(Yicai Global) March 1 -- Alita: Battle Angel, the new science fiction picture  that boasts Avatar director James Cameron as producer and screenwriter,  is struggling to reproduce the record-breaking success of the 2009  smash hit in China and it may fail to produce a profit. 

The  US film hit Chinese silver screens on Feb. 22 and has raked in CNY582  million (USD87.1 million) in the country so far, according to official  data. The industry expects the title to bring in CNY900million from  China, CNY100 million shy of the all-important CNY1 billion-mark.

Alita's  box office takings have been worse in the North American market with a  mere USD62 million made two weeks in. It will be a challenge for the  producers to break even on the project unless global takings can hit  USD500 million, based on an investment of USD170 million and the general  revenue-sharing ratio. 

Alita's  performance in China has been hampered by competition. The Wandering  Earth, a domestic sci-fi flick which hit the screen before Alita, has  already earned over CNY4 billion at the box office, making it the  second-most successful domestic movie ever after Wolf Warriors 2. The  Green Book, which just won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and the  highly acclaimed animation How to Train Your Dragon 3 will also hit  screens simultaneously this week. 

Another  factor which contributed to Alita's gloomy box office run is James  Cameron's decision not to direct the film himself. He authorized famed  director Robert Rodriguez to direct as he was busy making the Avatar  sequel. 

Alita  didn't surprise the audience as much as Avatar, pointed out Xia Ni, a  fan of James Cameron and founder of ManLian Creative & Technology.  "Alita involved the creation of extremely realistic computer animation  characters but your typical movie-goer may not know how difficult the  production process actually was. "

Editor: William Clegg