Edko Films’ disaster film Cesium Fallout has bounced to the top of China’s box office from Monday (November 5) after opening in second place behind Venom: The Last Dance.
It had grossed a total of $16.8m (RMB120m) as of November 7, up from its $12.1 (RMB86.5m) opening weekend, which included previews.
The Cantonese-speaking Guangdong province in southern China contributed significantly to the film’s success, accounting for 26.8% of its nationwide cumulative box office. Hong Kong films are generally released in this province in their original Cantonese language, instead of being dubbed in Mandarin for other provinces. Guangdong was also instrumental to the Chinese box office success of Edko Films’ previous releases A Guilty Conscience and A Table For Six.
According to box office tracker Artisan Gateway, Cesium Fallout opened to almost $10m (RMB70m) from November 1-3, with the second highest average showtimes (19.1%) and received good word of mouth based on its realistic visual effects and clever writing to showcase the mind-games between corporate bosses.
The good word of mouth is reflected in the high score of 7.6 on Douban, which is considered one of China’s most reliable film rating platforms.
The film is marketed as Hong Kong’s first radiation disaster film with a narrative about a team of firefighters who risk everything to protect the city when an unprecedented fire triggers a radioactive leak, while the authorities are indecisive under such national emergency circumstances.
Andy Lau, China’s Bai Yu, and Karen Mok head the cast, supported by Tse Kwan Ho, Ivana Wong and Louise Wong. It is directed by Anthony Pun, with Mak Tin Shu and Shum Kwan Sin among the co-writers.
In Hong Kong ,where it opened day-and-date with mainland China on November 1, Cesium Fallout beat Venom: The Last Dance to open top with takings of $1m (HK$8m), representing the biggest opening weekend for a Hong Kong film in the second half of this year. The film continued to top the daily box office and has grossed $1.8m (HK$13.9m) as of yesterday (November 6).
The performance of local films has remained lacklustre this year despite the record-breaking success of Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In, which become the second local title to cross the $12.9m (HK$100m) milestone and the highest admissions for a local film.
Cesium Fallout is a Hong Kong-China co-production, with Alibaba Pictures (which is also the Chinese distributor) among the mainland Chinese backers. Producer Edko Films, which also manages international sales, has also sold it to Emphasis for worldwide inflight rights (excluding China) and Celestial Tiger for pay-TV in Southeast Asia.
It launched at Busan’s Asian Contents & Film Market and has since been sold for the CIS & Baltics (VLG FILM), Latin America (Delta Films) and Cambodia (Westec Media). It opened today (November 7) in Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei through mm2 Entertainment, and in North America Niu (Vision Media) and Taiwan (Sky Films) on November 8.
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