According to enFilmbase’s China film boxoffice statistics, mainland boxoffice gross in the 27th week (Jul.02-Jul.08, 2012) was $60.95 million, a 16% decrease from the previous week. Moviegoers this week totaled 10.33 million, a 14% slump when compared to the previous week’s numbers.
Huayi Brothers’ "Painted Skin: The Resurrection" easily held on to the top spot for another week with a strong $36.33 million over the past week, while it has hauled in $83.76 million as of last Sunday. Renowned director Chen Kaige’s “Caught in the Web” debuted at number two at the weekly boxoffice chart in mainland China with a respectable $7.14 million over its first three days in release. Martial arts flick “Wu Dang” started with a not bad performance, sitting at third place with $3.18 million during its first three-day theatrical run. It’s good to see that the past week’s top-ten chart included three local animated feature films, namely, “Legend of the Moles”, “Seer II” and “GG.BOND Hatching”. This past week domestic films as a whole accounted for 91% of the weekly gross, placing China-produced films in a dominant position.
Even with newly released films opening this past week including "Wu Dang" and Chen Kaige's "Caught in the Web", the boxoffice haul for “Painted Skin: The Resurrection” still maintained a high level. The fantasy romance, screened exclusively in 3D, added $36.33 million for a total of $83.76 million in only its second week of release, already breaking several boxoffice records in mainland China with its spectacular performance. Some of those reords include: the largest all-time opening day boxoffice tally, as well as the all-time largest opening week, fastest boxoffice-exceeding RMB 300 million, fastest boxoffice-exceeding RMB 400 million, and fastest boxoffice-exceeding RMB 500 million, etc. As of last Sunday, “Painted Skin 2” became historically the fifth-highest grossing title in mainland China. When “Panted Skin 2” reigned supreme on the 3D screens, “Caught in the Web” and "Wu Dang” were striving for playing on 2D screens. “Caught in the Web”, starring Yao Chen, GaoYuanyuan, and Taiwanese rising actor Mark Chao, is adapted from a popular web novel “Human Flesh Search” by Wen Yu. It debuted at number two with $7.14 million over three days in release. The contemporary drama portrays the online human flesh search phenomenon, which normally deemed as a controversial method of hunting down "public enemy".
The term, “Human Flesh Search”, refers to Chinese netizens using new media to supervise perceived immoral behaviors in society by acting as a collective group and putting pressure on the perpetrator. Though this sometimes produces positive results, the human flesh search also violates a person's privacy, leading to great repercussions.
According to enFilmbase statistics, “Painted Skin：The Resurrection” maintained dominance in mainland boxoffice screenings, taking over 36% of the market share in terms of total number of screenings (including the largest number of 3D screens). Newly released films “Caught in the Web” and “Wu Dang” took in 9% and 7%, respectively, which caused "Painted Skin 2” and “Black & White Episode I” to endure a drop in screenings since 6 July. “Black & White Episode I” took an additional 5% of the weekly screenings. Animation title "Seer II” was favored by theaters, taking 5% of the market share in numbers of screenings, though it suffered relatively low average admissions per screen.
Next week the following films are set to hit mainland theaters, most of which are China-produced titles. The latest entry of Hong Kong franchise film “McDull” will be released in mainland on 10 July. Directed by Gordon Chan, martial arts flick “The Four” will start its theatrical run on 12 July. Another highlyanticipated film, “The Zodiac Mystery”, produced by Le Vision Pictures, is also set to premier on 13 July.
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