Resident Evil took the lead at the mainland China box office over the weekend of October 9–11, prevailing, however, against a backdrop starkly different from the euphoria of the just-concluded Golden Week. The horror film, produced by Constantin Film and Sony Pictures and inspired by the video game franchise, grossed 81.2 million yuan, equivalent to $12.1 million, according to data released by Artisan Gateway.
The result comes after its Chinese release on Monday, October 5, positioned toward the tail end of the National Day holiday break. In under a week, the title reached an aggregate $40.7 million in the local market. It is a debut that hands the franchise the top spot during a period traditionally effective for capturing major audience flows, but one that must be viewed alongside the sharp cooling-off recorded across cinemas once the holiday concluded.
Indeed, the overall weekend market stalled at $30.8 million. The figure reflects a return to ordinary levels following the holiday-driven peak, without turning Resident Evil's lead into a sign of a widespread rebound for Chinese theatrical programming.
An international franchise ahead of local films
The leadership change is particularly significant when compared to Traces of Justice, the crime procedural from New Classics Pictures that had capitalized on the start of the holiday period. In its second weekend, the film slipped to second place with $8.3 million, bringing its total box office to $73.4 million since its October 1 debut.
Directed by Chen Sicheng, best known for Detective Chinatown, and co-written with Zhang Ji and Yan Zijie, Traces of Justice follows a public security veteran working to reconstruct major historical cases inspired by real events. The cast unites Zhang Yi, Ma Li, and Chen Minghao alongside Karry Wang, Fan Chengcheng, and Chen Feiyu. Its cumulative holding power underscores just how central local productions remain during the Golden Week window, even when an international brand manages to capture the following weekend.
For Resident Evil, the Chinese figures instead reinforce the commercial clout of a franchise born in video games and adapted multiple times for cinema. On this occasion, interest does not depend solely on the film's opening: nearly $41 million accumulated after its October 5 debut indicates that the run was fueled across multiple days of the holiday. The remaining test is its staying power outside the holiday window, when audience availability and overall box office volume decline.
The chart after the holidays
Behind the top two titles, Mr. Mrs. Pardon brought in $5.7 million over the weekend, rising to a total of $43.6 million. The family comedy from Beijing Joy Fun Pictures, directed by Shen Chunyang and written by Ma Duo, revolves around a troubled couple who find themselves swapping bodies. The cast features Shen Chunyang and Xiao Shenyang, joined by Jia Bing and Yu Yang.
In fourth place is Go for Broke 2, an action-thriller sequel from CMC Pictures: in its second weekend, it added $1 million, reaching $7.9 million since its October 3 release. Written and directed by Marc Ma, the film stars Isabella Leong, Wen Junhui, and Sammo Hung. The gap behind the top three highlights a heavily concentrated chart, where most of the box office is absorbed by a handful of titles still able to draw audiences after the holiday break ends.
Fifth place is held by Once Upon a Time in the Middle East, a Dirty Monkeys production and China's Oscar contender in the best international feature category. In its ninth week of release, the war comedy-drama grossed an additional $800,000, reaching $353 million since its August 11 debut. Directed by Wen Muye and starring Shen Teng, Jiang Qiming, Aarif Rahman, and Aarif Rahman, the film represents the longest-running exception on the slate: not a new arrival bolstered by Golden Week, but rather a summer hit still playing in theaters.
The staying power of a title reaching its ninth weekend is significant for exhibitors and distributors: when market volume falls, programming already recognizable films can at least partially offset the absence of an immediate turnover of major box office hits. At the same time, the $800,000 weekend gross confirms that this title, too, is now operating at levels well below the initial phase of its run.
The signal for the Chinese industry
The broader figure remains the year-on-year comparison. Since the beginning of 2026, mainland China's box office has grossed $4.63 billion, down 29.4% compared to the same period in 2025, according to Artisan Gateway. The downturn makes every holiday period more crucial, as it concentrates opportunities to rapidly accumulate earnings and visibility; however, it also makes drawing structural trends from a single weekend's rankings less prudent.
Golden Week made room for a wide variety of genres: historical procedural, comedy, action thriller, war film, and horror tied to a video game property. Following the holiday, Resident Evil taking the top spot signals that an international franchise can still break through local competition, especially when backed by brand recognition built beyond cinema. However, it does not erase the strength shown by domestic films in cumulative earnings: Traces of Justice, Mr. Mrs. Pardon, and Once Upon a Time in the Middle East all remain ahead of the new leader in total gross.
For Constantin Film and Sony Pictures, the next indicator will be Resident Evil's ability to stay ahead of the competition in the weeks without the boost of the holiday calendar. For the Chinese market, meanwhile, the shift from the Golden Week rush to a $30.8 million weekend refocuses attention on the core challenge: turning concentrated spikes into more sustained demand throughout the rest of the year.
