The Chinese mainland summer box office surged past 5 billion yuan (about 701 million U.S. dollars) on Thursday, fueled by an accelerated growth trajectory driven by titles like the comedy hit "Successor."

According to data from ticketing platform Maoyan, the cumulative summer box office on the Chinese mainland has surpassed 5.01 billion yuan, as of 8 p.m. Thursday. Leading the chart is the crime mystery "A Place Called Silence," which debuted on July 3 and has grossed nearly 1 billion yuan (including presales), claiming approximately 19.8 percent of the seasonal box office.

A poster for "Successor." [Photo courtesy of Wanda Pictures]

Following closely behind is the comedy sensation "Successor," starring the renowned comedic duo Shen Teng and Ma Li. The film, which opened with massive preview screenings on July 13 and officially premiered on July 16, has grossed over 928 million yuan, accounting for 18.5 percent of the total.

The film's preview screenings on July 13 and 14 propelled the Chinese mainland's daily box office revenues above 300 million yuan, marking the first instance since May 3 this year that the market's daily box office has reached this milestone.

Buoyed by its robust performance, both Maoyan and Beacon, another film data platform, have revised their total box office forecasts for "Successor" to around 3.7 billion yuan.

The drama "Moments We Shared," released on June 22, secures the third spot in the seasonal rankings with approximately 500 million yuan in box office earnings.

The summer moviegoing period, spanning from June 1 to Aug. 31, is the longest single screening season on the Chinese mainland. In 2023, the summer box office totaled 20.6 billion yuan, underscoring its pivotal role in the annual film calendar.

Crime thrillers topped last year's summer box office chart, with "No More Bets" and "Lost in the Stars" each grossing over 3.5 billion yuan during the period. 

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