Free Guy tops China's box office in opening weekend

With the summer drawing to an end, Hollywood's sci-fi movie Free Guy has just become the latest hit to top the country's box office charts during its opening weekend.

The latest statistics from several live trackers show that the movie starring Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds has raked in 165 million yuan ($25.5 million) since it opened on Aug 27.

Under the helm of Canadian filmmaker Shawn Levy, the film finds Ryan Reynolds, the protagonist, who leads a repetitive and plain life as a bank teller until he surprisingly discovers he is actually a non-player character in a video game, and he's the only hero who's capable of rescuing the world.

Also released to more than 720 IMAX cinemas across the Chinese mainland, the film has seen 16 percent of its first-weekend ticket receipts generated from the IMAX screens, setting a new record for a freshly released IMAX blockbuster in 2021.

Free Guy's positive reviews and word of mouth on social platforms created positive momentum for the film over the weekend, driving its box office on Sunday to exceed that taken on Saturday.

Currently, the film has obtained high scores, respectively 9.2 and 9.0 points out of 10, on the ticketing platforms Maoyan and Taopiaopiao.