"Cliff Walker," the latest feature of award-winning filmmaker Zhang Yimou, raked in more than 500 million yuan ($77.8 million) last week (May 3 to 9), dethroning the hit romance drama "My Love" at the Chinese box office, according to movie-ticketing platform Maoyan.

Zhang's first foray into the spy genre follows four special agents from the Communist Party of China who returned home after training in the Soviet Union to carry out a secret operation in the northeastern city of Harbin.

The thriller hit the cinemas on April 30, one day before the May Day holiday, and has accumulated 789.5 million yuan ($122.8 million) as of Tuesday.

All the top five titles on the weekly chart premiered during the May Day weekend, opening the five-day public holiday – one of the busiest times of the year for movie operators. The new releases lifted this year's holiday box office total to a record high of about $258 million.

Boosted by the May Day blockbusters, the box office in the past week grossed over 1.31 billion yuan ($203.7 million), bringing the domestic cumulative for this year so far up to nearly 23 billion yuan ($3.6 billion).

Coming in second with about 311 million yuan ($48.4 million) in ticket sales was the melodramatic romcom "My Love," the remake of the 2018 South Korean romantic comedy "On Your Wedding Day."

It was followed by three crime titles "Break Through the Darkness," "Once Upon a Time in Hong Kong" and "Home Sweet Home," which all premiered on May 1.

"Break Through the Darkness," a crime action movie telling the story of China's fight against corruption took third place with 175.8 million yuan ($27.3 million).

Hong Kong director Wong Jing's "Once Upon a Time in Hong Kong," also a crime thriller focusing on anti-corruption, ranked fourth with 115.2 million yuan ($17.9 million).

The action crime picture, starring veteran Hong Kong actors Louis Koo, Tony Leung, Francis Ng and Gordon Lam, is a thematic sequel to the 2009 film "I Corrupt All Cops," featuring a new plotline set in the 1970s.

In fifth place with 81.9 million yuan ($12.7 million) was the thriller "Home Sweet Home," which depicts a series of strange events happening in a house and is directed by Leste Chen.

This week will see a number of new titles hitting the cinemas, as well as the re-release of "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King." The 2003 epic fantasy adventure film directed by Peter Jackson will be played in remastered 4K ultra high definition on the big screen starting May 14.

The popular trilogy, based on J. R. R. Tolkien's classic "The Lord of the Rings" masterpieces, is returning in IMAX versions for the first time, with the reruns of the first two installments drawing loyal fans back to the cinema.

(Cover image by Liu Shaozhen)