National Day holiday brings box office surge

As a testament to its economic vitality, the weeklong National Day holiday has sparked a box office surge, underscoring the potential of China's resurgent market.

As of Friday, the vacation starting from Tuesday has raked in 1.47 billion yuan ($209.4 million), a 45 percent increase compared to the same period in 2022 and slightly surpassing the year-on-year figure in 2023, according to Maoyan Pro, a real-time movie information tracker.

Fueled by the boom, this year's box office tally has surpassed 36 billion yuan, deemed by many industry insiders as an inspirational sign to uplift morale following the sluggish previous seasons from the May Day holiday to the summer vacation and Mid-Autumn Festival.

The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death, the latest directorial work by Chen Kaige, the first Chinese filmmaker to win a Palme d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival, is currently leading the holiday box office charts with earnings exceeding 500 million yuan.

As the second installment of Chen's trilogy The Volunteers, an epic that chronicles the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-53), the 144-minute new movie recounts a pivotal battle in Cheorwon, where 25,000 Chinese People's Volunteer Army soldiers engaged around 50,000 United States-led "United Nations Command" forces in 1951.

Yuan Yun'er, a Beijing-based critic, said the movie, which has garnered a rating of 7.2 points out of 10 on the popular review site Douban, is a poignant narrative that revisits the war pivotal to China's destiny over 70 years ago.

Compared to the initial installment, The Volunteers: To the War, released last October, the new film presents a more intense plot from a human-interest perspective, with its depiction of war scenes being more grandiose and skillful in portraying details.

For example, a poignant detail stirring online discussion is a candy gifted by CPV Commander-in-Chief Peng Dehuai to a veteran officer, who passes it to his son, a CPV soldier, and eventually to his sister, an army interpreter, with the son's touching act of licking the empty wrapper before his sacrifice resonating profoundly with viewers.

Zhi Feina, a film professor at the Chinese National Academy of Arts, remarked that the movie distinguishes itself, partly because its patriotic theme resonates with the collective emotions of the domestic audience, as China celebrates the National Day.

Following the war epic, director Lu Chuan's sci-fi film Bureau 749 has secured the second spot on the holiday box office charts, amassing over 300 million yuan. The film, loosely inspired by Lu's early work experience in an institute researching supernatural phenomena, narrates a near-future story about battling mysterious creatures that drag a city into an unprecedented crisis.

Ranked third in box office earnings at the festival, the crime drama Tiger Wolf Rabbit depicts the vengeful quest of three parents whose children are abducted by human traffickers. It has grossed over 230 million yuan.

Respectively, the fourth and fifth top earners are kungfu giant Jackie Chan's comedy Panda Plan and Hong Kong iconic star Andy Lau's action thriller High Forces.

A total of 10 movies were released on Monday and Tuesday, aiming to vie for audiences during the National Day holiday, one of the most lucrative box office seasons in China, according to the China Film Distribution and Exhibition Association.

Yu Chao, deputy general manager of Beijing's Capital Cinema chain, said that the diversity in genres and the remarkable number of new films released showcase the potential of China's movie market.

From sci-fi movie The Wandering Earth (2019) to the fantasy epic Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms (2023) and the latest blockbuster Bureau 749, Chinese audiences have demonstrated a strong interest in watching special effects-laden big-budget films, indicating opportunities for advancement in the Chinese film technology sector, Yu said.

He also highlighted the holiday's new movie, A Tapestry of a Legendary Land. Adapted from the popular dance poem drama of the same name, the movie represents a new creative direction for domestic filmmakers.

The film, featuring the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) masterpiece Qianli Jiangshan Tu (A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains) through dance, demonstrates that stage performances translated into feature-length films can attract audiences with their established reputation and enhanced visual details on large cinema screens, added Yu.

Rao Shuguang, president of the China Film Critics Association, predicted this year's box office revenue may exceed last year's, driven by the momentum of the National Day holiday surge.

xufan@chinadaily.com.cn