Films made a total of 554 million yuan ($80.12 million) at the box office in China during the new year holiday from Dec. 31 - Jan. 2, with "Avatar: The Way of Water" dominating the market.

That figure is just about half of 2021's new year takings, when films made 1.02 billion yuan, but a new high peak in months as successive waves of COVID-19 shut down cinemas and scared away audiences, hopefully marking the resumption of business and the return of moviegoers.

According to Maoyan, a major Chinese ticketing platform, the period saw 12.55 million admissions for around 1 million screenings. 

The top three earners were James Cameron's blockbuster "Avatar: The Way of Water," Chinese romance "Someday or One Day," and the comedy "Better Man." Among them, the new "Avatar" was the biggest earner, making 281 million yuan during the holiday, putting its total China takings at 1.13 billion yuan by Monday night.

Released on Dec. 16, the film had underperformed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but by this third weekend had made a surprising rebound, making it the highest-grossing imported foreign film in China for 2022 and the 100th entrant of China's billion-yuan-making film club. In doing so, it joins its predecessor "Avatar," the first film to ever gross more than 1 billion yuan back in 2010. 

The film has not only witnessed a miraculous rebound in China, but worldwide, demonstrating the staying power of Cameron's films, just as his previous works of "Titanic" and "Avatar," which opened modestly but kept selling tickets to become some of the highest-grossing films of all time. By Monday, "Avatar: The Way of Water" had already raked in $1.44 billion worldwide, with China as its biggest international market. Soon in this week, it will certainly become the highest-grossing film of 2022 worldwide, beating "Top Gun: Maverick" to continue its staggering box office journey.

As for Chinese productions, "Someday or One Day" made 124 million yuan during the holiday, with a total of 263 million yuan since its release on Dec. 24. "Better Man," the only new film released on Dec. 31, took in 121 million yuan.  

In 2022, China's box office revenue was about 30 billion yuan, with 85% coming from domestic films, according to statistics released by the China Film Administration on Sunday. But this fell well below the previous year's 47 billion yuan, and the market still lacks enough content to grow.

This weekend will see several new films be released, including the headliner Japanese animated feature "Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero," continuing to warm up the market for the upcoming and much-anticipated Spring Festival film season, which falls on Jan. 22. Traditionally the time when huge blockbusters compete for audiences, records could still be broken, as people are drawn to cinemas in what has become a popular festive activity. 

On Tuesday, makers of the high-profile Chinese animated feature "Deep Sea" by Tian Xiaopeng announced it would open on Spring Festival. "Hidden Blade" by Cheng Er and starring megastars Tony Leung and Wang Yibo will also hit screens just in time for Chinese New Year. Other announced Spring Festival films include Zhang Yimou's period film "Full River Red," the highly-anticipated sci-fi epic sequel "The Wandering Earth 2," and the franchise animated film "Boonie Bears: Guardian Code."

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