Xu Jinglei's "Somewhere Only We Know" raked in $37.81 million in its first six days of screening. (Photo : www.mydramalist.com)
Xu Jinglei's "Somewhere Only We Know" took off with China's natural affection for the Valentine's Day. During the movie's first six days of screening, box office already raked a staggering amount of $37.81 million from Chinese audiences.
The movie is considered a very strong performance for all the buzz it made, amid what is normally a quiet period in week in China before the Chinese New Year.
The lateness of the Lunar New Year made the festival almost coincide with Valentine's Day, which is normally a major cinema season in China.
The Year of the Goat will start with six Chinese blockbusters fighting head on in the box office. These movies include Jean-Jacques Annaud-helmed "Wolf Totem," Jackie Chan's "Dragon Blade," and the TV show movie "Where Are We Going, Dad?"
"Somewhere Only We Know" casts former EXO band member Kris Wu and popular mainland actress Wang Likum. The story follows the sad tale of a young girl (played by Wang) who went to Prague after losing both her fiance and her grandmother. In Prague, she met a single father who lives with his mom, and the story became complicated.
Xu's romantic film's success is not only brought by box-office sales, but more importantly, its cultural impact, which shows how deep Chinese people are in their pop culture ideology. The movie starts a trend of people proposing marriages in cinemas. The film already had 243,416 screenings through the Valentine's week.
Hollywood film "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1," a Lionsgate release, raked $10 million on opening day and another $21.92 million after eight days. This is a remarkable feat considering that the cyberspace is already cluttered with illegal and pirated copies of the film.
The three weeks of school holidays contributed to the sales of animated movies "Boonie Bears" and "Pleasant Goar and Big Big Wolf."
Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" earned $121.72 million after 24 days.
TV show movie "The Running Man" raked in $68.45 million despite endless criticisms by critics and filmmakers alike.
