Poster of "Ne Zha"

"Ne Zha," a new Chinese animated film, topped the Chinese mainland box office on Friday, China Movie Data Information Network reported Saturday.

The film raked in about 136.62 million yuan (19.86 million U.S. dollars) on its opening day, accounting for nearly 63 percent of the daily total.

Ne Zha is a mythical male figure created in ancient China and is widely known as the incarnation of a lotus. He is often depicted as a young hero standing on two flaming wheels in Chinese legends and literature such as the literary classic "Journey to the West."

The fantasy film follows the birth and growing up of Ne Zha. It had grossed nearly 60 million yuan in its presale and scores 8.7 out of 10 points on China's leading film rating platform Douban.

It was followed by "Looking Up," a Chinese family drama, which grossed about 28.94 million yuan. It had topped the Chinese mainland box office for eight straight days since its release on July 18.

"Dancing Elephant," a China-produced comedy, took third place and pocketed about 19.83 million yuan on its first day of screening.

It centers around a devil training for a girl who loves dancing but becomes too fat to dance after she miraculously comes around from a car accident that occurred 15 years ago.

Email: lansuying@nbd.com.cn