"Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw" took first place in China's box office last week, finally displacing blockbuster "Ne Zha" which has been on top of the list for a total of 28 days.

New 'Fast & Furious': High box office, but low reviews

The Hollywood production once again showed the popularity of the "Fast & Furious" film series in China, as "Fast & Furious 7" and "Fast & Furious 8" still rank in the top three on the list of popular foreign films in China. 

When the film hit 408 million yuan (57 million U.S. dollars) after two days of screening on August 24, Dwayne Johnson became the 10th performer whose movies have totaled over 10 billion yuan in China's box office, among which more than half came from the"Fast & Furious" franchise.

As a spin-off, the sci-fi action comedy does not follow the storyline of a drag racing group, but centers on an unexpected pair of antagonistic spies, starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham.

It seems audiences weren't really buying the story, as the film scored only 6.4 points out of 10 in Douban, a leading movie reviewing platform.

A Douban user, named "22 daozhu" commented that, "The film is neither fast nor furious, but have more heroic characters and idle quarrel."

Overseas screenings of 'Ne Zha'

Just before stepping down from the weekly box office throne, “Ne Zha” became the first ever animated movie to hit the top three in China's box office history on Wednesday by grossing 4.3 billion yuan.

This week will see the film challenging the second place, occupied by the current 2019 winner "The Wandering Earth" to surpass the line of 4.7 billion yuan, as the former extended its screening period to September 26 and will begin to be screened overseas

The mischievous immortal boy in Chinese mythology landed the Australia on Friday, breaking the local box office record of Chinese-language film in the past decade.

It is expected to be screened in the New Zealand on August 29. The same day will witness the IMAX 3D version being released in the North America, where a complete release in cinemas will be on September 6.

Roller coaster performance at the end of summer vacation

There is only one week before the end of summer vacation. Before the release of "Hobbs & Shaw," the box office of this summer was 15.8 billion yuan, a big gap from 17.4 billion yuan in the same period of the last year. But the profitable film quickly narrowed the gap.

"Bravest," the first Chinese film focused on the work and life of firefighters, ranks third now and been consistent in its performance by exceeding 1.5 billion yuan after 21 days.

And "The Angry Birds Movie 2" climbed the list, as parents take their children to the movie to enjoy the last days of vacation before school opens.

Counting on the momentum, it seems this year's market performance may edge out last year's.