Jackie Chan film climbs over ‘Great Wall’ at the box office
BEIJING: Jackie Chan’s World War II flick Railroad Tigers has climbed over The Great Wall at the floundering China box office.
Also bypassing the Zhang Yimou epic movie is Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai’s See You Tomorrow, as box office receipts across China sagged compared with last year.
With as many as 80,000 screenings per day, See You Tomorrow earned US$ 40 million ( RM180 million) in three days, according to data from Ent Group. Produced by Wong Karwai and backed by Alibaba Pictures Group, the upmarket romantic comedy boasts a starry cast including Tony Chiu-wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Eason Chan and Angelababy.
The latest attempt by Jackie Chan to ease into a more dramatic role, albeit a nationalistic, Chinese versus oppressive Japanese oppressors, one, Railroad Tigers took second place with a three- day gross of $ 30.3 million ( RM136 million). It benefited from some 60,000 screenings per day.
The Great Wall, the Zhang Yimou- directed popcorn movie saw its screen count plummet as the two newcomers vied for exhibition space. It managed US$ 26.1 million ( RM117 million) in its second weekend from just under 50,000 screenings per day.
That represents a 61 per cent drop compared with its opening weekend of $ 66 million (including previews). Its per screen average was superior to Railroad Tigers.
And after 10 days on release Great Wall has climbed to a cumulative total of US$ 120 million ( RM540 million).
A long way behind, Hacksaw Ridge added US$ 4.28 million in fourth place. That gives it a 16 day cumulative of US$ 41.1 million.
Animated movie Moana took fifth spot with US$ 1.68 million. After a long run of 31 days, it has a cumulative $ 30.3 million.
Fellow holdover, The Wasted Times slipped to sixth. It added US$ 1.18 million in its second weekend for a 10- day total of US$ 15.2 million. Recordbreaking Japanese animation, Your Name scored US$ 980,000 in its fourth weekend. That lifted its total to US$ 80.5 million ( RM362 million) after 24 days.