It seems somehow fitting that in a week in which China has hinted it is preparing to let more foreign films into the country each year, a production that could never be anything but "Hollywood" is ruling the domestic box office.
The family friendly Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson actioner Journey 2: The Mysterious Island picked up 135 million yuan (16 million euros) over the past week to hit the top of the charts in China and move its 10-day total to 230 million yuan (27.5 million euros).
Second place fell to the Doze Niu-directed romance Love, which collected 87 million yuan (10.4 million euros) from its first week, according to Chinese Film, while the Tom Cruise blockbuster Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol slipped down to third with 77.5 million yuan (9.2 million euros). Cruise can console himself, though, with the fact that film has now sold 560 million yuan (67 million euros) in tickets in China over its four weeks of release.
Up until now, China has only allowed in 20 foreign films each year but vice president Xi Jinping hinted over the weekend that this quota would soon be relaxed although -- interestingly -- his words came during a trip to the United States and have received no coverage as yet in the state-run Chinese media.
Meanwhile, results in from other major Asian film markets saw American idol Justin Timberlake's thriller In Time shoot straight to the top in Japan thanks to a US$4.6 million (3.5 million euros) debut. That was enough to shift the US version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo down to second place but a further US$2 million (1.5 million euros) over the past week has that production now with US$8.5 million (6.4 million euros) for two weeks in Japan, according to Box Office Mojo.
The big move in South Korea came from the irresistible combination of stars Lee Na-young and Song Kang-ho in Howling.
The thriller -- which follows two detectives as they try to solved a case involving a killer wolf -- saw 780,000 admissions sold, which was enough to move previous champ Nameless Gangster down to second, according to Han Cinema.
Around 500,000 admissions still saw that film creep closer to 3.5 million over three weeks in cinemas.
See the trailer ....
Howling (Korean only): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZixpYH2Uso
MS
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