China Box Office: ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Flops as Chinese Blockbuster ‘No More Bets’ Strikes Gold With $101 Million

‘No More Bets’ is poised to gross over $500 million, positioning it to become China’s highest-earning film of the summer.

The local crime thriller No More Bets dominated China’s box office over the August 11-13 weekend, generating an impressive $101.1 million. The film benefited from generous preview screenings before its Wednesday opening and has already earned a staggering $247.5 million total.

Meg 2: The Trench, the giant shark action sequel co-produced by Warner Bros. and China’s CMC Pictures, slid to third place in its second weekend with $16.7 million for the frame and $91 million total. Chinese fantasy blockbuster Creation of the Gods 1: Kingdom of Storms returned to second place, earning $26.8 million for a robust $283.4 million total after four weekends, per data from Artisan Gateway.

Paramount Pictures’ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, meanwhile, bombed with an opening weekend of just under $1 million – despite Chinese action icon Jackie Chan voicing a lead role. The flop continues Hollywood’s struggles at the Chinese box office. Local ticketing service Maoyan projects a dismal $1.5 million total for Ninja Turtles in China.

No More Bets is executive produced by Chinese hitmaker Ning Hao (Crazy Alien) and directed by relative newcomer Shen Ao. The film follows a computer programmer (Lay Zhang) and model (Gina Jin) lured abroad by lucrative job offers, only to be deceived by a ruthless gang into online fraud. Ao researched hundreds of real-life cases involving Chinese citizens. Maoyan predicts No More Bets will finish with over $500 million, making it China’s top-grossing film of the summer.

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, which found an unexpected audience with cosmopolitan young Chinese women, is winding down in the market. It has earned $35.8 million so far, with Maoyan projecting minimal gains ahead.

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer will be the next major U.S. release in China when it debuts on August 30th.