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China’s ‘Battle at Lake Changjin’ beats James Bond at box office with $203 million
“No Time to Die,” the latest movie in the James Bond franchise, made $119 million at the global box office last weekend.
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Moviegoers arrive to watch “The Battle At Lake Changjin" on Saturday, in Wuhan, China.Getty Images
Oct. 5, 2021, 2:30 AM PDT / Updated Oct. 5, 2021, 3:13 AM PDT
By Variety
China’s “The Battle at Lake Changjin” was the highest grossing film anywhere in the world over the past weekend, with a $203 million haul.
That score was fractionally lower than the combined total earned by “No Time to Die” ($119 million in international markets) and by “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” ($90.2 million in North America).
The film was the far away winner in mainland China, where it was released on Thursday, a day ahead of the October 1, National Day holiday. Over four days on release, it earned $234 million, according to consultancy Artisan Gateway.
Additional data from local provider Ent Group showed that “Battle” enjoyed a massive 157,000 screenings per day and was watched by 25.5 million ticket buyers between Friday and Sunday.
That put it ahead of “My Country, My Parents,” which earned $70.6 million over the weekend proper and a “Venom”-like $90.4 million total over four days.
Both titles are examples of the patriotic triumphalism that has come to typify the Chinese box office since it re-opened, post pandemic in July last year, and both capitalize on the sentiment stirred up around the annual celebrations of the country’s birth, some 72 years ago.
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‘The Battle at Lake Changjin’ was the highest grossing film anywhere in the world over the past weekend, with a $203 million haul.Getty Images
“Changjin” earned $12.9 million of its total from Imax giant screens, making it the third biggest Imax opening weekend of all time behind sci-fi title “The Wandering Earth” and Chinese New Year comedy “Detective Chinatown 3.”
Made with a production budget reported to be over $200 million, the film boasts three of Greater China’s top directors: Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark and Dante Lam.
It is an epic war film praising the triumphs of Chinese soldiers fighting American-led United Nations forces in the early days of the Korean War (1950-1953). China portrays its involvement in the war as an act of self-defense and one of support for North Korean leader Kim Il-sung. In Chinese, it is called the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea.
The film was produced by Bona Film Group and stars Wu Jing, star and director of the blockbuster “Wolf Warrior” war films, and pop idol turned actor Jackson Yee. (Wu also stars in and is credited as one of four co-directors on “My Country, My Parents”.)
In a very distant third place, Chinese-made animation “Dear Tutu: Operation T-Rex” earned $3.5 million over three days.
Artisan Gateway shows the weekend aggregate to have been $295 million or some RMB1.9 billion.
That advances the year-to-date box office in China to $5.31 billion, a figure that is 27 percent below the same point in pre-pandemic 2019. Over the seven day National Holiday period in 2019, box office takings reached RMB4.5 billion.
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Oct 10, 2021 10:30pm PT
China’s ‘Battle at Lake Changjin’ Is World’s Fourth Highest-Grossing Film of 2021 After 11 Days
By Patrick Frater
https://variety.com/wp-content/uploa...e6-Cropped.jpg
Battle at Lake Changjin
China Film Co.
“The Battle at Lake Changjin” became the fourth most successful film in the world this year as it maintained its grip on the China box office for a second weekend.
Even as the National Day holiday season wound to an end, “Changjin” scored $109 million over the weekend according to data from Artisan Gateway. That gave it a cumulative total of $633 million earned since Sept. 30.
Second placed film over the weekend, “My Country, My Parents” earned $19.6 million. Its cumulative was extended to $182 million.
The score for “Changjin” puts it ahead of far ahead of “The Legend of Shang-Chi” which stood on $402 million worldwide prior to the latest weekend, according to data from Box Office Mojo, and the $468 million worldwide total earned by “Godzilla Vs. Kong.”
The only 2021 titles outscoring “Changjin” in the global rankings are “Hi, Mom” with $822 million, “F9” with $717 million and “Detective Chinatown 3” with $686 million.
The film about Chinese heroics during the early days of the Korean War benefited significantly from the so-called Golden Week seven-day holiday period that follows China’s annual Oct. 1 celebrations. But the weekend-to-weekend comparison shows 48% drop that is still in the range of normal second frame performances.
Day-by-day figures from China Box Office show that grosses tumbled to $25.6 million on Friday (Oct. 8) when many folks had to return to work, compared to $60.7 million on Thursday, the last day of official holiday. But the numbers rebounded over the weekend proper. Saturday saw “Changjin” score $36.8 million and Sunday a further $46.6 million.
Within the weekend total, “Changjin” earned $4.6m from Imax giant screens. With an Imax cumulative of $30.4, it is now the fourth highest grossing local language title of all time for Imax.
Chinese online ticketing agency Maoyan has increased its forecast of the film’s lifetime score. It is now predicting that “Changjin” will finish its run with RMB5.34 billion ($824 million). That would put it third in China’s all-time rankings, short of Chinese New Year blockbuster “Hi, Mom” which scored an unexpected RMB5.41 billion earlier this year and 2017 record breaker “Wolf Warrior 2” with RMB5.68 billion.
China’s overall box office haul over the weekend was worth $133 million, according to Artisan Gateway. That lifted the 2021 running total to $6.175 billion.
The strong weekend reduced the annual deficit compared with pre-pandemic 2019 to 24%, down from 27% at the end of September. That may be a boon for China’s cinema operators, but normality has not been fully restored in China. The country’s box office is increasingly weighted to blockbuster titles and holiday seasonality.
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The Chinese film beating Bond at the box office
1 day ago
The biggest movie in the world right now is not the latest Bond film No Time To Die or even Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
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© Getty Images The Battle at Lake Changjin made over $633m at the box office in just two weeks
It's a Chinese propaganda film about the 1950s Korean War, centred on a story of Chinese soldiers defeating American troops despite great odds.
In just two weeks since its release, The Battle at Lake Changjin has made over $633m (£463m) at the box office. This puts it far ahead of Shang-Chi's global earnings of $402m, and in just half the time.
It is set to become China's highest-grossing film ever.
Its success is good news for China's pandemic-affected film sector as Covid forced cinemas to shut and reopen multiple times.
It is even better news for the state, which experts say appears to have nailed a formula of making propaganda appeal to the masses.
But for Hollywood looking in from the outside, the immense popularity of a local film like this could mean even more challenges ahead as it struggles to gain ground in China - the biggest film market in the world.
'Patriotic duty to watch the film'
Commissioned by the Chinese government, The Battle At Lake Changjin is just one of several nationalist films which have become big commercial hits in China in recent years.
In 2017, Wolf Warrior 2, about a Chinese soldier saving hundreds of people from baddies in an African warzone, raked in a record 1.6bn yuan ($238m; £181m) in just one week.
Lake Changjin depicts a brutal battle in freezing weather which the Chinese claim was a turning point in the Korean War - formally known in China as the "War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea".
Thousands of young Chinese soldiers died at the titular lake to secure a crucial win against American forces.
"I'm so moved by the soldiers' sacrifice. The weather was so extreme, but they managed to win. I feel so proud," an audience member wrote on reviews site Douban.
It is no coincidence that the film's popularity comes amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing.
"It is definitely related to the ongoing tensions with the US, and has been promoted that way - sometimes indirectly, but still very clearly," said Dr Stanley Rosen, a political science professor from the University of Southern California.
Another reason behind its success is the co-ordinated push between film studios and the authorities, which tightly control the number and types of films that can be distributed at any one time.
At the moment, Battle At Lake Changjin has little competition in theatres. Major Hollywood blockbusters No Time To Die and Dune will only open in China at the end of October, despite already showing elsewhere.
This film was also particularly well-timed - not only did it open during China's National Day holidays starting 1 October, it comes as the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.
"It's almost a patriotic duty to go see this film," said Dr Rosen.
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© Getty Images "It's almost a patriotic duty to go see this film," a film expert said of The Battle at Lake Changjin
Such propaganda films are often mandatory viewing for CCP cadres, said Dr Florian Schneider, director of the Netherlands' Leiden Asia Centre.
"Work units frequently organise collective viewings, and with over 95 million card-holding members, that promises a significant box office boost," he told the BBC.
So far, online reviews of the film are overwhelmingly positive, though some observers pointed out that they may not be entirely true.
After all, criticism could land one in jail.
Last week, former journalist Luo Changping was detained for making "insulting comments" on social media about the Chinese soldiers portrayed in the movie.
Police in Sanya said that he was being held on the charge of "infringing the reputation and honour of national martyrs", and that the case was being investigated.
"Youngsters [in China] with strong nationalist feelings have a disproportionate voice online," Dr Jonathan Hassid, a political science expert at Iowa State University, told the BBC in an earlier interview.
"In part, this voice is amplified because legitimate criticism of the state is increasingly unacceptable."
Blockbuster propaganda
Still, fans of the film say that they enjoy its blockbuster elements that put it on par with other major mainstream flicks.
"With a reported $200 million budget, the production values and special effects are very good. The three directors are all good storytellers and well known in China," said Dr Rosen.
The film's directors Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark, and Dante Lam are all celebrated film-makers.
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© Getty Images Directors Dante Lam, Tsui Hark and Chen Kaige are all celebrated film-makers in China
Tsui is known for special effects and martial arts films, while Lam is famous for his action spectacles involving giant explosives. Chen is celebrated for sensitive portrayals of Chinese life.
"We all know this is meant to be a patriotic film but I really cried when I watched it. It felt very authentic," one person wrote on microblogging platform Weibo.
Big headache for Hollywood
But China's domestic film success is potentially adding to a list of problems that foreign players like Hollywood already face, in their attempt to win over the lucrative Chinese market.
China has a quota for foreign films, officially allowing only 34 to be shown each year.
There are some workarounds - if Hollywood co-produces a film with Chinese companies, it will not count towards the quota.
According to a report last year, Hollywood bosses have also been censoring films to placate the Chinese market, with casting, content, dialogue and plotlines increasingly being tailored to appease censors in Beijing.
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© Getty Images Hollywood and other foreign players want in on the lucrative Chinese film market - but it has not been easy
But even then, this is no guarantee of box office success, with even some co-productions bombing badly.
Fantasy-action movie The Great Wall (2016), directed by celebrated Chinese director Zhang Yimou and starring Matt Damon, was criticised both in the US and China for its "white saviour narrative".
Despite these challenges, experts told the BBC that foreign film-makers will not be giving up anytime soon.
Ultimately, China and Hollywood need each other, they say.
"China wants to remain the No. 1 film market after Covid, and it still needs Hollywood blockbusters - especially those that play on Imax screens or are in 3D since ticket prices are higher - to help it maintain that edge over the North American market," Dr Rosen said.
"As the production values of Chinese films continue to improve, Hollywood may become less relevant, but Hollywood tells universal stories that China can't or won't tell."
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Wu Jing again. I dreamed of putting him on the cover...Quote:
Oct 17, 2021 8:43pm PT
‘The Battle at Lake Changjin’ Hits $770 Million After Third Weekend Leading the China Box Office
By Patrick Frater
https://variety.com/wp-content/uploa...3&h=378&crop=1
China Film Co.
“The Battle at Lake Changjin” is on course to become one of the top three films of all time in China after dominating proceedings at the mainland Chinese box office for a third successive weekend.
A patriotic war film, “Changjin” earned $73 million between Friday and Sunday to extend its cumulative total to $769 million since being released on Sept. 30, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway.
In second place, “My Country, My Parents” earned $14.6 million, to extend its running total past $200 million to $210 million.
The film is already the fourth biggest film in Chinese history. Giant screen theater supplier, Imax said that the $2.7 million earned on its screens this weekend extended its Imax cumulative to $34.6 million, the fourth highest score by a non-English-language film.
Forecasts from Chinese ticketing agency Maoyan point to “Changjin” reaching RMB5.43 billon or $843 million (at current exchange rates) over its lifetime. If it were to achieve that total, it would narrowly overtake “Hi, Mom” for second place. The biggest film of all time in China remains 2017 war film “Wolf Warriors II,” with RMB5.68 billion ($882 million).
Third place over the weekend belonged to “The Curse of Turandot,” a Chinese retelling of the Puccini opera made with an international cast and crew. The film was directed by Zheng Xiaolong and stars France’s Sophie Marceau and Vincent Perez, the U.S.’s Dylan Sprouse and Taiwan’s Collin Chou, alongside China’s Guan Xiaotong in the title role, and Chinese girl group member Lin Siyi. American producer Belle Avery, who previously produced Chinese-international co-venture “The Meg” is among three named producers. The film earned $2.3 million over the weekend.
That score was narrowly better than that of “Saturday Fiction,” in fourth place. The Gong Li-starring espionage story by controversial auteur Lou Ye had its international premier in Venice back in 2019 and followed that with an overseas festival career that took in events including Toronto, El Gouna and Singapore. It recently played at the delayed 2021 edition of the Beijing International Film Festival.
Fifth place over the weekend belonged to Maoyan Pictures’ “Knock, Knock” with a $1.2 million opening.
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China Box Office: ‘Dune’ Makes Solid $21 Million Debut, But Loses to Local War Epic ‘Battle of Lake Changjin’
Denis Villeneuve's grand spice opera couldn't overcome the momentum behind the nationalist war movie which has now earned an astounding $828.1 million.
BY PATRICK BRZESKI
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OCTOBER 24, 2021 9:04PM
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp...1&h=383&crop=1
Legendary and Warner Bros.' 'Dune' opens Oct. 1 stateside. WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT
Denis Villeneuve’s Dune made a solid start at China’s theatrical box office over the weekend, opening to a healthy $21.9 million. But the artful sci-fi epic proved no match for the enduring nationalistic appeal of Chinese blockbuster The Battle of Lake Changjin, which added $32.3 million to its mammoth box-office total despite opening nearly a month ago.
The Battle of Lake Changjin has now earned an astounding $828.1 million (RMB 5.3 billion), according to data from Artisan Gateway, and it will likely become China’s biggest film of 2021 — which is to say, the biggest movie in the world this year — unseating Chinese New Year comedy Hi, Mom, which earned RMB 5.41 billion in February (or $821 million according to exchange rates at the time).
Dune‘s opening haul is Hollywood’s fourth-biggest of 2021 in China, trailing a trio of far less cerebral tentpoles: F9: The Fast Saga from Universal, Warner’s Godzilla vs. Kong and Disney’s Free Guy. The opening also marks a China best for Villeneuve, beating his prior sci-fi stunners Blade Runner 2049 ($7.6 million) and Arrival ($7.3 million), both of which opened in the country in 2017.
Maoyan, China’s leading ticketing app and movie data company, projects Dune to finish its run at approximately $35.2 million.
Dune was marketed and distributed in China by Legendary East, the Beijing-based unit of Legendary Entertainment, which is itself owned by Chinese real estate conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group. Warner Bros is distributing the tentpole everywhere else in the world. The movie opened simultaneously on Friday on WarnerMedia’s HBO Max streaming service, and high-definition pirate copies, which have proliferated in China since late last week, are thought to have taken at least some bite out of the film’s theatrical debut.
Dune performed particularly well on Imax in China, however, opening to $5.1 million across the brand’s giant screen network, which amounted to 23 percent of the local total from only 1 percent of the local screen share. Imax China says it has notched its biggest October box office total ever, with a week of the month still remaining.
Dune‘s social scores in China reflect a reality widely anticipated by local box office analysts — high marks from Chinese film buffs but softer numbers from mainstream moviegoers in provincial regions of the country. On Douban, China’s leading online community of tastemakers, Dune is rated 7.9/10, the highest score for a U.S. studio film since the start of the pandemic (F9 is 5.2; Godzilla vs. Kong is 6.3; and Free Guy is 7.6). But on mainstream ticketing app Maoyan, which is used throughout China, Dune has a rating of 8/10, which is on the low end among major recent Hollywood releases (Maoyan scores always skew higher overall than on Douban).
China’s potential box office size shrunk overall over the weekend due to yet another Covid-19 flare-up, which shut down cinemas in at least eight regions of the country, including Xinjiang, Shanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Guizhou, Hebei and Inner Mongolia. China’s “Covid zero” approach to battling the pandemic means draconian shutdowns in the event of even the smallest outbreak. According to Reuters, a little more than 100 locally transmitted cases were recently reported across provinces. As a result, even with the solid tentpole product on offer, China’s nationwide weekend box office total shrank to an October low of just $69.3 million.
Hollywood will be back in the Chinese multiplex on Friday with the local premiere of the James Bond installment No Time to Die.
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Oct 29, 2021 12:12pm PT
China’s ‘Battle at Lake Changjin’ Becomes 2021’s Highest-Grossing Film Worldwide, Preps Sequel
By Rebecca Davis
https://variety.com/wp-content/uploa...3&h=378&crop=1
China Film Co.
On Friday, China’s Korean War epic “The Battle at Lake Changjin” became the highest-grossing film in the world for 2021, surpassing the Chinese New Year breakout comedy hit “Hi, Mom.”
The gritty war film co-directed by Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark and Dante Lam has grossed $845 million (RMB5.41 billion) in 29 days, marching past “Hi, Mom,” which earned $821 million at the beginning of the year over a 90-day period. Films are typically given a month-long release window in China, but they can be extended to a two-month run for successful titles. Decisions to allow an even longer run are rarer, and often due to political concerns or a dearth of other strong content.
“Lake Changjin” is currently China’s second highest-grossing film in history behind local title “Wolf Warrior 2″ ($854 million), which also features star Wu Jing and a jingoistic military theme.
The former has more or less dominated the China market since its Sept. 30 National Day release. On Friday, it was unseated from its top spot by the debut of James Bond film “No Time to Die,” which opened to $8 million.
Unlike its foreign competitors, however, “Lake Changjin” has been given a boost by measures such as local governments requiring cadres of employees to go on group outings to see the film in theaters as a patriotic education measure.
A sequel entitled “Water Gate Bridge” is already in the works. Stars Wu Jing, Jackson Yee and other main players will return to continue the story of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army during a different maneuver of the same campaign at North Korea’s Lake Changjin, also known as the Chosin Reservoir, in the lead-up to the U.N. troops’ complete withdrawal from the North.
Specifically, it will center on a maneuver to blow up the Water Gate Bridge that was the only path of retreat for a U.S. troop division. According to Chinese state media reports, the Chinese forces had to bomb the bridge three times after the U.S. side rebuilt it after each attempt, succeeding at last only when soldiers strapped explosives to their bodies and embarked on a suicide attack.
Like its predecessor, “Water Gate Bridge” will also be co-produced by Bona Film Group and August First Film Studio, with Chen, Hark and Lam returning to co-direct. Lan Xiaolong and Huang Xin will remain on as screenwriters as well.
Reuniting the original team will be little trouble since most of the footage will actually be cut from material shot at the beginning of this year for “Lake Changjin” and re-edited to form the sequel, said Bona Film head and “Water Gate Bridge” producer Yu Dong. Some additional winter weather shoots will also take place in the coming months.
“This next battle will be even fiercer and the mission even more arduous,” he said. “The film will present all of this and let viewers see what…is the great spirit of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea.” The latter term is China’s name for the Korean War.
Huang Jianxin, executive producer of both “Lake Changjin” and “Water Gate Bridge,” said, “The entire company made a huge sacrifice just to win a few seconds in which to bomb the bridge. These are the realities of war, and the film’s story is very touching.”
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No Time To Die beats F9 to become most successful Hollywood film of 2021
Shang-Chi remains the year's top film in the domestic market, but the international box office will determine this year's overall winner
ByWilliam Hughes
Saturday 4:12PM
https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media...d398d4d1f8.jpgPhoto: MGM
2021 is going to go down as a very weird year for the Hollywood box office; despite the slow, vaccine-powered recovery of the theater industry, ticket sales for even the biggest movies are still clocking in at a mere fraction of what they would have been in 2019.
Case in point: The fact that the battle for the most successful Hollywood movie of the year—currently being duked out between F9 and long-delayed James Bond installment No Time To Die—is being waged in the $700 millions, rather than the post-billion position the industry has grown accustomed to. (Also weird: The fact that Marvel and Disney, which have dominated these conversations in pre-pandemic years, aren’t even in the race, with the studios’ top performer, Shang-Chi, sitting at a measly $431 million worldwide.)
This week saw an upset in that competition, as Deadline reports that Bond is set to pull ahead of Dom and the Family at last, becoming the most lucrative studio movie of the year to date. (It’s possible No Time To Die might get unseated by West Side Story or No Way Home before year’s end—it rarely pays to bet against either Steven Spielberg or Spider-Man—but those December releases will have a limited window to try to topple Cary Joji Fukunaga’s film.)
In addition to their love of doing very silly spy things with cars, both of these franchises have one major similarity: They do extremely well outside of the domestic box office. If we were only looking at the U.S., the two movies would rank 4th (F9) and 6th (No Time To Die), trailing far behind Shang-Chi.
But No Time To Die spread out its international appeal, pulling in (per Box Office Mojo) $124 million in Bond’s native UK, $69 million in Germany, and $57.9 million in China. F9, unsurprisingly, went all in on the Chinese audience; the film made $203.8 million in the country, beating its U.S. and U.K. box office performance combined.
Which is also probably the point where we should note that neither of these films is going to come even remotely close to being the actual top performer on the planet in 2021; that honor is almost certainly going to go to Chinese nationalistic blockbuster The Battle At Lake Changjin, which has brought in $882 million since opening in the first week of October. Battle’s numbers have slowed significantly in recent weeks, but it’s still the only movie worldwide that might break the billion-dollar mark this year—despite, or maybe because of, accusations that its action sequences of Chinese soldiers fighting Americans during a battle during the Korean War amount to little more than explosive political propaganda.
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Nov 21, 2021 11:10pm PT
China Box Office: ‘Be Somebody’ Powers up Weekend as ‘Lake Changjin’ Is Poised for Record
By Patrick Frater
https://variety.com/wp-content/uploa...1&h=383&crop=1
Maoyan Pictures
Crime comedy film “Be Somebody” expanded its box office take by 20% in its second weekend of release in China and joined in a 49% surge in nationwide gross revenues.
Nationwide box office climbed from $43.1 million in the previous weekend to $64.3 million between Friday and Sunday. For all that, China’s year to date box office haul is now 26% below that of pre-COVID 2019.
Staying on top of the chart for a second session, “Be Somebody” earned $23.9 million over the weekend, according to data from Artisan Gateway. That gives it a 10-day total of $60.3 million.
The movie directed by Liu Xunzi Mo is a send-up of crime drama tropes, making fun of the genre through the story of a group of filmmakers trying to please a wealthy patron by creating a sufficiently blood-thirsty crime thriller when things begin to go awry in the mansion where they are cloistered to work on the project. It stars Zheng Yin (“Goodbye Mr. Loser”), Deng Jiajia, Yu Entai, and Yang Haoyu (“The Wandering Earth”). It was produced by Maoyan Pictures.
In second place with a strong $20.2 million opening weekend was “The Door Lock,” a suspense horror film about a woman living alone in a big city. Produced by Hengye Pictures, the film is a Chinese remake of a 2018 Korean film of the same title. The Korean film was itself a remake of a 2011 Spanish film “Sleep Tight,” but told from a different perspective. The Chinese retread stars Bai Baihe, Adam Fan (aka Fan Chengcheng) and Cici Wang.
Third place over the weekend belonged to Chinese-made war film “Railway Heroes,” which earned $9.6 million over the weekend. Produced by Huayi Bros., the film is directed by Yang Feng (“The Coldest City”) and stars the evergreen Zhang Hanyu in a WWII tale of Chinese volunteers who band together to destroy Japanese military supply lines.
The total for “Heroes” is modest compared with that of “The Battle at Lake Changjin,” the Korean War-set actioner that placed fourth over the weekend with an incremental take of $3.8 million. The weekend take lifts its mainland Chinese cumulative since Sept. 30 to $888 million. That score is now the biggest by any film this year, overtaking Chinese New Year breakout hit “Hi, Mom.”
Local data sources, quoting box office in Chinese currency, also put “The Battle at Lake Changjin” within RMB3 million ($489,000) of the RMB5.689 billion achieved by China’s all-time, all-comers box office record holder “Wolf Warriors II” in 2017.
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Dec 13, 2021 3:50am PT
China Box Office: ‘Schemes in Antiques’ Conspires to Hold Top Spot
By Rebecca Davis
https://variety.com/wp-content/uploa...1&h=383&crop=1
"Schemes in Antiques"
Chinese action-adventure title “Schemes in Antiques” conspired to hold its own at the top of the China box office with a $14.7 million second weekend, having opened first last week with a solid $25.6 million three-day debut.
Originally set to premiere in April, the tale of intrigue around real and counterfeit artifacts from Hong Kong director Derek Kwok Chi-kin (“Wukong”) has now grossed $52 million (RMB331 million) of a projected $66.6 million, according to data from Maoyan. Produced by Hong Kong-based Emperor Motion Pictures, it stars fan favorite Ge You alongside Lei Jiayin, Li Xian, and Xin Zhilei.
“Schemes” maneuvered ahead of second place comedic thriller “Be Somebody,” which grossed a further $9.85 million in its fifth weekend to bring its current cume up to $133 million.
Once again this week, a new rom-com took third: a film whose Chinese name translates to “We Who Have Loved Before.” The tear-jerking first feature from newcomer Zhang Xiaolei grossed $3.55 million, far less than first and second place.
That the top three films of the weekend look so very much like they did last week — the fresher “Schemes,” followed by “Be Somebody” and a $3 million debut of an innocuous, flash-in-the-pan rom-com trailing far behind — is an indication of how stagnant China’s release schedule is at the moment without new major blockbuster releases.
Viewers were thirsty enough for new content that the upcoming animation “I Am What I Am” came in third off pre-sales, ahead of largely-exhausted war epic “The Battle at Lake Changjin,” which has been in theaters for 72 days since September. The former is set to release Dec. 17, but already grossed $2.33 million this weekend.
Directed by Wuhan native Sun Haipeng (“Kung Food”), the boldly colored tale tells the story of a young boy and his rag-tag band of companions who dream of winning the country’s biggest lion dance competition with the help of a former star dancer.
This week, “Battle” earned a further $1.44 million, bringing its cume up to $903 million.
Meanwhile, “Oh! My Gran” — the first Korean film to be released in China in six years — continues to fare poorly, with hardly any allotted screenings (an average of 0.4% of total nationwide screenings each day). It has grossed just $394,000 (RMB2.5 million) so far since its Dec. 3. debut, and currently ranks outside the top 20 films at the box office.
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Jan 13, 2022 1:37pm PT
‘Battle at Lake Changjin’ Sequel to Hit China Theaters in February Amid Crowded Lunar New Year Lineup
By Rebecca Davis
https://variety.com/wp-content/uploa...5&h=379&crop=1
"Battle at Lake Changjin 2"
“The Battle at Lake Changjin 2: Water Gate Bridge,” the sequel to China’s highest grossing film of all time, will debut on Feb. 1, the first day of the lucrative Chinese New Year holiday.
The weeklong vacation is typically China’s biggest box office period of the year and thus is subject to intense competition. This year, “Lake Changjin 2” is set to go up against 10 other hotly anticipated titles. The sequel currently ranks third in popularity based on votes from the “want to watch” metric from the Maoyan database.
Its top competitor is “Nice View,” the next feature from “Dying to Survive” director Wen Muye, which currently has the highest number of people indicating they “want to watch” the film on the Maoyan platform, with 447,000 votes. (Typically, films with more than 100,000 “want to watch” votes can expect a strong box office showing.)
Trailing “Nice View” in popularity is director Han Han’s “Only Fools Rush In,” with 389,000 votes. The comedy “Too Cool To Kill” from director Xing Wenxiong currently clocks in as the fourth most-anticipated with 344,000 votes, followed by the annual installment of the animated “Boonie Bears” franchise “Back to Earth” (225,000 votes) and then “Sniper,” from director Zhang Yimou (79,000).
The other titles debuting that Tuesday so far include Olympic winter sports film “Breaking Through” and four other children’s animations.
Last year, China raked in a record $1.2 billion (RMB7.8 billion) in ticket sales over the Chinese New Year holiday, making a tenth of the global 2020 box office in just six days. The period marked the first time that the country’s single-day box office exceeded RMB1 billion ($155 million) for five consecutive days.
The top films last year were “Detective Chinatown 3” and family dramedy “Hi, Mom.”
“The Battle at Lake Changjin” has been in Chinese theaters since its National Day holiday debut in late September, grossing a whopping $907 million (RMB5.77 billion) so far.
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The Battle at Lake Changjin 2: Water Gate Bridge
2022-Year-of-the-Tiger
Come on everyone. I gave y'all a year to beat me on this review...
This film is big. And long. Nearly three hours.
There are some massive scenes - huge battles - couldn't tell how much was CGI but several scenes looked like hundreds if not thousands of soldiers. That was impressive. And some of the landscapes were stunning.
It was commissioned by the CCP propaganda dept (that's what it's called - at least the chicoms are honest about calling it propaganda). It's a chapter of the Korean war about the People's Volunteer Army going up against ... yeah, US troops. It's rough. MacArthur comes off poorly. American soldiers are bleating, living in comfort of Thanksgiving feasts, with air strikes and tanks. The Chinese are in the freezing snow, eating tiny moldy potatoes.
There's some major action pieces. The first big battle happens at the one hour mark and rocks for like twenty minutes of explosions and ultravi.
Wu Jing is a commander, saddled with his young punk brother. Their other brother was KIA in a previous campaign. The other soldiers have a rugged nobility and are brimming with patriotic self sacrifice.
Did I like it? Well, it's a fast forward to the fight scenes. The length of it put me off. Honestly, I don't know much about the Korean War beyond what I learned in M.A.S.H. This is overly historical, spending way too much time introducing significant generals and such. There's a subplot about Mao and his son that could've been completely cut.
Wu Jing was good, like he always is.
Now back to the sequel.