9/13 - 19:

1. Inception（盗梦空间）- 74m ($10.99m) -31.8% 45,118 2,146,794 287.65m ($42.48m)
2. The Love of the Hawthorn Tree（楂树之恋）- 45m ($6.68m) New 36,508 1,348,547 45m ($6.68m)
3. The Sorcerer's Apprentice（魔法师的学徒）- 20m ($2.97m) -23.1% 27,043 647,249 46m ($6.81m)
4. The Expendables（敢死队）- 4.1m ($0.61m) -67.2% 11,126 128,084 212.6m ($31.29m)
5. Track Aduowan（举起手来2）- 2.9m ($0.43m) -14.7% 6,197 116,046 6.3m ($0.93m)
6. The Stool Pigeon（线人）- 0.82m ($0.12m) -80.5% 3,132 26,779 52m ($7.65m)
7. Aftershock（唐山大地震）- 0.65m ($0.097m) -65.8% 1,865 19,631 648.65m ($95.70m)
8. Taste of Spring（大劫难）- 0.6m ($0.089m) -14.3% 91 24,019 1.3m ($0.19m)
9. Ice Kacang Puppy Love（初恋红豆冰）- 0.57m ($0.085m) -28.8% 3,538 22,616 0.57m ($0.085m)
10. Shrek Forever After（怪物史莱克4）- 0.53m ($0.079m) -72.1% 1,294 15,353 89.23m ($13.13m)

31.8% fall for Inception, looks like it is following similar pattern of drops as everywhere else.

xia is there a contract for the number of weeks Inception will run there?

There isn't a set contract, but the three new major domestic films in the next couple of weeks will likely take away a lot of its screens.

I thought they used to have set contract for OS movies there in China isn't it true ?

I hope the new openers take not more than necessary screens of Inception

I hope Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (Tsui's back in form!), The Legeng Of Chen Zhen (Donnie Yen is very very big in China, specially since the two Ip man) and Reign of assassins (John Woo's real four hour version of Red Cliff is a masterpiece) will take as many screens of Inception as possible. Inception is already a huge box-office hit worldwide, it doesn't need China to make huge profits. But if one of those three movies bombs at the box-office, it will be very difficult for them to win any money. Sad but true.

Aah point taken and seems to be fair enough. I know that China remains there biggest market but aren't they released in other countries as well ?

I have seen that Chen Zhen is already out in Singapore and HongKong (also Malaysia but I am not sure if that is a wide release). I just saw the trailers of Detective Dee and Reign of assassins, also have seen some posters of all the 3 movies here is Singapore, so I guess China is not their only market. Do remember that these movies are quite cheap and will also be released in big markets like US and UK though in a limited screens but will earn a lot there when compared to Production Budget. Then the huge DVD sales these movies have after their release. That oughta help recover something and I think so all of these movies will do well enough to recover their Budget regardless of lesser TC

Look like Inception was down about 20% last week, and the total was approaching 350m yuan. May be able to break 400m by the end of the week-long Independence (Oct 1st) holiday.

"huge DVD sales"

In China? Are you sure? Really? In China?

And in the other markets (specially in the Occident), DVD sales of Asian movies are NOTHING compared to US movies.

Week 4 for Inception:

67m yuan ($10.0m), -9.46%, 354.65m yuan total ($52.48m)

Pretty much a mini-Avatar run.

Awesome.

Xiayun,
Will inception be able to exploit National Day holidays? what is the upper limit for it at this point?

9/20 - 9/26:

1. Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen（精武风云·陈真）- 82m ($12.23m) New 49,347 2,506,112 82m ($12.23m)
2. Inception（盗梦空间）- 67m ($10.00m) -9.46% 33,378 1,971,748 354.65m ($52.48m)
3. The Love of the Hawthorn Tree（楂树之恋）- 48m ($7.16m) +6.67% 39,762 1,460,742 93m ($13.84m)
4. The Sorcerer's Apprentice（魔法师的学徒）- 10.5m ($1.57m) -47.5% 11,966 348,605 56.5m ($8.38m)
5. Hu Wang Gui Lai（虎王归来）- 2.1m ($0.31m) New 4,220 84,296 2.1m ($0.31m)
6. Track Aduowan（举起手来2）- 1.6m ($0.24m) -44.8% 2,886 64,987 7.9m ($1.17m)
7. Shrek Forever After（怪物史莱克4）- 0.65m ($0.097m) +22.6% 868 20,018 89.88m ($13.23m)
8. The Expendables（敢死队）- 0.46m ($0.61m) -88.8% 1,342 14,424 213.06m ($31.90m)
9. Taste of Spring（大劫难）- 0.36m ($0.054m) -40.0% 51 13,693 1.64m ($0.24m)

Its screen count will probably take the biggest hit to date with two new major domestic releases. I'm thinking 450m yuan is probably the upper limit.

Where's Inception on China's all-time Top 10 list in $?

I think this is about right:

1. $205,000,000 - Avatar
2. $95,700,000 - Aftershock (唐山大地震)
3. $68,200,000 - 2012
4. $62,940,000 - Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen
5. $61,500,000 - Founding of a Republic (建国大业)
6. $52,480,000 - Inception
7. $46,698,967 - Red Cliff: Part I (赤壁上)
8. $45,257,457 - If You Are The One (非诚勿扰)
9. $43,928,666 - Titanic
10. $42,900,000 - Bodyguards and Assassins (十月围城)

I thought Avatar never passed $200 million...

I wonder if Inception has a shot at #3...

The initial estimates showed Inception indeed got hit by the two new releases, but one did the majority of the damage: Hark Tsui's Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame got about 110m yuan over its opening 5 days, while John Woo's Reign of Assassins only grossed 25m yuan despite opening one day earlier. Inception still occupied the second place with an estimated 38m yuan. The holiday will continue for the first 4 days of this week, so not sure if we will get official actuals tomorrow. May have to wait until next week.

Avatar's final gross is 1.3787 billion yuan, or $202m using the exchange rate at the time.

That is a great hold for inception considering the competition. Are there any major releases this week cutting its theater count even more. with 4 days of holidays it should hopefully have a good drop this weekend and comfortably cross 400M.

When is Detective Dee coming out?

It came out last Wednesday.

Can you verify xiayun?

The article indeed says over 410m yuan for Inception by the end of the holiday break.

Here is another one from qq.com: http://ent.qq.com/a/20101009/000028.htm.

That's awesome thanks!

If it's already at $60m in China, maybe the $513m overseas number from ScreenDaily and The-Numbers isn't bullcrap after all.