China’s Blossoms Entertainment has secured a pan-Asian and CIS release for sleeper box office hit Lost In The Stars as the Chinese film industry gets back on its feet in a dynamic summer season post-Covid.
The Chinese mystery drama is dated to open in Malaysia and Brunei on July 27, Singapore (August 3), Cambodia (August 18), all through Purple Plan, and Indonesia (August 31) through Encore Films.
In August, it is also set to open in Hong Kong and Macau (Intercontinental Films), Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Philippines (all through Encore Films). A UK release through Trinity-CineAsia began on July 14 and made a strong start at the box office.
A release in Baltics and CIS including Russia through Arthouse looks set for August or September.
Directed by rising talents Cui Rui and Liu Xiang, it is produced by Chen Sicheng who adapted it from 1990 Russian film A Trap For A Lonely Man. Since its local release on June 22, it has scored phenomenal success and become the 12th highest grossing film of all time in China with almost $480m (RMB3.44b) at the Chinese box office as of July 21. It ranked eighth at the worldwide box office last weekend.
It has blown away all forecasts. The pre-release box office projected by local media and KOLs was below $139m (RMB1b). Among them, Top Century Cultural Consultation and Box Office Bar put it at $111m (RMB800m) and $118m (RMB850m) respectively. Ticketing platform Maoyan expected the final box office to be around $167m (RMB1.2b) once the film opened but raised the number to $459.3m (RMB3.3b) on thep fourth day of release after a lucrative opening weekend.
The film is the first blockbuster from China this summer to enjoy a wide international release. “It was already exciting to see quality Chinese films coming back to the world stage and premiere at Cannes after its absence from the Covid lockdown and we feel very privileged to now make a stand for Chinese blockbusters as well, especially in this fiery-hot summer season,” Blossoms Entertainment founder and general manager Vicky Ding told Screen.
The film revolves around the mysterious disappearance of a woman during a wedding anniversary vacation with her husband. When the woman, played by Janice Man, reappears, a lawyer (Ni Ni) and a local police officer (Du Jiang) take on the case as the husband (Zhu Yilong) insists she is an imposter.
“Suspense is not a signature or most outstanding genre of Chinese films,” said Ding. “We are amazed for such a sophisticated story filled with exciting twists that people want to watch and talk about.”
Produced by Chen’s Beijing-based As One Production, whose credits include the Detective Chinatown film franchise, Sheep Without A Shepherd, Fireflies In The Sun and Mozart From Space, Chinese distributor Alibaba Pictures is the other main financier of the film.
Beijing-based Blossoms acquired international sales rights to Lost In The Stars, excluding North America, Australia and New Zealand which are handled by CMC Pictures.
Lost In The Stars, filmed on Hainan Island among others locations, was the closing film of Hainan International Film Festival in December and went on to play in competition at Beijing International Film Festival in April. It has been selected for Germany’s Fantasy Filmfest in September.
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