'Resident Evil' Tops China Box Office for Fourth Weekend as 2014's 'John Wick' Finally Debuts

By Elena Vasquez

"Resident Evil" grossed RMB28.5 million ($4.3 million) to hold the top spot at mainland China's box office for a fourth consecutive weekend, according to data from Artisan Gateway. The Constantin Film and Sony Pictures horror reboot earned that figure over the Oct. 30–Nov. 1 frame.

Since launching Oct. 5 during the Golden Week corridor, the video game adaptation has accumulated $71.3 million. That per-weekend average of roughly $1.1 million kept it ahead of all newcomers despite a soft market. The takeaway: a mid-budget genre reboot can dominate China when the release calendar thins out.

How did the rest of the top five perform?

"Traces of Justice" held second place with $3.9 million in its fifth weekend. New Classics Pictures' crime procedural has now earned $98.5 million since opening Oct. 1. Chen Sicheng, director of the "Detective Chinatown" franchise, co-wrote the period investigation epic with Zhang Ji and Yan Zijie.

The film stars Zhang Yi, Ma Li and Chen Minghao, with guest appearances by Karry Wang, Fan Chengcheng and Chen Feiyu. It follows an elite public security detective solving decades-spanning cases based on real events. In plain terms: the film is on the verge of crossing the $100 million mark.

"Mr. & Mrs. Pardon" slipped to fourth with $2 million, bringing its cumulative total to $59 million. Beijing Joy Fun Pictures' family body-swap comedy is directed by Shen Chunyang and written by Ma Duo. Real-life comedic pair Shen Chunyang and Xiao Shenyang star alongside Jia Bing and Yu Yang, playing a bickering middle-aged couple forced to navigate marriage and domestic friction after swapping bodies.

"Once Upon a Time in the Middle East" rounded out the top five with $900,000 in its twelfth weekend. Dirty Monkeys' war comedy-drama, directed by Wen Muye ("Dying to Survive"), has amassed $356.9 million since its Aug. 11 launch. The enduring summer blockbuster stars Shen Teng, Jiang Qiming, Aarif Rahman and Omar Sherif.

Why did 'John Wick' arrive 12 years late?

Lionsgate's "John Wick" debuted in third place with $2.3 million over its three-day opening weekend — 12 years after its 2014 global release. China Film Group, which handled the release, told original rights buyer Huayi Bros. in 2014 that the film was too violent for China, and regulators formally rejected it in 2015.

Reeves' work was later pulled from Chinese streaming platforms after he joined a 2022 Tibet House U.S. benefit concert. "John Wick: Chapter 4" and spinoff "Ballerina" reached Chinese cinemas in 2025, but "Chapter 2" and "Chapter 3" have yet to screen there. The takeaway: China is now releasing the franchise out of order, with the origin story arriving last.

What does the market picture look like?

Mainland China's overall weekend box office slid to $18.2 million, as the market remained locked in a quiet post-holiday fall corridor. The 2026 year-to-date total reached $4.73 billion — down 29.0% compared with the same period in 2025.

That decline of nearly a third means the market has lost more than $1.9 billion in ticket revenue versus last year's pace. With no major holiday corridor until year's end, holdover titles like "Resident Evil" and "Traces of Justice" will likely keep leading until the next blockbuster wave arrives.