‘Transformers 5’ tops Chinese box office again, but is still short of Paramount’s expectations

“Transformers 5” topped the Chinese box office for a second consecutive week, despite suffering a 75% drop in revenue from its first weekend.

The film earned $69.4 million in China last week, bringing its total to $198 million and making it the country’s fourth biggest film this year, according to the film consulting group Artisan Gateway.

That’s nearly double the film’s North American revenue, but still short of Paramount studio’s expectations for the $217-million film in the world’s second-largest movie market.

The film, burdened by poor critical reception, will likely not come close to matching the $330 million its predecessor, “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” made in China in 2014.

Chinese films dominated the rest of the list last week. The time travel action film “Reset,” produced by Jackie Chan, came in second with $17.4 million in receipts, followed by the local comedy “Wished,” with $6.9 million.

The films “Paths of the Soul” and “77 Heartbreaks” rounded out the list, with $6 million and $5.7 million in revenue, respectively.

China’s box office revenue in total grew 3.3% year over year in the first half of 2017, Artisan Gateway reported, with imports comprising 61% of market share.