As of Monday evening, the box office takings of "The Eight Hundred," the first Chinese blockbuster to hit big screens after cinemas closed due to the pandemic, exceeded two billion yuan (290 million U.S. dollars).

Ten days after it was officially released on August 21, the film has already become a big boost to the Chinese film market which remained in stagnancy for over six months. Insiders have now raised their expectations of its final revenue to three billion yuan (440 million U.S. dollars).

'The Eight Hundred' dominates

The film, directed by Guan Hu, focuses on a well-known battle during the Chinese war of resistance against Japanese aggression, the Defense of Sihang Warehouse in November 1937. It is also known to many as a battle broadcast live to the world.

The battlefield, Sihang Warehouse, is located on the north bank of the Suzhou River in Shanghai, and on the other side are the concessions occupied by the big Western powers, which the Japanese invaders had to avoid hurting. Therefore, heaven and hell co-existed on different sides of the same river during the four days when the battle happened.

While the 452 Chinese soldiers had to conceal their true strength and pretend to be "800 warriors," so as to fight against the invaders' far greater numbers, on the other side of the river the local residents of Shanghai as well as the western media were watching the progress of the historical event.

In order to present the historical scene to its details, Guan Hu and his crew spent 18 months building a filming set in Suzhou City, which occupied 13 hectares and has 68 buildings. The film is said to be the best war film in the cinematic history.

Christopher Nolan is back

However, the dominance of "The Eight Hundred" is faced with challenge as Christopher Nolan's "Tenet" is to be released in China on September 4. Launched internationally over the weekend, the film has already grossed 53 million U.S. dollars even though some of the cinemas remain closed.

Besides a strong debut, Nolan has already earned critical applause during the previews and as the film is poised to make its Chinese debut, many die hard Christopher Nolan fans are already eager enough to rush to the cinemas.

Characterized by his unique narration and ingenious combination of commercial and artistic elements, Christopher Nolan almost never lets his audience down. And as the first foreign blockbuster to debut in post-pandemic Chinese cinemas, it carries with it high expectations at the box office.

To warm the field, Nolan's 2014 film "Interstellar" was rescreened in early August and grabbed over 800 million yuan (116.9 million U.S. dollars) in general. Another Nolan film "Inception" also hit the big screens recently for rescreening.

Weekly box office exceeds one billion yuan

The newly released romance film "Love You Forever" was in second place of the weekly box office ranking. Debuted on August 25, which marks the Chinese Valentine's Day, the film has already grossed 419 million yuan (61.2 million U.S. dollars).

"Wild Grass," also a romance film released on the same day, stood at the third spot with 49.6 million yuan (7.25 million U.S. dollars), though with a poor feedback in reviews. It was only given a 4.6 out of 10 points on Douban.com, one of China's websites resembling Rotten Tomatoes.

Following behind was the American novel adapted film "Little Women" starring Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson and Timothée Chalamet, all of whom have a wide fan base in China. The film only garnered 32.5 million yuan (4.75 million U.S. dollars) since its debut on the Chinese Valentine's Day. It was followed by the fifth on the weekly box office ranking chart, the animation film "Onward."

Cover image by Qu Bo