China Box Office: Aamir Khan’s ‘Secret Superstar’ Wins Quiet Weekend
Aamir Khan’s “Secret Superstar” bounced back to top spot at the Chinese box office in what was the quietest cinemagoing weekend for over a year.
The Indian drama scored $10.5 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Ent Group. It replaced “Maze Runner: The Death Cure” as the top film.
That outcome nevertheless lifted the 17-day total for “Secret Superstar” to $89.9 million. While it has no chance of getting near the $190 million China total of Khan’s “Dangal,” the Chinese score for “Secret Superstar” is more than four times its $20.3 million rest of the world performance.
“Superstar” scored strongest on Saturday and Sunday, having been beaten on Friday, the second day of release for newcomer “Till the End of the World.” An action adventure set in the Antarctic, “Till the End of the World” released on Friday. It scored $9.91 between Friday and Sunday and finished with a four-day cumulative of $11.5 million.
Suggesting that Hugh Jackman’s box office star in China may be waning, “The Greatest Showman,” debuted modestly in third place with $5 million. While the film is released by Fox in most territories in the world, in China it was handled by Bona Film Group as a revenue-sharing import. That highly unusual position flows from Bona having partially-financed the film through an extension of its (originally) six-title state funding deal with TSG and Fox.
Last week’s top film, “Maze Runner” dropped to fourth place. Its drop was a precipitous 80%, which leaves it with a 10-day total of $38.1 million.
Fifth place belonged to “Boonie Bears: The Big Shrink” enjoying its second weekend of previews ahead of a Chinese New Year release. The Chinese animation played Saturday and Sunday for $4.44 million. It has accumulated $6.76 million to date.
High profile drama, “Forever Young” took $4.17 million and sixth place. Its cumulative after 24 days is now $108 million.
Closely-packed new releases took the following three places. “My Little Pony: The Movie” took $2.57 million for seventh place in its opening weekend. Japan’s “Miracles of the Namiya General Store” followed with $2.46 million. North American horror, “Happy Death Day” came in ninth with $2.40 million.
“The Wonder” rounded out the top ten with $1.63 million. That lifted its 17-day cumulative to $24.5 million.
The aggregate total of the top ten films was $47.6 million, typical of a pre-Chinese New Year lull. Last year’s low point, the Jan 22-24 session, garnered only $36.4 million.
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