Youth films, chick flicks dominate Chinese box office
Actresses Fan Bingbing, center, and Guo Caijie, right, pose with director Guo Jingming at a red-carpet event for the premiere of the movie “Tiny Times 4” in Beijing on July 8.
The Chinese homegrown chick flick “Tiny Times 4” topped the mainland box office last week, opening with $59 million in its first four days as regulators kept new foreign films off cinema screens.
Author-director Guo Jingming’s franchise has been a popular if divisive series, with some cultural critics denouncing the movies as vapid and overly materialistic. But it’s been box-office gold; so far, the franchise has hauled in $269 million, according to data from film industry consulting firm Artisan Gateway.
A coming-of-age story about aspiring young musicians and dancers, “Forever Young,” the directorial debut of Chinese TV host He Jiong, came in second last week, opening Friday and taking in $42 million through Sunday.
Renowned director Chen Kaige saw his literary adaptation “Monk Comes Down the Mountain” slip to third place last week, with $23 million in the seven days ending Sunday. Chen is typically known for more serious fare such as “Farewell My Concubine” and “Yellow Earth,” but “Monk,” a lighthearted martial arts film, has grossed $61 million to date.
In fourth place was the animated tale “Monkey King: Hero is Back,” directed by Tian Xiaoping, which opened Friday and took in $16 million.
“Jurassic World” added $7 million to its monstrous run in China, bringing the Universal Pictures film’s haul to $229 million since it debuted on the mainland on June 10.
Year to date, China’s box-office gross receipts have topped $3.54 billion, Artisan said.
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