‘Dying to Survive’ tops with RM604 million
This is definitely the best domestic film that I’ve watched so far this year… it is a sincere film with a sincere story, characterisation and production - I believe that most of the audiences that have watched this film feel the same way.
BEIJING: The propensity of viewers to laugh at ironical situations has driven the comedy drama Dying to Survive to a massive US$ 151 million ( RM604 million) opening in China.
Based on real events, it is about a cancer survivor who takes it on himself to import cheap drugs from India.
Rookie director Wen Muye is laughing all the way to the bank.
The movie got commercial traction by starring comedy titan Xu Zheng, veteran of Lost in Thailand and Breakup Buddies. Xu also co-produced the movie with serial hitmaker Ning Hao.
This also marks the fifth collaboration between Xu and Ning, yet this lucrative summer season is the first time in 12 years that the two have teamed up. In those years, the two have been trying to discover and help new directing talents and good screenplays. This time they served as executive producers and bet on Wen, who rose to prominence in 2013 for directing the award-winning short film Battle.
Ironically, the script is predictable enough.
Cideng Shuihuo, blogger
Lu Yong, a textile entrepreneur who was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2002, smuggles the unapproved Indian-made generic version of Gleevec – originally developed and manufactured by Swiss drug company Novartis – for himself and many others to get treatment at an affordable price. Police detained him for allegedly selling counterfeit drugs.
He was seen as a charitable hero and later more than 1,000 leukaemia patients wrote to China’s authorities begging for mercy. The prosecution dropped the case and released him in 2015.
At the official red carpet premiere on July 2, the film’s producers announced that they would be donating two million yuan to leukaemia charities and would continue to donate 300,000 yuan for every subsequent 100 million yuan the film raked in.
“This is definitely the best domestic film that I’ve watched so far this year… it is a sincere film with a sincere story, characterisation and production - I believe that most of the audiences that have watched this film feel the same way,” blogger Cideng Shuihuo posted on Sina Weibo. It has attracted over 20,000 likes.
Already, some analysts are predicting that the film’s final box office will surpass four billion yuan ( RM2.47 billion) to become the second highestearning film in China.
With Dying to Survive accounting for 80 per cent of the daily box office for four days straight, the outlook for other films on the box office is dimming.
Domestic animated film New Happy Dad and Son 3: Adventure in Russia, an adaptation of China Central Television’s classic animated series Happy Dad and Son, ranked second with 70 million yuan, followed by Animal World, a Chinese film adaptation of Japanese gamblingthemed manga Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji, with an estimated 57 million yuan.
Universal’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ranked fourth with an estimated 26 million yuan for a total of 1.64 billion yuan since its premiere in midJune, becoming the highestearning film for the franchise in China.