Driven by sizzling sci-fi comedy, China's summer box office picks up speed

Chinese sci-fi comedy "Moon Man" was released over the weekend to critical acclaim, generating a whopping revenue of approximately 1 billion yuan (about 148.22 million U.S. dollars) in three days through Sunday.

Driven by the smash hit from Mahua FunAge, a popular Chinese comedy film and stage play production company, China's summer box office revenue growth has picked up speed.

China's box office revenue total from June 1 to July 31 this year hit 5.42 billion yuan, up from 5.33 billion yuan in the same period last year, showed the latest data from box office tracker Maoyan.

The summer movie season spanning three months until Aug. 31 is usually a busy moviegoing period in China.

"Undoubtedly, 'Moon Man' will raise people's expectations and could be a big boon to the box office market that was hit by COVID-19," said Rao Shuguang, president of the China Film Critics Association.

The story of "Moon Man" revolves around an astronaut who finds himself stranded on the moon and struggles to survive alone.