“A Place Called Silence” Makes Its Grand Debut

Courtesy of HKIFF

“A Place Called Silence,” a Malaysian crime thriller that debuted at the 2022 Busan Film Festival, launched its commercial career in mainland China with a $50 million theatrical debut.

According to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway, the film earned RMB290 million ($40.9 million) between Friday and Sunday. It opened on Wednesday and earned $52.8 million over its five-day release.

The film, set in Taiwan and exploring corruption, faith and forgiveness, is structured as a thriller about a masked killer targeting students at an all-girls high school.

It is directed by Sam Quah, whose previous film “Sheep Without a Shepherd,” a remake of the Indian film “Drishyam,” opened at the top of the Chinese box office in late 2019.

Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” moved up a few spots to second place, earning $6.9 million in its third week (down from $8.9 million in its second week) and now has a total of $36.5 million.

In third place is the previous number one on the charts, “Moments We Shared.” It grossed $5.2 million, for a three-week total of $63.9 million.

Alibaba Pictures’ “Welcome to My Side” opened in fourth place with a $4.5 million opening weekend.

Bona Film Group’s “A Legend” will officially open Friday. But its preview screenings already put it in fifth place last weekend. It grossed $4.1 million.

Artisan Gateway calculated that the weekend’s domestic box office was worth $70 million. That’s up from $51 million the previous weekend, but it still seems to signal a weak start to the summer season. The year-to-date deficit, compared to 2023, now extends to more than 12%.

The consultancy reports that June brought in just $314 million. That’s a 46% drop from June 2023 and the weakest month in China so far this year.

In the first half of 2024, China’s box office totaled 23.9 billion yuan ($3.4 billion), from 550 million admissions. These figures represent a decrease of 9.0% and 8.9% from the previous year, despite a record Lunar New Year period of $1.1 billion.

Four Lunar New Year films dominated the half-year market: “YOLO” and “Pegasus 2”, both with over RMB 3 billion in revenue, followed by “Article 20” and “Boonie Bears 10”, both with over RMB 2 billion.

“Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire2” was the top-grossing film and sixth-largest overall during the period, with $135 million, followed by Japanese animation “The Boy and the Heron” ($111 million), “Kung Fu Panda 4” ($52.5 million) and “Dune: Part 2” ($49.7 million).