A scene of the "Angry Birds Movie" shows Red singing "Happy Hatch Day." (Photo : YouTube/Angry Birds)
Sony Pictures and Rovio Entertainment's "The Angry Birds Movie" topped China's box office, scooping up the largest weekend sales for an animated movie in the country, reported Bloomberg.
Adapted from the popular mobile app game, "Angry Birds" pocketed $30 million in sales in its opening weekend in China starting May 20. The figures outstripped "Captain America: Civil War," which was the previous week's biggest earner.
Citing figures from Entgroup, Bloomberg said that "Angry Birds" earned more in its debut weekend than "Zootopia," which has managed to be the second highest-grossing movie in China for 2016. The 3D animated feature is also Walt Disney's highest-grossing movie in the country ever.
"Kung Fu Panda 3" keeps the crown for having the biggest opening-weekend ticket sales, amassing $51.3 million. "Stand By Me Doraemon" is in second place with $38.4 million, followed by Rovio's "Angry Birds."
The performance of "Angry Birds" in China, which is known as the second-largest market for films, is on a par with ticket sales in the U.S.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the movie earned about $39 million at North America's box office over the weekend.
The publication noted that betting on the film was a risky move.
"For the company behind the 'Angry Birds' characters, the movie adaptation was a high-profile gamble to boost a game that had been waning in popularity," wrote the WSJ.
Finnish company Rovio completely financed the movie with a $73-million budget.
"Rather than go the traditional route and license its characters to a studio to develop, Rovio backed the movie in an attempt to turn a game played on small screens into a full-fledged Hollywood franchise complete with sequels, spinoffs and toys," said the WSJ.
Sony Pictures, meanwhile, unveiled a publicity campaign for the movie. More than 100 promo partners have been tapped, including McDonald's and Panasonic.
