Christopher Nolan’s new film Tenet may be succeeding in box offices all over the world, but it is an entirely different story in China, where the blockbuster had to be content with second place as a local film dominated the Chinese box office.

Forbes reports that The Eight Hundred raked in $8.3 million just on Friday, putting it on track to outearn Tenet’s $8.4 million Friday take. The $8.3 million take by The Eight Hundred on its third weekend in the cinemas brings the Chinese total box office over the past 15 days to $324 million.

Despite Nolan’s popularity, there were already early signs that The Eight Hundred would prove to be a massive hit among Chinese moviegoers as it had managed to earn $2 million while only screening in a limited number of theaters. This was enough to put it in third place during a week when a re-issued Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone dominated the Chinese box office. 

Variety also points out that Tenet’s performance in China may not see any improvement as audiences are not as receptive to the film as they are to his previous works. Citing reviews from websites such as Maoyan and Douban, the publication notes that the reviews for Tenet have not been unanimous raves.

Even theaters in China are readjusting their screening to match the demand for The Eight Hundred. According to Variety, Tenet started out occupying 42.4 percent of screens in China on Friday but saw the number dwindle to 33.8 percent by the end of the weekend.

In contrast, The Eight Hundred started out with 38.1 percent of the screens and the number ended up rising to 41.8 percent by Sunday.

Rounding out the Chinese box office over the weekend are a mix of Chinese, Japanese, and American films. Love You Forever, a Chinese romantic comedy that involves time travel came in at third with $2.54 million for its second week.

The 2019 film Masquerade Hotel from Japan earned $1.4 million, putting it at fourth place. Meanwhile, Disney Pixar’s Onward came in at fifth on its second week, earning $1.13 million.

The numbers are especially encouraging since only theaters in low-risk areas in China are currently open. The same cannot be said of other areas in the world as the global coronavirus pandemic still continues to be an ongoing situation in a number of countries.

According to the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 dashboard for Sept. 6, there are now 26,763,217 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide. Deaths caused by COVID-19 are now at 876,616 people.