the fourth highest grosser, with the crime film Fox Hunt, starring Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai, coming in fifth.

With the May Day holiday approaching, a total of eight films will compete for viewers' attention. Currently, actress Ma Li's film The Dumpling Queen, inspired by a true story, tops the most-anticipated list on the ticketing platform Taopiaopiao.