Aamir Khan's PK breaks Box Office records in China

Aamir Khan's blockbuster film PK released in China on May 22. The film had a wide release in China which is the biggest ever for a  Bollywood film. PK is already breaking box office records for a Bollywood film in China. As of Monday (May 25), the film had raked in 35 million RMB (Rs 35 crore) in just three days after its Friday launch.

“This is record-breaking for an Indian film in China,” Gu Wancheng, partner for NPRG, the Chinese firm which introduced the movie to distributors here, said in an interview. Gu said that prior to PK, the top-grossing Indian film was Dhoom 3. That film took in 19 million yuans through its entire release in China. 

“PK had made that amount by its second day alone,” Gu said. Not only that, at the domestic box office, PK has now surpassed every Chinese film currently showing, and is second only to Avengers: Age of Ultron. This weekend, PK even outdid Avengers in terms of occupancy, taking the number one spot with 25 per cent. 

The film currently has 18,000 shows in China. Gu said the two main reasons behind PK’s success were a high-profile launch involving Hirani, Aamir Khan and Vidhu Vinod Chopra in Beijing mid-May — rare for a Bollywood film in a market it has long ignored — and “very good reviews” in recent days that have driven audiences. Aamir’s popularity in China has, no doubt, also helped the film. 

Hirani’s 3 Idiots was a cult hit in China, though it was released more than a year after it first went viral through Chinese online movie-sharing websites. Chinese filmgoers have even taken to asking why Chinese directors were unable to produce films that were as creative.