China Box Office: ‘Leap’ Opening Weekend Outpaces ‘Mulan’ Debut by $1.6 Million

Peter Chan’s volleyball drama “Leap” has jumped above its competition in China this weekend with a $24.6 million three-day debut, highlighting Chinese audiences’ continued preference for well-crafted local titles, according to data from the Maoyan industry tracker.The score is higher than the $23 million opening of Disney’s “Mulan” the weekend of Sept.

11, but less than that of Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet,” which opened the first week of the month with $32.3 million.

“Leap” benefits, however, from an assist of new government regulations that took effect Friday allowing cinemas to now sell 75% of available tickets rather than only 50%, in a relaxation of previous coronavirus prevention measures.Both “Mulan” and “Leap” star China-born Singaporean actress Gong Li, who plays a powerful witch character in the former and the hard-driving, real-life head coach of the Chinese women’s national volleyball team Lang Ping in the latter.Around $1.2 million of earnings for “Leap” came from 663 IMAX screens.

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