Chinese mystery drama “Lost in the Stars” was on top of the global box office over the latest weekend despite playing from just one country.
According to data collected by the regional box office consultancy Artisan Gateway, Lost in the Stars, a mystery thriller produced by As One Productions opened to $98.3 million over the four-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday weekend. After including advance ticket sales for Monday to the count, the movie has effortlessly surpassed $100 million in total earnings.
Comscore data reveals “Lost in the Stars” seamlessly outperformed “Elemental” over the weekend, raking in a total of $54.2 million. The Disney movie secured second place and earned $49.8 million between Friday and Sunday, where the animated film earned $31.3 from international markets, and $18.5 million in North America.
Lost in the Stars is co-written by Chen Sicheng, who’s also the successful writer-director behind the Detective Chinatown series. The hit franchise has earned over $1.3 billion from its three films. The ticketing app, Maoyan projects Lost in the Stars will earn more than $400 million in the future.
@wenella_subs tweeted: Congratulations on ‘Lost in the Stars’ passing RMB 100 Million at the box office!
Jun 22 Weibo: The box office for Lost in the Stars has passed the RMB 100 million mark on the first day of its release. Congrats 🎉#ZhuYilong #YilongZhu #朱一龍 #朱一龙 #消失的她 #LostintheStars pic.twitter.com/w7fB6vCIEn
— wenella x zhu yilong (@wenella_subs) June 22, 2023
The Chinese film “Lost in the Stars” is a reinterpretation of the 1990 Russian movie “A Trap for the Lonely Man,” which itself has been adapted from a Robert Thomas stage play. The story follows a woman who goes missing while on an overseas trip with her husband. When all hopes of finding her end, she mysteriously reappears, but her husband refuses to accept she’s the same woman, and is convinced she’s an imposter.
The Chinese romantic movie “Love Never Ends” came in second place during its five-day opening run. According to figures provided by Artisan Gateway, it earned $11.8 million (RMB 83.7 million) during the weekend from Friday to Sunday, and a total of $23.7 million during the five days.
“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” slumped from second place to third. The movie made $8.3 million over the weekend, bringing its total earnings to $79 million after three weekends.
The movie “Never Say Never,” penned and helmed by actor Wang Baoqiang (“Lost in Thailand,” “Detective Chinatown”), is officially set to release in China on July 6, but previews have already earned it $6.3 million (RMB 44.5 million), and it ranked fourth over the weekend. The movie has earned a total of $9.4 million to date.
“The Flash” dropped from first to fifth place in its second weekend since its opening, earning $3.4 million, and a total of $23.7 million in ten days.
Three of the top five films were shown on China’s huge park of Imax screens. “Lost in the Stars” made $1.5 million during its run, “The Flash” earned $670,000, and “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” made $1 million.
Over the weekend, China’s nationwide box office earnings were $111 million, bringing this year’s total to $3.52 billion. According to Artisan Gateway, this is a 50% increase from last year’s earnings at this point, but a decrease of 18% compared to 2019.
