China Box Office: 'TMNT 2' Tops Weekend With $25.2M

Hollywood's recent China box office winners have been boosted by strong local marketing partners.

Paramount's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows kicked its way to an easy win at the Chinese box office over the weekend.

Opening Saturday, the family-friendly sequel earned a solid $25.2 million in two days. That's slightly less than its predecessor's $26.5 million debut in 2014, but more impressive given that the first film debuted on a Friday and had three days on screens. On Monday, TMNT 2 added $5 million, bringing its three-day total to $30.2 million, according to Beijing box office tracker Ent Group.

International Weekend 7/4/16

Comscore for Weekend of 7/4/16 Weekend Cume 1. Independence Day: Resurgence $40.2M $177.0M 2. Finding Dory $34.4M $166.0M 3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows $30.5M $109.2M 4. Now You See Me 2 $20.8M $155.6M 5. Ice Age: Collision Course $20.0M $20.0M 6. The Legend of Tarzan $18.8M $18.8M 7. Bounty Hunters $16.4M $16.4M 8. Central Intelligence $13.8M $30.3M 9. The Conjuring 2 $13.1M $178.8M 10. Me Before You $12.2M $83.0M

Chinese-Korean co-production Bounty Hunters opened to $6.3 million Friday and came in second for the weekend with a three-day total of $17.7 million. South Korean actor Lee Min-ho stars in the action-adventure flick, which was distributed locally by Le Vision Pictures.

In third place, Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment's Now You See Me 2 cruised past its U.S. box office total, adding $15.2 million for a healthy 10-day cumulative take of $81.7 million.

Both TMNT 2 and Now You See Me 2 were boosted by the marketing efforts of strong local allies. TMNT 2 was co-financed by Alibaba Pictures Group, the film arm of Jack Ma's e-commerce giant, Alibaba Group, which marketed the movie aggressively across its online platforms, spanning mobile ticketing services to a top social media platform and online shopping sites.

Now You See Me 2 was backed by Hunan TV, China's second-most-watched television channel, as part of an ongoing co-financing arrangement with Lionsgate. The channel began promoting the movie months ago.

Falling to fourth, Independence Day: Resurgence continued to perform modestly for a Hollywood tentpole in the Middle Kingdom, adding $11.5 million for a total of $66.6 million after 10 days.

Finding Dory scored $3.1 million in its third weekend, bumping its 17-day total to $35.8 million — a studio best for Pixar in China.

Further down the charts, Wanda/Legendary Entertainment's Warcraft scored $800,000, bringing its historic China total to $220.7 million after nearly four weeks on local screens. The Duncan Jones-directed video game adaptation is the third biggest movie of the year in China, behind only The Mermaid ($526.8 million) and Disney's Zootopia ($235.6 million).