The end of December was pretty busy, judging from the action the Chinese box office saw. 2 very high profile films were released and each announced its arrival with unprecedented first day sales. The movie world was buzzing with the news of ‘The Storm Warriors’ and its record breaking first day debut sales. However, before the week was even over, Jay Chou’s new film The Treasure Hunter blew past the competition to take home the box office record for first day sales.
‘The Storm Warriors’ is the anticipated sequel to 1998’s ‘The Storm Riders’ which was based on the comic book Fung Wan. The second part of the series, (directed by the Pang Brothers) once again focuses on the exploits of Wind (Ekin Cheng) and Cloud (Aaron Kwok) this time against The wicked Lord Godless ( Simon Yam is that you, you busy man?) The film is described as a CGI wet dream, visually striking with a slick style if lacking in substance. (Read JapanCinema’s review here) The success of ‘The Storm Riders’ pretty much ensured a successful opening for the sequel, but few expected it to hit $5 million on the first day, which is just a phenomenal number for China.
‘The Treasure Hunter’ by contrast, stars golden boy Jay Chou. Directed by Kevin Chu (Kung Fu Drunk), the film is reminiscent of adventure films like The Mummy. Qiao Fei (Chou) is a treasure hunter who is entrusted with a fabled map that leads to a lost city by his mentor. The protection of the map and the mentor’s daughter (Chling Lin) becomes his next quest.The film has garnered mixed reviews but that did not stop it from bulldozing the competition by making 7.83 MILLION RMB on its first day! It seems that not even the visual enticement that is a Pang Brothers film can steer away from the beautiful picture Jay Chou and supermodel Lin can make on screen. Could this be the start of a new golden age for film in China?
