Aamir Khan’s ‘Secret Superstar’ tops quiet weekend in China
BEIJING: 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.
In all probability, most people in China are busy with spring cleaning for the Lunar New Year.
The Aamir-starring drama scored US$10.5 million (RM40.95 million) over last weekend, 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 US$89.9 million (RM350.6 million). While it has no chance of getting near the US$190 million China total of Khan’s Dangal, the Chinese score for Secret Superstar is more than four times its US$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 last Friday. It scored US$9.91 million between Friday and Sunday and finished with a four-day cumulative of US$11.5 million (RM44.85 million). Suggesting that Hugh Jackman’s box office star in China may be waning, The Greatest Showman, debuted modestly in third place with US$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 sixtitle state funding deal with TSG and Fox. High profile drama, Forever Young took US$4.17 million and sixth place. Its cumulative after 24 days is now US$108 million (RM421.2 million). The aggregate total of the top ten films was US$47.6 million, typical of a pre-Lunar New Year lull.