The cinemas in China opened around one month back with social distancing rules and there has been pretty good response considering the situation but this weekend it roared back to life as if there was no Coronavirus. The local Chinese film THE EIGHT HUNDRED grossed a crazy $116 million over its three day weekend being the highest opener in China this year.

The film being the highest opener this year is not much of a deal as the country only saw three weekends in January after which theaters started to shut. In these three weeks a film called ADORING had the highest weekend at $17 million and THE EIGHT HUNDRED has gone past it by a distance.

The actual comparison for this film is last year when there was no pandemic and only two films scored a better opening than this film and they were THE WANDERING EARTH and AVENGERS: ENDGAME while a film called NE ZHA managed to collect better in the second weekend. It is a huge result for these sort of numbers to come in the Covid-19 scenario. AVENGERS is the biggest Hollywood brand in China and AVENGERS: ENDGAME did $175 million last year. But THE EIGHT HUNDRED has already amassed a huge $116 million with not all cinemas opening and social distancing rules, showing the pent up demand for good cinema.

The film racked up a huge 15 million footfalls (1.5 crore) over the three days. The top ten openings weekend in China for 2019-2020 are as follows and THE EIGHT HUNDRED is post Covid-19. It beat the numbers of tent-pole Hollywood films like CAPTAIN MARVEL and FAST & FURIOUS: HOBBS & SHAW with social distancing rules in cinemas.

1. The Wandering Earth - $180 million
2. Avengers: Endgame - $175 million
3. The Eight Hundred - $116 million
4. The Captain - $102 million
5. My People, My Country - $101 million
6. Fast & Furious; Hobbs & Shaw - $96 million
7. Ne Zha - $95 million (did $127 million in second weeeknd)
8. Spider-Man: Far From Home  - $95 million
9. Captain Marvel - $86 million
10. Better Days - $82 million