From Chinese romcom My Love to Zhang Yimou’s Cliff Walkers, the top 5 movies showing in China during Labour Day ‘golden week’ holiday
- Romantic comedy My Love tops the advance ticket box office, Hong Kong’s Aaron Kwok stars in Home Sweet Home and comedy Tiger Robbers is about a bank heist
- Cliff Walkers, directed by Zhang Yimou, is a spy thriller set in 1930s Manchukuo, while two prosecutors take on triads in Once Upon a Time in Hong Kong
As China’s “golden week” holiday approaches, the latest battle for box-office supremacy has started, with 12 films having secured a fiercely sought-after slot for release during the lucrative five-day holiday which starts on Labour Day, May 1.
With the exception of Canadian animation Racetime, all other 11 films are local productions, showing the ascendancy of Chinese films and the waning influence of Hollywood releases in China.
According to Maoyan, China’s biggest movie ticketing app, the box office for the Labour Day holiday rose from 634 million yuan (US$97.7 million) to 1.5 billion yuan from 2015 to 2019. A pent-up demand for entertainment accumulated throughout the Covid-19 pandemic has led to revenge spending, with a research report by China International Capital predicting that the box office for this year’s Labour Day holiday will reach 1.7 billion yuan.
Below are the top five movies that are racking up the most advance ticket sales for the upcoming holiday, according to box office tracker platform Lighthouse.
1. My Love
Topping the advance ticket box office is My Love, a romantic comedy adapted from the Korean movie On Your Wedding Day, which topped the domestic box office when it was released in 2018. The movie follows the ups and downs in the 15-year relationship between a couple (played by Taiwanese actor Greg Hsu Kuang-han and Zhang Ruonan) who first met on campus.