War epic moves Chinese to eat frozen potatoes

A CHINESE epic about the Korean War has topped the global box office, according to official statistics, tapping into growing nationalist sentiment and dwarfing the latest Bond film.

Battle at Lake Chang jin had pulled in nearly 5 billion yuan (£567million) in box office receipts by yesterday, according to data compiled by a company owned by Alibaba Pictures.

That puts it ahead of the Bond film No Time to Die, which is not available in China, where government censors control foreign film releases.

The war film, which cost £200million to make and is nearly three hours long, was released to coincide with the Oct 1 national holiday. It has been such a hit that fans have been eating frozen potatoes in homage to the soldiers who endured extreme hardship.

The ruling Communist Party is often keen to ensure a patriotic spirit around national events. Beijing also buzzed Taiwan with a record number of warplanes in a show of force in the week of the film’s release. China has long claimed Taiwan as its own territory, though the island has its own elected government, currency and military.

Starring Wu Jing, Battle at Lake Changjin depicts Chinese soldiers fighting the better equipped US troops during the bitter cold of the 1950-1953 war. One scene shows soldiers chewing frozen potatoes between battles while their US counterparts feast on Thanksgiving turkey. Some cinemas have distributed frozen potatoes to audiences before the movie. One young woman in a video on Douyin, the Chinese version of Tiktok, cried after the first bite, saying it was impossible to eat.

Box office sales have been inflated in China before, with fake screenings and phantom tickets to drive up figures.