This weekend for Chinese New Year’s, the country nearly proved coronavirus didn’t exist, or at least they’ve recovered from it.

Despite the virus is still raging worldwide, China reported a significantly low number of infections and almost no nationwide vaccine rollout. For 2021, it was another day of normalcy with movie theaters and restaurants opened after last year’s disastrous containment in the city of Wuhan.

Wanda Pictures launched its anticipated Chinese comedy Detective Chinatown 3 this past Friday for its week-long Lunar New Year holiday. It opened to a record-seeing $160 million and finished the weekend with an astounding $393 million three-day haul.

Another Chinese film Hi, Mom, also debut with a strong $160 million over the weekend. For third place, fantasy action film A Writer’s Odyssey (also playing in select theaters in the United States), earned $48.3 million.

With these box office numbers, it is a great sign for the movie theater industry that is on life support. Companies like AMC Theatres is battling cash reserve issues while Regal Cinemas still has most theaters closed. States of New York and California, the two largest theater markets, do not allow any location to be opened for business due to the pandemic.

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In comparison to the United States box office market, the Valentine’s Day weekend has The Croods: A New Age and Judas and the Black Messiah tied as the top theatrical movie in the country with $2 million for each film. Warner Brothers also released Judas and the Black Messiah on HBO Max.

In third place, Warner Brothers’ The Little Things garnered $1.9 million, in which it is also streaming on HBO Max. Wonder Woman 1984 is in fourth place with $1.3 million and generated $41.8 million at the box office since its launch last Christmas.

With the current vaccine rollout, CDC projected everyone can start getting vaccinated beginning in April for a possible return to normal lives as a nation sometime this summer.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter