Nobody expected "Captain Marvel" to lose its top spot at the Chinese box office after only a week, especially to domestic romance "More Than Blue", which swept through China's cinemas upon release last Thursday.

According to the weekly report by China's largest ticket service Maoyan.com, "More Than Blue" grabbed 329 million yuan (49.01 million U.S. dollars) over the past weekend. And as of Monday evening, its box office has exceeded 400 million yuan (59.58 million U.S. dollars).

The film is a remake of a 2009 S. Korean film with the same name and is about the relationship between a boy and a girl, who met as orphans and then struggle to make the best of their lives.

It is typical of the S. Korean romantic tragedy that were popular throughout Asia at the beginning of the 21st century, as such, it could be considered too cliché and a little bit outdated nowadays.

The film has a score of 8.5 on Maoyan.com, but only of 5.1 out of 10 on Douban.com, suggesting that many people don't buy this kind of plot anymore, even if it's produced with top level talent.

"More Than Blue" is directed by Gavin Lin, a talented director from Taiwan, known for his slight, subtle romances, and stars Jasper Liu and Chen Yi-han, two actors who are better known for work in adjacent genres; Jasper for his romantic TV dramas and Yi-han for her romantic comedy movies.

Maoyan's data shows that 65.4 percent of the viewers of the film are female, while nearly 50 percent of them are aged between 20 and 24. The film was also the yearly box office champion in Taiwan in 2018, with 220 million TWD (7.15 million U.S. dollars).

"Captain Marvel" fell to second place with 288 million yuan (42.91 million U.S. dollars), with a total box office of 897 million yuan (133 million U.S. dollars), making it the highest box office earner in China of all Marvel Studio's single-superhero films.

It was followed by "Green Book" with a total of 415 million yuan (61.83 million U.S. dollars). In fourth place is a newly released anime film, "My Hero Academia: Two Heroes", the first feature length production in the popular manga property.

Another two films released in the past week, "The Crossing" and "On the Balcony" did not make a splash. But while "The Crossing" failed to earn big numbers, it has won significant critical acclaim for its authentic view of teenage life in southern China.

The film focused on a special group of young students, the "Shuike", who smuggle goods from Hong Kong to Shenzhen by taking advantage of the multiple entry policies.Many film insiders are already thinking that this is a breakthrough in Chinese youth cinema.

This week is another big week for Chinese filmgoers as there are two major releases: Multi-Oscar winner "Bohemian Rhapsody" and multi-Silver Bear winner "So Long, My Son".

"So Long, My Son", directed by Wang Xiaoshuai, pocketed both the Best Actor and Actress awards at last year's Berlin Film Festival for its lead actors Wang Jingchun and Yong Mei. Though it has a 175-minute run time, many Chinese viewers are highly anticipating what has been deemed an intimate epic.

As for "Bohemian Rhapsody", it will encounter its old Oscar rival "Green Book" again, only this time in the Chinese arena. It has been a box office sensation around the globe and is likely to do well in China too. 

Cover image by Du Chenxin

Copy edited by Josh McNally