‘Alita: Battle Angel’ Impresses With its Box Office Opening in China

Alita: Battle Angel may have gone on to somewhat success through its United States theatrical run, the film is going through its biggest tests with its opening in Japan and China this past weekend.

According to reports from Deadline, the film opened in China with an impressive $19.8 million USD on Friday, with an addition $1 million USD from Thursday night. Current estimates have the film earning upwards of $60 million USD over its opening weekend.

The film’s domestic earnings are sitting at an estimate of $60 million USD, with the previous weekend earning $12 million. Couple that with the current foreign gross of $203 million, and the film has estimated to have earned over $264 million USD overall.

Although there’s currently no telling whether or not the film has earned enough to garner a sequel, or at least balance out its production costs, this is still a good performance for a film released in the middle of February. It’s been a big hit with fans of the original series, too.

Directed by Robert Rodriguez, produced by James Cameron and Jon Landau, Alita: Battle Angel opened in theaters February 14, and in Japan and China on February 22. The film stars Rosa Salazar (as the titular Alita), Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, and Jackie Earle Haley. ComicBook.com’s Brandon Davis recently reviewed the film, and here’s an excerpt of his thoughts:

“All things considered, the movie is an immersive escape to another world. Attempts at emotion and human connections are supplemented by amazing visual and practical effects, along with well-crafted action sequences. It’s not going to be the next Avatar despite being an equally massive idea, but Alita builds its own world for a second adventure which could get audiences more invested.” You can read the full review of Alita: Battle Angel here.

Battle Angel Alita (known as GUNNM in Japan) was originally created by Yukito Kishiro for Shueisha’s Weekly Business Jump in 1990. The series is set in a post-apocalyptic future and follows Alita, a cyborg who is found in a garbage heap by a doctor and rebuilt. Completely devoid of her memory, all she has to cling to is a legendary cyborg martial art known as Panzer Kunst. With this knowledge, Alita decides to become a bounty hunter. The series has since been licensed for an English language release by Viz Media, and collected into nine volumes.

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