'War Horse' charges to the top in China
Hollywood films have continued to dominate at the Chinese box office over the past week, led by Steven Spielberg-directed epic War Horse.
Spielberg's film -- based on the children's novel of the same name -- picked up a relatively modest 55.7 million yuan (6.7 million euros) on its first week of release to take top spot away from the family-oriented actioner Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, which has now taken an estimated 336 million yuan (41 million euros) in China, after adding 40 million yuan (4.8 million euros) over the last week.
With no mainland Chinese productions in the top five -- and even the action-fantasy Conan the Barbarian picking up 19.6 million yuan (2.4 million euros) off its first week -- critics in China are wondering just why it is that local productions this year seems unable to make a mark.
According to China Film Biz the last time a mainland Chinese production tops the charts was in the middle of January when The Great Magician -- starring box office darlings Tony Leung and Zhou Xun -- ranked number one, but for just one week.
The past week in Japan has meanwhile seen that ever-popular robo-cat Doraemon return to the top of the box office charts with his latest adventure.
Doraemon: Nobita and the Island of Miracles - Animal Adventure picked up just over US$5 million (3.8 million euros) to rank number one.
The film -- the latest in a series that has followed the exploits of a character that first appeared in Japan back in 1969 -- has now taken an impressive US$15 million (11.5 million euros) from two weeks in cinemas.
In second place was British director Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes: A Games of Shadows, which collected an estimated US$3.7 million (2.8 million euros) on debut, according to Box Office Mojo.
Local director Byeon Yeong-joo has made a stunning return to the big screen in South Korea.
Not seen since the 2004 smash hit Flying Boys, Byeon is back with new film Helpless, a murder-mystery adapted from a novel by Japan's "queen of crime," Miyabe Miyuki, and co-starring Lee Seon-gyun and Kim Min-hee.
Helpless picked up 607,080 admissions on debut, according to Han Cinema, while the Hollywood blockbuster John Carter was in second with 368,384 admissions.
See the trailers ...
Doraemon: Nobita and the Island of Miracles - Animal Adventure (Korean only): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85xV-rZVuLU
Helpless (Korean only -- and labeled Train, the novel in which it is based): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en1AcB_ZHdY
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