‘The Battle at Lake Changjin‘ is a film that glorified the heroism of Chinese soldiers fighting American troops during the Korean War. On China’s National Day holiday, the movie smashed box office records by grossing an estimated 1.85 billion yuan, reported CNN.

Since its release on Thursday, the movie beat the previous record for the same Chinese holiday that was set by “My people, My Country”. It had grossed more than 1.5 billion yuan ($233 million) over five days in 2019.

The release of “The Battle at Lake Changjin” was timed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Communist Party.

The movie tells the story of the 1950 Battle of Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War. China claims the war as the most critical victory of the conflict. It is known in China as the “War to Resist American Aggression and Aid Korea.”

The film, co-directed by top Chinese and Hong Kong filmmakers Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark and Dante Lam, casts Wu Jing in a lead role.

Wu Jing is one of China’s most popular actors and is best known for starring in and directing the action flick “Wolf Warrior” in 2015 and its sequel in 2017.

“The Battle at Lake Changjin” was commissioned by the Chinese government’s powerful central propaganda department. The movie received the government’s support in script development, production and publicity and also the movie’s 70,000 extras.

It is the “most expensive film” made in China, said the film’s production house’s chairman. The movie had a budget of 1.3 billion yuan ($200 million).

In 2020, China leapfrogged the United States to become the top movie market in the world. Due to this, many of the biggest box office draws were produced by Chinese studios and production companies. This included last year’s top film “The Eight Hundred.”

Dengta, a box office data app, forecast that the movie is expected to pull in as much as 4.5 billion yuan ($700 million).