THE Dragon Boat Festival film period achieved astonishing results at the Chinese mainland box office by grossing 909 million yuan (US$127 million) in three days from Thursday to Saturday, the second-highest earnings for the holiday, the China Film Administration announced Sunday.

Official data shows that 80.08% of the box office was contributed by domestic films, led by suspense crime film “Lost in the Stars” and romance “Love Never Ends.”

Chen Jin, an analyst at Beacon, a ticketing platform under Alibaba Pictures, said that the “surprising” performance of the Dragon Boat Festival holiday shows that the film market is experiencing a quick recovery while also boosting confidence in the film industry.

“Lost in the Stars,” starring Chinese actors Zhu Yilong, Ni Ni and Janice Man, has been consecutively leading the daily box office since its premiere Thursday. Its single day box office premiere surpassed 150 million yuan.

Adapted from the Soviet film “A Trap for Lonely Man,” “Lost in the Stars” tells the story of a wife who mysteriously disappears during her overseas trip but suddenly “turns up” just as her husband’s search for her comes to nothing.

As of Sunday, the film had grossed 602 million yuan, surpassing “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” which has earned 556 million yuan over the past 17 days.

“‘Lost in the Stars’ contributed about half of the total box office, which is very impressive,” said Liu Peng, a data analyst from Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan.

According to Liu, the combination of the popular suspense genre, outstanding plot, A-list cast and solid reviews made the film stand out. Based on current data, “Lost in the Stars” is expected to gross 1.42 billion yuan in total. The studio behind the film has also announced that the movie will be released in Australia on July 6, North America on July 7 and New Zealand on July 13.

“Love Never Ends,” starring veteran actors Ni Dahong, Kara Wai, Tony Leung Ka-fai and Cecilia Yip, pocketed 106 million yuan during the holiday, allowing it to take second place on the box-office chart.

According to Liu, director Han Yan filmed the fine sentiment of helplessness and affection of elderly people in love, making it a successful example of a romance between people in their golden years. The film is expected to bring in about 300 million yuan.

The two Chinese films were followed by U.S. science fiction action film “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” domestic film “Never Say Never” directed by and starring Wang Baoqiang and Warner Bros’ “The Flash.” Hollywood films further enriched Chinese moviegoers’ viewing choices.

The two analysts noted that the continued introduction of high-quality films across a variety of genres is the main factor behind the success of the Dragon Boat Festival period. The continued output of well-made films is needed to further cultivate audience members’ movie-watching habits and thereby promote the quality and reasonable growth of quantity in the Chinese film market, they said.

The Dragon Boat Festival drew to a perfect end the first half of 2023 when it comes to film. More new films set for the summer holiday period such as “The White Storm 3: Heaven or Hell,” “Creation of the Gods: Kingdom of Storms” and “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” are sure to make for a strong start to the second half of the year.

(Global Times)