Animation “White Snake: Afloat” leads China’s daily box office chart

BEIJING, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) — Chinese animated film “White Snake: Afloat” topped the daily box office chart on the Chinese mainland on its first day of release on Saturday, grossing 94.26 million yuan (about 13.19 million U.S. dollars), according to the China Movie Data Information Network.
Based on the Chinese classic tale of the White Snake, one of the most popular Chinese folk love stories that tells the romance between a young man and a snake spirit that has attained the form of a human woman through cultivation, the film, the third installment of the “White Snake” series, hit the silver screen on the traditional Qixi Festival, also known as Chinese Valentine’s Day.
In the film, the two eventually marry, but Fa Hai, a powerful monk seeking to separate the pair, reveals the snake’s true identity.
Domestic comedy “Successor” finished second, grossing about 92.9 million yuan on the day, leading to an accumulated box office of 2.93 billion yuan over 26 days.
Realistic drama “Upstream,” which debuted on Friday, came in third with 85.35 million yuan in revenue on Saturday.
On Saturday, the total box office revenue on the Chinese mainland was around 364.2 million yuan. ■