Comic films continue to reign at Chinese box office, and the more lo-fi the better
Low-budget comedy sequel trumps bigger films with lavish effects over New Year holiday, continuing a trend that is likely to see directors who play for laughs winning the Lunar New Year holiday box office battle again
Award-winning filmmaker Chen Kaige thought China’s youthful cinema-goers – their average age is 21½ – would embrace the lavish visual effects in his latest project, Legend of the Demon Cat.
But the veteran director’s prediction at last year’s Toronto Film Festival was off, with his film beaten at the box office over the lucrative New Year holidays by a bawdy romantic comedy.
An adaptation of a Japanese novel about paranormal activities in the Tang dynasty, Legend of the Demon Cat has generated a respectable 506 million yuan (US$78 million) since its release on December 22.
But it was easily outgunned by The Ex-Files: the Return of the Exes. The third in a series revolving around young characters sparring and squaring off with their former partners, the film has already grossed 749 million yuan – despite opening a week later and having been made on a much smaller budget than Chen’s VFX-heavy blockbuster.
While not the biggest hit over the festive season – that was Feng Xiaogang’s Youth, with takings of 1.3 billion – The Ex-Files’ daily average gross of nearly 90 million yuan is the highest of films released over the same period.