‘Lucy’ overpowers ‘Hercules,’ ‘Guardians’ at China box office

Reporting from Beijing — Scarlett Johansson overpowered “Guardians of the Galaxy” and a weak “Hercules” at the mainland China box office last week as her sci-fi film “Lucy” topped the charts with $20.8 million in its opening weekend, data from film industry consulting firm Artisan Gateway showed Tuesday.

The Luc Besson movie is the latest success for Johansson in China, where she’s built a following through appearances in “Iron Man 2,” “The Avengers” and this year’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.”

“Guardians of the Galaxy” added $17.7 million to its haul last week, pushing its cumulative take in the territory to almost $86 million.

In third place for the week was Ning Hao’s blockbuster road comedy, “Breakup Buddies,” which took in an additional $10.8 million and has now grossed nearly $185 million, one of the best performances ever for a Chinese film.

Paramount Pictures’ “Hercules” had to settle for fourth place with $8.5 million in its opening weekend, Artisan said.

In fifth place for the week was the local production “Dearest,” a child-abduction drama that has taken in more than $55 million.

China’s total box office take for 2014 now stands just shy of $4 billion with more than two months left to go in the year.

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