Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.
“Dune” was unable to surpass the Chinese propaganda war movie “The Battle at Lake Changjin”. To take the top spot on its China opening day Friday, coming in second with just $6.45 million (RMB41.2 million). According to Maoyan data, despite a protracted charm offensive to raise awareness about the film in the increasingly sci-fi-hungry country.
As of the early hours of Saturday local time, the Maoyan platform now estimates. It will mine a total of just $30.9 million (RMB197 million) out of the world’s largest film. Market — down more than $4 million from its prediction midday Friday.
The result is lackluster at a time when the Chinese market is capable of delivering opening days of hundreds of millions for popular titles, and where the heavy-handed “Battle” opened to a $32 million first-day late last month — more than “Dune”’s entire predicted haul.
“Dune” was allocated a reasonably strong 36.5% of screening sessions nationwide on day one Friday, but is currently set to occupy a lesser 29.4% of screenings on Saturday. Imax estimated Friday that some 21% of the nationwide “Dune” box office came from its fleet of screens.
“The Battle at Lake Changjin,” co-directed by heavyweights Chen Kaige, Dante Lam, and Tsui Hark, has grossed $808 million so far in 23 days.