Chinese fans have been praising the American film "Barbie" as a rare chance to see feminism on the big screen.
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The film has earned close to 86 million yuan (about $11.9 million) in China since its release on Friday, putting it in third place in all movies nationwide.
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This figure is small compared to the runaway success of "Barbie" in the United States, which raked in $155 million domestically over the weekend.
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social media discussion about the movie is growing, with the film being briefly the top trending topic on China's Twitter-like platform Weibo, garnering over 630 million views.
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The movie is currently scored 8.6 out of 10, with nearly half of all viewers giving it full marks.
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The comment section includes glowing praise for the movie's themes of womanhood and feminism, and its deft handling by director Greta Gerwig.
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Feminist movements in China have faced numerous setbacks over the years due to censorship and an ongoing crackdown on activism.
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The film's success is all the more notable given mounting challenges for US films to break into the Chinese movie market, which has become more insular and more heavily regulated in recent years.
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Hollywood has long tried appeased Chinese censors, but many film studios have begun to rethink this trade-off, some deciding to keep in scenes that could irk censors, meaning many US blockbusters have disappeared from Chinese cinemas.
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