Talk about pent-up demand. Detective Chinatown 3 , which was originally scheduled to hit Chinese cinemas during the Lunar New Year period in 2020, has sprung out of the gate today with an astonishing Maoyan-estimated RMB 1.05B ($163M) to score the biggest opening-day gross ever of any movie in a single market. The debut overtakes Avengers: Endgame ’s previous record of $157M in North America, set on April 26, 2019. Included in that were Thursday previews — Detective Chinatown 3 did not have previews. As reported yesterday, the film from Chen Sicheng had already set a new pre-sales record in the Middle Kingdom with over RMB 673M ($104M) for opening day. And then, the turnstiles really started to spin throughout the day on Friday. The buddy comedy threequel is being aided by a great 9.4 audience score on Maoyan, though its Douban critics score is lower at 6.6. Just how high it will go is still a matter of potential frontloading that we’ve seen in prior Spring Festival … [Read more...] about ‘Detective Chinatown 3’ Sets All-Time Record For Opening Day In A Single Market With $163M; IMAX Hits Middle Kingdom Milestone