China’s ‘The Eight Hundred’ Hits $40 Million Box Office Total on Opening Day

Chinese war film, “The Eight Hundred” achieved a cumulative box office score of more than $40 million by late afternoon on its opening day, Friday.

By 5pm local time, the film had notched up RMB62.7 million or $9.04 million, according to data from China Box Office and Ent Group. That added to $31.8 million of previews earned on Friday last week and the days between Monday and Wednesday this week.

The film enjoyed an 86% market share. “Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone,” in its restored, 4K and Imax version, ranked second, with approximately 6%, and Wednesday release “Onward” was in third place with a 2% share.

Estimates of where box office for “The Eight Hundred” might end the weekend range from $60 million to $200 million. Those are numbers akin to pre-coronavirus days and need to be treated with caution.

Chinese cinemas have been open since July 20, after nearly six months closed due to the coronavirus outbreak and extreme hesitation on the part of local authorities.

Some surveys had suggested that Chinese audiences would flock back into theaters as soon as doors opened. Instead, business over the first four weekends was steady, rather than spectacular, and driven by particular pieces of older content, notably the rereleased “Interstellar” and “Sorcerer’s Stone,” which first played in Chinese cinemas when the country was only entering the multiplex era.

“The Eight Hundred” is different. It is effectively the first large-scale, local-language picture of the year. Many of the other Chinese tentpole movies of 2020 had hoped for a lucrative Chinese New Year release in January, but were stymied by the sudden coronavirus lockdowns.

The film, by Guan Hu, a director best known for his 2015 effort “Mr Six,” has been on the public radar even longer. It had been set as the opening film of the Shanghai Film Festival in June last year. And distributors had begun the marketing campaign for its mid-2019 commercial release, when it was abruptly pulled for political reasons.

All those problems now seem to be behind it. Reviews on fan and ticketing sites are predominantly positive. And according to Ent Group, some 5 million people have already bought tickets.

Speak Your Mind

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Get in Touch

350FansLike
100FollowersFollow
281FollowersFollow
150FollowersFollow

Recommend for You

Oh hi there 👋
It’s nice to meet you.

Subscribe and receive our weekly newsletter packed with awesome articles that really matters to you!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

You might also like

DGA, SAG-AFTRA, WGA Scramble to Keep Residuals Flowing During...

Hollywood’s creative guilds have been working overtime to keep residual checks going out to...

Finn Wolfhard’s Band the Aubreys Drop Horror-Themed ‘Smoke Bomb’...

Finn Wolfhard’s band the Aubreys shared a hilarious new video for their single “Smoke...

‘Tamron Hall’ Renewed for Season 3 by Walt Disney...

Tamron Hall is bringing her self-titled talk show back for another outing. Walt Disney Television...

Spain’s Babieka Produces Josué Ramos’ Sophomore Film, ‘La ciudad...

Madrid-based production and services company Babieka Films is joining forces with Spanish filmmaker Josué...