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Fang Li couldn’t quite believe his ears when a fisherman shared the story behind what would become the Chinese filmmaker’s latest documentary, The Sinking of The Lisbon Maru.

The year was 2014 and Fang was on set in his role as a producer shooting the feature film The Continent — a Han Han-directed road-trip comedy-drama — and it was while heading out from the coast of eastern Zhejiang province towards Dongji Island that the fisherman told a tale that had, for seven decades, remained remarkably untold.

Fang heard of how on October 1, 1942 a Japanese military cargo ship laden with 1,816 British prisoners of war hidden in its hull was on its way from Hong Kong to Japan when it was torpedoed by the USS Grouper.

In the aftermath of the strike — and as the ship slowly sank — Japanese troops locked the POWs inside the cargo holds. But the POWs fought for their lives,...

“Alien: Romulus” enjoyed strong Saturday and Sunday showings in Chinese cinemas to take a robust opening weekend win and stay ahead of Japanese animation title “Detective Conan: The Million Dollar Pentagram.”

“Alien: Romulus” earned RMB186 million ($26.2 million) over the Friday-Sunday weekend in China, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. Some $5.02 million of that came from Imax screens.

The figures are strong considering that Hollywood titles generally have struggled over the past five years, compared with the earlier 2010s era when audiences were more in tune with western values and local films were weaker.

The figures are also strong considering that the “Alien” franchise does not have deep roots in China. “Alien Covenant” was released in June 2017 and earned $29.1 million in its opening weekend, before going on to a $45.5 million total. But 2012 predecessor “Prometheus” did not have a theatrical release in China.

“Alien: Romulus,” did not have things all...

Worldwide box office August 9-11 Rank Film (distributor) 3-day (world) Cume (world) 3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Deadpool & Wolverine (Disney) $112m $1.03bn $57.8m $535.2m 53 2. It Ends With Us (Sony) $80m $80m $30m $30m 42 3. Despicable Me 4 (Universal) $26.8m $807.2m $7.5m $78.8m 78 4. Successor (various) $24.9m $411.1m $24.6m $410m 6 5. Upstream (various) $22.8m $25.1m $22.8m $25.1m 1 6. Inside Out 2 (Disney) $19.5m $1.6bn $14.5m $957.3m 53 7. Twisters (Warner Bros / Universal) $19.1m $310.1m $4.1m $87.8m 75 8. White Snake: Afloat (various) $18.8m $23.8m $18.8m $23.8m 1 9. Trap (Warner Bros) $16.8m $45.3m $10.1m $16.6m 68 10. Borderlands (Lionsgate) $16.5m $16.5m $7.7m $7.7m 74

Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.

‘It Ends...

Chinese family comedy-drama, “Successor” held on to its place at the top of the mainland China box office for the fifth week as “Deadpool & Wolverine” slipped out of the Chinese top five in its third weekend of release.

“Successor” earned RMB179 million ($25.2 million) between Friday and Sunday, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. That gives it a total of $420 million since releasing on July 16. It is by far the biggest film of the summer season and has now become the fourth highest-grossing film of the year in China. Its latest weekend victory, however, was a narrow one.

In second place, Ruyi Films’ “Upstream” earned $23.4 million over its opening weekend (and even took top spot on Friday’s daily chart). With previews, the filmt has a cumulative of $25.8 million. The drama is directed by Xu Zheng and Tong Zhi-jian and tells the uplifting story of a former tech...