(Yicai Global) Aug. 1 -- Moon Man, a Chinese science fiction comedy that hit cinemas on July 29, had grossed CNY1.06 billion (USD156.5 million) as of 3 p.m. today, smashing a number of box office records on the way.

Moon Man broke CNY1 billion in two days and 18 hours. It also set a record for the fastest summer vacation pre-sales to top the CNY10 million mark and single-day sales for a summer sci-fi release.

It is the 98th movie to take more than CNY1 billion in China, according to data from ticketing platform Cbdio.

Moon Man, a rare sci-fi comedy produced by Mahua Funage along with Alibaba Pictures Group and China Film Group, also has outdone the CNY1.05 billion grossed by Jurassic World: Dominion, which came out on June 10.

With a storyline closer to modern Chinese society than western movies, Moon Man covers the blind spots of Hollywood films and has a bigger market appeal, according to Sun Jiashan, an associate researcher at the Chinese National Academy of Arts. The movie has amazing special effects as well as excellent content and production values, Sun noted.

Since June, following the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions, more movie theaters have reopened in China, with popular films urgently needed to attract long-absent audiences back to the big screen.

As of July 30, 57.6 percent of cinemas in Shanghai, and 85 percent nationwide, had resumed business.

Editor: Peter Thomas