Secret Superstar, produced by Aamir Khan, has topped the China box office, bagging $27.1 million gross (approximately Rs173 crore at the current exchange rate) in its opening weekend, as reported by China box office portal, Ent Group. Secret Superstar, which released on 19 January, has got around 63,536 shows in China.
Khan, who has a cameo in Secret Superstar, is a popular figure in China since his film Dangal (2016) was released in more than 9,000 screen and amassed over over Rs1,200 crore (gross) in 2017.
Secret Supertar is the story of young Muslim girl Insiya (Zaira Wasim) who beats all odds to fight against her conservative father to achieve her dream.
Interestingly, on its opening day, Secret Superstar had 55,666 shows in China, as reported by Indian website BoxOfficeIndia.com. The film had a gross opening of around $7 million (Rs44 crore approx), and it improved to $10.5 million (Rs67 crore approx) and $9.7 million (Rs61 crore approx) on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
The film, directed by Advait Chandan, comfortably beat new Hollywood releases Ferdinand, Wonder and Sino-Australian film, Guardian of the Tomb. Animation film Ferdinand made $9.36 million (Rs59 crore approx), Wonder bagged $8.55 million (Rs54 crore approx) while Guardian of the Tomb bagged $6.13 (Rs39 crore approx) in their opening weekend, respectively.
The poor opening for the new releases meant that the number of shows for Secret Superstar increased from 55,666 on the opening day to 61,391 on Saturday (20 January), and to 63,536 on Sunday (21 January).
The Rs173 crore (approx) opening weekend collection is much higher than Rs80 crore (approx) that Dangal made when it released in China in May last year. Dangal went on to make $193 million in China, approximately Rs1,246 crore at the prevalent exchange rate then.
With many more shows, and a great opening weekend, Secret Superstar could well go on to set a new record for the most successful Indian film in China.