Third installment of heist franchise's popularity is no illusion

Now You See Me: Now You Don't, the latest installment of the thrilling heist franchise, has performed well in Chinese mainland theaters since its debut on Friday.

The film, listed as one of the most anticipated foreign releases this year on the popular review aggregator Douban, has earned 170 million yuan ($23.9 million) as of Tuesday, overtaking the sci-fi film Predator: Badlands to become the highest-grossing Hollywood blockbuster on the single-day charts since Nov 14.

Set 12 years after the events of the original film, Now You See Me, released in 2013, the third installment follows a diamond heist that brings back the retired Horsemen illusionists, joined by several new performers as they target dangerous criminals.

During the film's recent premiere in Beijing, singer Huang Zihongfan, whose English name is Lars Huang, shared his thoughts behind performing the movie's promotional Chinese song.

Huang recalled that when he was in middle school, he went to the cinema with his friends on a weekend to watch the first Now You See Me movie. At that time, he wished they also possessed the unique skills of the protagonists in the movie to fight for justice.

Chinese magicians Liu Shijie and Sun Zheng performed magic stunts, re-creating several iconic scenes from the movie, such as wrapping a diamond in cloth and making it disappear.