Salman Khan's Sultan receives tepid response at China box office; MI – Fallout gets career-best opening for Tom Cruise

Salman Khan’s wrestling drama Sultan, which landed in mainland screens on 31 August, has grossed a tepid $3 million (Rs 21.3 cr) from the opening weekend, making it the weakest opening of 2018 for an Indian release in China. Sultan, which released worldwide in 2016, is now the sixth Indian movie to see the light of day in the Middle Kingdom this year after Secret Superstar, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Hindi Medium, Baahubali: The Conclusion and Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, which  winded up  its theatrical run at a decent $14.2 million (Rs 97.8 cr) final gross last month. [caption id=“attachment_3731467” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Salman Khan in a still from Sultan. YouTube[/caption] Sultan, which is directed by Ali Abbas Zafar and stars Anushka Sharma in a pivotal role, marks Salman Khan’s second outing in China after his highly successful foray into PRC through Bajrangi Bhaijaan, which completed its run with a  $45.3 million  (Rs 294 cr) cumulative box-office haul on 2 April. The Yash Raj Films production, which marks the legendary banner’s first release in China, registered a disappointing opening day revenue of $0.94 million (Rs 6.67 cr), which is quite lesser than the $2.24 million opening day bow of Salman Khan’s Lantern festival release Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Even the last two Indian films in China, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha and Baahubali: The Conclusion, which performed below par, registered an opening day gross of $2.35 million (Rs 15.8 cr) and $2.43 million (Rs 16.3 cr) respectively. Compared to other Indian releases in China this year, the opening weekend numbers of Sultan at $3 million are highly underwhelming. Although Toilet: Ek Prem Katha and Baahubali: The Conclusion failed to exceed the expectations of other Indian films in entirety, their opening weekend takings were encouraging with $9.05 million (Rs 61.1 cr) and $7.63 million (Rs 51.23 cr) respectively. The opening weekend takings of $3 million (Rs 21.3 cr) have pushed the global running total of Sultan to Rs 608.33 cr, making it the second film of Salman Khan to breach the Rs 600 cr mark after Bajrangi Bhaijaan, which finished its global run at Rs 905.3 cr after the impressive China run. Taking into account the dismal opening weekend numbers_,_ it’s now impossible for Sultan to replicate the success of Bajrangi Bhaijaan in China or Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, which missed the 100 cr mark by a whisker with its decent final gross of Rs 97.8 cr. Now, the total foreign box-office receipts of Sultan stand at $27.82 million. So far, only seven Indian films have successfully sailed over the $30 million mark from offshore earnings. If Sultan manages to earn another $2.2 million over the next few days, it will become the eighth Indian film after Hindi Medium, Dangal, Secret Superstar, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Baahubali: The Conclusion, PK and Dhoom 3 to touch the $30 million mark from foreign earnings. [caption id=“attachment_4825941” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Mission: Impossible - Fallout promo. Image via Twitter[/caption] Tom Cruise’s action thriller  Mission: Impossible – Fallout , which also released on 31 August alongside Sultan, topped the China box-office chart for three continuous days until 2 September and is expected to continue its glorious weekend run of $77.3 million in the upcoming weekdays too. Fallout entirely dominated the China box-office on opening day and enjoyed 1.4 lakh shows on Friday compared to a paltry 36,847 shows for Sultan, which opened at the third spot in the chart. Fallout has delivered Tom Cruise’s career-best opening in China besides registering the biggest debut for the franchise. The Paramount Pictures production is expected to touch the $100 million mark in the Middle Kingdom before the end of the second week. Meanwhile, Disney/Marvel’s holdover superhit Ant-Man and the Wasp has become the seventh import film to vault over the $100 million benchmark in China this year after Avengers: Infinity War, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Ready Player One, The Meg, Rampage, and Secret Superstar.  Now, the global running cumulative of Mission: Impossible – Fallout stands at a massive $649 million, with the foreign total amounting to $442.7 million, thanks to its record-breaking China debut where it landed in nearly 8,716 locations.