HONG KONG -- John Woo's "Red Cliff," the most expensive Asian film ever, is off to a smashing start to its theatrical career across the 'Greater China' region.

          China Film Group reported that the film grossed in excess of RMB25 million ($3.65 million) on Thursday, its first day of release.

          Taiwanese investor CMC Entertainment which co-distibutes the film with 20th Cdentury Fox, reported that pic had accumulated NT$16 million ($526,000) on Thursday, making it the biggest opening day figure of the year in that territory. It was released at 120 screens.

         In Hong Kong, where it is handled by Mei Ah in collaboration with Edko Films, "Cliff" scaled HK2,000,830 ($257,500) from 60 sites. That is a single day per screen average of $4, 280.

      Showbox, the movie's Korean investor and distributor, reported 139,000 admissions on opening day. That equates to an approximate $973,000 from 437 screens, for a one day per screen average of $2,227. Company says that "Hero" enjoyed 58,000 admissions on its opening day and "House of Flying Daggers," 60,000 admissions. "Cliff" opening also knocked  "Hancock" down to 79,000 admissions Thursday, or an estimated gross of $550,000.

          Tickets to the biggest movies in China are often priced at premium rates on opening day.  CFG's topper Han Sanping forecast that the pic will have passed the RMB100 million landmark ($14.6 million) by the end of the four-day opening weekend.

  Pic received a generally positive critical reception in Hong Kong. Online bloggers and commentators liked the action scenes and said that the movie did not feel as long as its 2-hour 20-minutes run time. But others also said that pic was weighed down with heavy expectations.

  In Hong Kong pic has to deal with stiff competition from "Kung Fu Panda" and "Hancock" still playing on large numbers of screens.

  In China, the path has been largely cleared for "Red Cliff's" outing with considerably less competition.

 Throughout Asia the pic is being released in two parts, with the second part skedded for January.

© Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Comments (5)

Clark: good start http://www.brightshadowfilms.com

pretty good image from the trailer,can;t wait to see the real film

1

July 11, 2008

china patriot: ...

we'll see, we'll see whether the picture lives up to its expectation.

2

July 11, 2008

Maria: red cliff http:// This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

So if the movie is going to be shown in two parts in china. Then total time of the movie should be 4-5 hours. So why are we here in the states going to get a short version of what I am sure is an outstanding movie?

3

July 11, 2008

BlueSunflower: I Enjoy Watching It http://ssusita.livejournal.com

I intentended to watch it because of the cast and director. I didn't know that it's going to a 2 part movie. So, I'm a bit shocked at the end. :) Cos I was about to get very interested with the story line. Although it's long & it was passed my bed time (so my eyes should be very tired), I actually like this movie.
I like the way the story moved. And as an ancient war movie, it's different cos you are open to differrent tactics of war where I havent seen in previous war movie. It's a fast movie but still go in detail in scene per scene.
And I have to admit I now eagerly awaiting for the progress of the chemistry between Zhu Ge Liang (Takeshi Kaneshiro) & Sun Shang Xiang (Vicky Zhao). I wish they're a couple on & off screen (yeah i know i wish too much!)
Although it's a serious movie, they dont forget to add little humour in it... So, hope jan 2009 coming soon. so i can watch the part 2

4

July 13, 2008

Bright Shadow Films: ... http://www.brightshadowfilms.com/

so far I heard so many good reviews from all those real movie fans

5

August 04, 2008

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