A big hit on its opening week-end was Zhang Yimou's blockbuster
Curse of the Golden Flower which pulled in almost 100
million yuan on the mainland and set a new box office record for
Chinese cinemas.
According to a spokesman from Beijing New Picture the
360-million-yuan (US$45 million) film has attracted huge audiences
in just four days' of screenings and collected 96 million yuan
(US$12.3 million) at box offices over the weekend. This
significantly surpassed Zhang's previous record when his film
Hero raked in 53 million (US$6.8 million) yuan over the
same period in 2002. It also eclipses Chen Kaige's The
Promise which earned 74 million yuan (US$9.4 million) in four
days last year. It brought in 15 million yuan (US$1.9 million)
within five hours on its first day.
Industry insiders estimate that this film's box office may go
over 300 million yuan and even set a new record of biggest selling
movie of all time in China. Currently the top spot in China is
Titanic which took 350 million yuan (US$44.7 million) and
has held the box office record for 12 years.
Producer Zhang Weiping told major website portal Sina.com that
this week would be even better as many people decide to see a movie
after hearing recommendations of others.?
Curse of the Golden Flower has received a much more
favorable reception than Weiping's last production Hero.
While the new film did receive some unfavorable reviews the
director said negative voices were normal for all productions.
"Audience feedback is more important to us and most of them have
been positive,"he said.
Weiping also revealed that cinemas in Sichuan, Guangdong
and?Zhejiang provinces are asking for more copies of the film.
Publicist Yang Yang reckons the total number of copies of the movie
in circulation will come to around 900.
The box office takings for the film are expected to keep growing
with special overnight screenings planned for Christmas Eve in a
number of cinemas.
The box office income in Shanghai alone has reached 10 million
yuan (US$1.2 million). This is 11 percent of the total figure in
China. In contrast, Jia Zhangke's Still Life which won the
Golden Lion prize at this year's Venice Film Festival, had a bleak
beginning in ticket sales, according to Shanghai United Cinema
Lines, the city's largest chain. It also officially opened last
Thursday, December 14.
The Curse of the Golden Flower is proving a real curse
for other movies! Over the weekend ticket sales for other movies
like Battle of Wits and The Knot were estimated
to be less than 500,000 yuan (US$63,937).?
"Local ticket sales for Curse may even roar to 25
million yuan (US$3.1 million) amid the festive season of Christmas
and New Year surpassing Chen Kaige's The Promise shown at
the same time last year," said Wu Hehu, the cinema chain's deputy
general manager.
The opening weekend take for The Promise was 8.82
million yuan (US$1.12 million) in the city. It finally made 210
million yuan (US$26.8 million) in ticket sales on the Chinese
mainland. Paradise Warner Cinema City has sold one million yuan
worth of tickets to Curse but only 10,000 yuan for
Still Life.
"Our theaters were nearly 90 percent full for Curse
over the weekend," said Li Lan, manager of the cinema. "Now the
movie has more than 20 screenings every day. We've received plenty
of calls inquiring about screening times."
Chen Xiaohong, manager of Studio City Cinema, said opening
weekend ticket revenues for Curse had surpassed 900,000
yuan (US$115,086) at her cinema better than that of The
Promise and Feng Xiaogang's The Banquet.
"But Still Life attracted just a handful of audience
members taking only several thousand yuan in ticket sales," she
added.
(China.org.cn, Shanghai Daily, CRI December 19,
2006)
