“Dragon Blade,” an action movie starring Chinese martial arts superstar Jackie Chan and Hollywood actors John Cusack and Adrien Brody, topped the charts, garnering 32.6 percent in the total income of China’s record-high box-office sales.
The Beijing News reported that box-office sales reached 356 million yuan ($57 million) on the first day of the Spring Festival, which was 43.6 percent higher than last year's earnings.
The paper said that the eight films that were screened on the first day of the New Year have attracted more than nine million people.
The report said that on the eve of the Spring Festival, a day traditionally reserved for family reunions and parties at home, moviegoers still went to the cinemas to watch movies, spending about 21 million yuan.
Rao Shuguang, secretary-general of China Film Association, was quoted by the paper as saying that the boom in ticket sales was partly due to the increased number of cinemas, which are now more than 24,900.
Next to Jackie Chan's action movie, the other two top-grossing movies are "Zhongkui: Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal," a fantasy adventure movie, and a family comedy movie by Chow Yun-Fat, "The Man from Macao II."
The paper said that "Dragon Blades's" position on top of the chart proves that Jackie Chan is a bankable star, adored by Chinese moviegoers.
Written and directed by Daniel Lee, "Dragon Blade "is a historical action film about a commander of the Han Dynasty played by Jackie Chan. He met a Roman general who rescued a prince and escaped to China.