Popular Chinese director Ning Hao has seen his comedy fantasy film “Crazy Alien” gross more than $100 million at the mainland China box office after just two days on release during the Chinese New Year holiday period. It’s the highest two-day total for any film in the Middle Kingdom so far this year.
The milestone was passed at around 8 p.m. on Wednesday. By 10 p.m., the film’s accumulated gross had advanced to $101 million (RMB680 million), according to website China Box Office.
The film is about a zookeeper who finds an unusual animal and takes it home. There he discovers that the creature is in fact an extraterrestrial, but getting rid of it may be problematic.
“Crazy Alien” was produced by Ning’s Dirty Monkeys Studio for Huanxi Media, the Hong Kong-listed firm in which Ning and comedian Xu Zheng are major shareholders. The release was handled by Enlight Pictures, Guangxian Pictures and state-owned Huaxia Distribution.
The film is released in conventional and premium large-format versions. On its first day in theaters Tuesday, the start of Chinese New Year, it earned $59.8 million (RMB403 million), making it the market leader with a 28% share, ahead of second-place “Pegasus.” However, “Pegasus” outscored “Crazy Alien” on China’s 604 Imax screens. About $2.67 million (RMB18 million) of the total was earned through Imax theaters.