'Flowers of War' closes in on China's all-time box office champs

Acclaimed director Zhang Yimou's Flowers of War has continued to sweep all before it at the Chinese box office, along the way becoming the third-highest-grossing Chinese film of all time.

The Second World War drama -- starring Oscar winner Christian Bale and set during the Japanese occupation of Nanjing -- has in three weeks taken 489 million yuan (60 million euros) according to official numbers, while the film's producers have claimed that figure has reached 523 million yuan (64 million euros).

Whatever the real story might be, it still puts Flowers of War behind only the 2010-released Let the Bullets Fly (730 million yuan or 90 million euros) and Aftershock (532 million yuan or 65 million euros) in the list of China's biggest box office hits.

The second Chinese-language blockbuster to be released over the past month -- director Tsui Hark's action-packed 3D extravaganza Flying Swords of Dragon Gate -- has been doing pretty well besides, with a three-week grab now of 434 million yuan (53 million euros), according to Film Business Asia.

Flowers of War is hoping for a little bit of action come Oscars time next month -- having been put forward as China's official entry while also hoping for some nominations in the general categories -- and will now be on general release across North America from March 9.

In Japan, the Christmas period has been dominated by Hollywood productions, with the Tom Cruise vehicle Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol adding close to US$30 million (23 million euros) in the week up to New Year's, for a grand total of just over US$132 million (102 million euros) after 17 days release, according to the chart trackers at The Numbers.

The Guy Ritchie-directed Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows picked up just over US$20 million (15.5 million euros) over the same period in Japan for a 17-day collect of close to US$131 million (101 million euros).

The same two films were at it in South Korea too, according to Han Cinema, with the latest M:I episode picking up over one million more admissions for 5.4 million in near-on three weeks, while Ritchie's film saw just over 450,000 more tickets sold for a total now of 1.5 million admissions.

MS

View the Original article