The official Avatar number reported by the China film agency continues to be higher. Here were last week's actuals:

1. Avatar（阿凡达）- 58m ($8.50m) -40.8% 13,747 995,024 1.23b ($180.17m)
2. Big Soldiers（大兵小将）- 39m ($5.71m) -41.8% 27,129 1,239,275 122m ($17.87m)
3. Sherlock Holmes（大侦探福尔摩斯）- 30m ($4.40m) New 16,580 949,066 30m ($4.40m)
4. Hot Summer Days（全城热恋）- 28m ($4.10m) -42.9% 20,898 858,632 110m ($16.11m)
5. 14 Blades（锦衣卫）- 15m ($2.20m) -46.4% 13,420 472,143 137m ($20.07m)
6. All's Well Ends Well 2010（花田喜事2010）- 12m ($1.76m) -52.0% 11,515 408,580 54.8m ($8.03m)
7. 72 Tenants of Prosperity（72家租客）- 9.7m ($1.42m) -35.3% 6,463 326,269 30.0m ($4.39m)
8. True Legend（苏乞儿）- 7m ($1.03m) -59.8% 8,411 223,428 46.9m ($6.87m)
9. Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf 2（喜羊羊与灰太狼之虎虎生威）- 4.7m ($0.69m) -72.3% 7,843 176,957 125m ($18.3m)
10. Arthur et la vengeance de Maltazard（亚瑟和他的迷你王国2）- 1.05m ($0.15m) -69.1% 2,509 40,824 4.45m ($0.65m)

http://www.boxofficefollower.net/2010/0 ... -post.html

Hmm, if it had time until the end of March in theatres, it sure as hell would have passed $200 million.

Is there a quota system in place for foreign films in China? How does the authority decide which film to show from what country? In the chart, there are two US releases, one French release, four China-Hong Kong joint productions (?), one China production (?), and two Hong Kong productions (?).
Are films of Hong Kong origin considered local in China?

US: Avatar, Sherlock Holmes
France: Arthur 2
China-Hong Kong: Little Big Soldier, Hot Summer Days, 14 Blades, True Legend
China: Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf 2
Hong Kong: All's Well Ends Well 2, 72 Tenants

Yeah, films of Hong Kong or Taiwan origin are considered local releases and not counted toward the quota, which is 20. There is also a special category for films like documentary or exclusive 3D/IMAX releases, so most likely the number of foreign films released in China this year will be around 25.

Is there also a limit at one time or is it only a yearly limit for foreign films. Is Avatar not likely to reach $200m due to the quota limit or the drops and losing screens to Alice? 200m seems possible to me looking at these numbers but not understanding China's B.O. very well.

I believe xiayun said Avatar's last day in theaters is the 14th.

I confused the opening date of Alice with the Avatar pull date. However, is that due to the quota system or do they just pull movies at a certain time, because it seems like it will still be strong enough to stay in some theaters for longer than that time period.

I believe when a foreign film was approved to be shown in China, the contract also says how long the release window will be. Having it extended like Avatar is actually rare, and it's more likely for a film to get cut short due to political or other random reasons. 10 weeks is pretty long by the normal standard for a release in China, and there are 9 new films scheduled between now and 14th, so it's not exactly unreasonable. However, given its monopoly on 3D/IMAX screens, Avatar could still be No. 1 when it finishes its run, and that would be another amazing feat.

Is it possible that it'll rise on its last weekend? Considering that it'll be the last chance for this phenomenon to be seen on the big screen...

Last week's actuals. The market has dropped back down to a more normal level, although still up 100% over last year's equivalent weekend, and with a 60% drop, Avatar will almost certainly finish short of $190m. Still, it's setting a bar unlikely to be touched for a long time, maybe even longer than Titanic's 12 years.

Do you know what Avatar finished with, xiayun?

Apparently it's not completely finished yet, as the 3D run has been extended a week or two in several cities (definitely for Beijing and Guangzhou, not sure of others), and all IMAX theaters are still showing it.

The latest figure for Avatar from China Film Group showed 1.26728 billion yuan by 3/11, so it could be looking at a week-to-week increase.

Percy Jackson opened on Sunday with a single day gross of about 10m yuan ($1.46m).

So Avatar does Avatar still have a shot at $200 million?

Don't think so. It should be at $187m by the end of last week and would need another 5 weeks at its current pace, a time that it won't get with Alice opening in two weeks.

Avatar actually increased last week. And with the latest news that its run has been extended indefinitely, there just still might be a chance at $200m.

This could be a fun race between China and Japan for top market. China obviously still has the upper hand, especially now that it's being continued.

How much has PJ done so far total??

I thought you said it opened with $1.46 million on sunday then how come it says only $0.8 million

The original estimate was derived from a theater chain's return by an article, and that turned out to be way off.

Is 0.8M for PJ considered a good opening? From what I see it looks like a bit of disappointment

Indefinitely for Avatar ? Does that mean it will get its due course till it actually fades out? If that is the case and Alice takes majority of the screens how long do you think will it take to reach that 200M mark? My predictions that it might make another 4M next week for a total of 192M so it should make that figure in another 3 weeks

Ya earlier xiayun mentioned $1.46 million, which would have been awesome. But wow 0.8 million is a major floooooooooooooop

It's for a single day since it opened on Sunday, but yeah, it's still a very mediocre start.

Avatar finally relinquished the top spot last week, to Just Another Pandora's Box.

Last week's actual (3/15-21):

1. Just Another Pandora's Box（越光宝盒）- 56m ($8.20m) New 27,700 1,714,635 56m ($8.20m)
2. Avatar（阿凡达）- 27m ($3.96m) -15.6% 8,533 442,986 1.312b ($192.19m)
3. Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief（波希杰克逊与神火之盗）- 16m ($2.34m) +185.7% 20,869 519,311 21.6m ($3.16m)
4. Sherlock Holmes（大侦探福尔摩斯）- 6.4m ($0.94m) -64.4% 7,732 198,326 71.4m ($10.46m)
5. Gamer（天地逃生）- 5.5m ($0.81m) New 6,345 178,166 5.5m ($0.81m)
6. 7th Grade Civil Servant（特工强档）- 3.0m ($0.44m) -69.1% 7,073 106,232 15.0m ($2.20m)
7. Kandidaten（迷魂陷阱）- 2.6m ($0.38m) -13.3% 6,602 87,483 5.6m ($0.82m)
8. K-20:Legend of the Mask（变相黑侠）- 2.6m ($0.38m) -48.0% 7,424 88,646 7.6m ($1.11m)
9. Big Soldiers（大兵小将）- 2.6m ($0.38m) -80.9% 5,473 89,102 151.2m ($22.15m)
10. Hot Summer Days（全城热恋）- 1.0m ($0.15m) -85.7% 2,518 33,266 127.5m ($18.68m)

So, $200m looks like it'll actually happen, right?