China’s first blockbuster of the summer of 2023, lost in the starsis being prepared for release in North America, Australia, and New Zealand later this week.
The film will open on July 7 in approximately 60 locations in 30 cities in the US and Canada, courtesy of Chinese international distributor CMC Pictures. The launch in Australia and New Zealand, on July 6 and 13, respectively, will be on a similar scale.
lost in the stars launched in China on June 22 and has already earned around $360 million there, more than recent Hollywood blockbusters Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ($343.4 million) and guardians of the galaxy vol. 3 ($355 million) grossed at home in North America.
However, Chinese commercial blockbusters tend to play more like special releases in the West, appealing mainly to the Chinese diaspora market, while racking up earnings more in line with what Asian art-house titles earn. Well Go USA Released Chinese Sci-Fi Blockbuster the wandering earth 2 in North America earlier this year and grossed just over $5 million (it made over $600 million in China).
‘Lost in the stars’
Images courtesy of CMC
lost in the stars is an adaptation written and produced by Chinese hitmaker Chen Sicheng, best known for the blockbuster detective chinatown franchise. The film’s source material has a long pedigree. It is based on the 1960 murder mystery play by French writer-director-actor Robert Thomas. trap for a lonely man, the rights to which Albert Hitchcock once bought but never adapted. Russian filmmaker Alexey Korenev made a 1990 film adaptation titled A trap for a lonely manand the Chinese movie is based on that movie.
Co-directed by Rui Cui and Xiang Liu, the Chinese film stars Zhu Yilong as a man whose wife (played by Janice Man) mysteriously disappears while they are on vacation to celebrate their anniversary. Just as the frantic search for her begins to peter out, she reappears out of nowhere, but her husband insists that the peculiar woman in front of him, despite resembling her, is an impostor and not her wife. A lawyer (played by actress Ni Ni) gets involved in the case and little by little more mysteries emerge.
lost in the stars remains strong at the box office in China, where it is distributed by Alibaba Pictures. Local ticketing app Maoyan projects the film to top $450 million.
‘Lost in the stars’
Images courtesy of CMC
