Mainland Box Office Performance in Second Week 2012

2012-01-19 09:31:23 Chinese Films

According to China film box office statistics by enbase, mainland box office gross in the second week (Jan 9, 2012- Jan 15, 2012) reached $47.66 million, showing 26% box office growth from last month. Moviegoers in this week counted as almost 9 million in total, 38% up compared to last month.

New released film "The Great Magician" managed to steal the top spot away from competitors at this week box office. The Bona distributed action romance film directed by Derek Yee and starring all stars debuted at top spot with $11.55 million, while hit Chinese animation series "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf", waltzed into No. 2 position with $11.3 million. Both films helped boost mainland market after a sluggish New Year holiday season. Domestic films make up 88 percent of the total revenue in mainland market.

"The Great Magician" debuted with $11.55 million over four days and managed to wrestle the first place from the highest-grossing hit of the year 2011"The Flowers of War". "Magician"is the latest film directed by Derek Yee, who is good at balancing commercial success with artistic integrity very successful. The film has a terrific team starring with Sean Lau, Tony Leung, Xun Zhou and Ni Yan, even having some of the cameo appearances of Daniel Wu and the legendary Hark Xu smack of gimmickry. But due to lack of market campaign, the film's gross in opening week is lower than expected.

Hit Chinese animation series"Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf", based on the popular eponymous TV series, ranked second among four new-released films this week with a debut to $11.3 million over four days run. This year "Pleasant Goat" featured a new dragon-themed and as usual, it once again dominated the animated film box office sales in this season. The series' adorable characters and tales of adventure have won the hearts of children and adults alike, and that guaranteed its outstanding performance at box office.

Two blockbusters"The Flowers of War" and "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate"that both leading box office chart for fourth weeks, taking in $4.51 million and $4.29 million respectively this week, experienced a steep 60% drop in their fifth week, coming in at No. 4 and No.5. Despite having some scenes cut by mainland censors, the on-line novel adapted movie "You Are the Apple of My Eye" has sold $9.89 million tickets since it hit cinema screens in mainland nine days ago, making it the dark horse in terms of box office profit.