Chinese sci-fi blockbuster 'The Wandering Earth II' breaks into Top 10 at North American weekend box office

Despite a limited theatrical release in the United States and Canada, China's homemade sci-fi blockbuster "The Wandering Earth II" broke into the Top 10 at the North American box office this weekend, according to studio figures released by measurement firm Comscore on Sunday.

The much-anticipated prequel to China's sci-fi epic, "The Wandering Earth," is being released by Well Go USA in Mandarin with English and Chinese subtitles in some major cities across the United States and Canada.

Comscore senior movie analyst Paul Dergarabedian pointed out in an e-mail to Xinhua that the film "had a terrific weekend rounding out the Top 10 with US$1.355 million in just 170 locations."

"The Wandering Earth II" has earned US$2.71 million in North America since it was released on January 22, the Chinese Lunar New Year's Day.

Dergarabedian added that the film "had another strong showing" with US$144.325 million for the weekend at global box office for a worldwide cume to date of US$465.95 million "riding a wave of Lunar New Year momentum."

"The Wandering Earth," released in 2019, is the fifth highest-grossing non-English film in the world of all time, earning nearly US$700 million worldwide, including nearly US$6 million in North America.

Directed by Guo Fan and starring Andy Lau, Wu Jing and Li Xuejian, "The Wandering Earth II" tells the story of mankind building enormous engines to propel Earth to a new solar system as the sun is rapidly burning out.

This week, James Cameron's science fiction film "Avatar: The Way of Water" remained victorious at the North American box office for the seventh consecutive weekend with an estimated three-day cume of US$15.7 million.