Chinese movie “A Little Red Flower” continues to lead the domestic box office, grossing US$21.9 million in a week with no notable new releases. The film stars teen idol Jackson Yee of TFboys and “Better Days” fame, and is directed by Han Yan, who gained visibility with the 2018 actioner “Animal World.” It tells a warm and realistic story about death, love and cherishing. The Andy Lau-starring “Shock Wave 2” came in second, with sales of US$11.5 million. In third was the local comedy “Warm Hug,” written and directed by Chang Yuan which earned US$10.7 million. In fifth was the children’s animation “The Octonauts: The Ring of Fire,” which is backed by Wanda Pictures and Silvergate Media, the producer of the “Peter Rabbit” animated series and the children’s series “Octonauts” it is based on. Silvergate worked with Chinese national broadcaster CCTV to co-produce Season 5 of that show, which targeted preschool-aged children. It has offices in both London and New York, and plans a second feature film collaboration with Wanda based on the IP titled “The Underwater Caves of Sac Atun.” Disney/Pixar’s “Soul” has outperformed “Wonder Woman 1984” in China by more than US$10 million despite debuting a week later than the latter. By the end of its third weekend in local cinemas, “Soul” had grossed US$36.1 million, according to data from the Maoyan platform — far more than the Warner Brothers title’s China earnings of US$25.5 million, and more, even, than its North American cume of US$32.6 million. “Soul” was once again the highest performing foreign title between Friday and Sunday, coming in fourth with weekend sales of US$6.4 million. Though its slow burn of continuous sales spurred on by strong word of mouth is expected to continue, Maoyan has dialed down its projected cume by about US$5 million to under US$49 million. This would knock “Soul” out of contention to become Pixar’s second-highest grossing film in the country, leaving 2018’s “The Incredibles 2” the holder of that title thanks to a US$51.5 million cume. This Friday, Tencent and Sony’s animated “Wish Dragon,” starring Jackie Chan, will open in cinemas. (SD-Agencies) | 