China to see box office jam in December

Written by Clifford Coonan @ Variety Asia
Thursday, 30 October 2008

BEIJING – December is shaping up to be a busy month in China's movie theaters as some of the biggest names in the Chinese language biz bow major titles in the increasingly lucrative mainland market.

"Farewell, My Concubine" helmer Chen Kaige's latest exploration of the Peking opera world, the epic "Mei Lanfang," starring Leon Lai and Zhang Ziyi and featuring Gillian Chung, opens in December. One of China's greatest helmers, critics felt he dropped the ball with his martial arts epic "The Promise" two years ago and will be keen to see if the three-years-in-the-making biopic marks a return to form.

Tsui Hark's new comedy, "Not All Women are Bad", which will be called "All About Women" on the mainland after the Film Bureau reportedly disapproved of its English title, is due for release on December 4th. Pic features some of the biggest names in Greater China cinema -- Zhou Xun from the mainland, Kwai Lun-mei from Taiwan and Hong Kong's Kitty Zhang.

Beijing local hero Feng Xiaogang, invigorated by the success of his patriotic war pic "Assembly" is due to release his latest movie, "If You Are My Match" starring regular collaborator Ge You and Shu Qi, on December 22nd, for the Christmas season.

Even though Christmas is not traditionally a festival in the Chinese calendar, the Christmas market has become important in terms of B.O. as young people like to celebrate the Western holiday with a trip to the movies.

It's been a funny year at the B.O. in China, with figures skewed by the Beijing Olympics in August. In the run-up to, and during, the Games, was not a good time for bowing a movie, but a flurry of 10 pics was released in the Olympic aftermath in September, gaining 241 million yuan ($35 million) in B.O., a rise of 75% on the previous year according to China Film Group.

B.O. between June and August rose 14% to nearly one billion yuan ($150 million).

Much of the biz' focus has been on improving exhibition. The first six months of this year saw 62 new cinemas built, with 301 new screens, which means China now has 1,489 cinemas with 3,828 screens.