New Doraemon movie stays atop China's box office chart

BEIJING, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Japanese animation "Doraemon the Movie: Nobita's Earth Symphony," the 43rd film in the 2D animated "Doraemon" series, continued to top the box office chart on the Chinese mainland on Saturday, official data showed.

The film revolves around the story of Doraemon and Nobita's new adventure with friends to bring music back to people after its disappearance from the world. It pocketed 58.42 million yuan (about 8.22 million U.S. dollars) on that day, according to data from the China Movie Data Information Network.

It was followed by Sony Pictures' animated comedy film "The Garfield Movie," which garnered box office sales of 42.01 million yuan on its premiere on Saturday.

Chinese comedy "The Last Frenzy," came in third with a daily earning of 15.90 million yuan.

The total box office revenue on the Chinese mainland stood at 188.07 million yuan on Saturday.

China is gearing up for this year's summer movie season, which runs from the beginning of June to the end of August.

According to the Chinese movie data platform Maoyan, 53 new films are scheduled for release during this period, including the award-winning animated film "Robot Dreams" and "Civil War" from the United States' A24 arthouse studio.