(Yicai Global) July 6 -- Dying to Survive, a film about an ordinary man becoming a dealer of Indian generic cancer drugs, stormed this year's summer Chinese film market, raking in over CNY300 million (USD45 million) on the day of its release, and propelling's its producer's share prices into the stratosphere.

The film has grossed more than CNY359 million to date and is expected to end up at a tidy CNY2.8 billion (USD423 million) box office. Shares of its producer and distributor Beijing Jingxi Culture & Tourism [SHE:000802] have risen 52.7 percent.

Released on July 5, the film has thus far drawn in a total take of more than CNY359 million, data from Chinese box-office analysis service platform Maoyan shows. It forecasts that the film may finally hit CNY2.8 billion.

The movie, based on a real-life story, narrates the story of a male health food store owner (played by Xu Zheng) who buys Indian generic drugs for terminally ill patients at a time when branded drugs are expensive. The depiction has aroused in-depth and extensive discussions among the public. The film scored 9.0 on Chinese film review website Douban, making it the highest-rated domestic film in the country thus far this year.

Amid a sharp drop in the A-share market, the stock prices of the film's producers have risen, bucking the market trend. Shares of main producer and distributor Beijing Jingxi Culture & Tourism have climbed since June 22, hitting the daily limit of 10 percent up on July 3 and July 4, and closing up 8.93 percent at CNY14.52 per share yesterday.

The company's share price went up 52.7 percent, and its market value grew CNY3.6 billion from June 22 to yesterday.

The share price of Talent Television and Film [SHE:300426], one of the film's producers, also soared to the limit up on July 4 and scaled a further 4.06 percent the next day. Fellow participants Huanxi Media Group [HK:1003] and Alibaba Pictures Group [HK:1060] registered a rise of 4.93 percent and 2.35 percent respectively on July 5.

This is not the first share-price surge for Beijing Jingxi Culture & Tourism after release of a film. Wolf Warriors II, which the company issued last year, topped the box office in China at CNY5.68 billion, also sending the firm's share price to CNY21.14 from CNY14.13 and leading to an increase of about CNY5 billion in the company's market value. The movie generated more than CNY300 million in revenue, more than one-fifth of the company's annual revenue that year, it said in its 2018 annual report.

Editor: Benedict Armour