'Monster Hunt' breaks Chinese box office record

[TaiShang]

'Monster Hunt' breaks Chinese box office record

A poster of "Monster Hunt" [Photo/mtime.com]


According to the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, Monster Hunt had raked in more than 1.268 billion yuan in box office by Sunday, just ten days after its public launch on July 16.

Previously, China's box office record is held by "Lost in Thailand," a 2012 low-budget comedy directed by local director Xu Zheng, followed by Hong Kong writer-director Stephen Chow's 2013 adventure comedy "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons."

A sequel to the new blockbuster is already in the works.

Director Xu Zheng on Sunday congratulated "Monster Hunt"'s success, posting on his Sina Weibo microblog a picture showing a crowned Huba - the name of the monster in the new box office champion - dancing on top of his iconic shaven head.

"Records are set to be broken," the posting read, "Go ahead, Chinese movies."

Directed by Raman Hui, the Hong Kong animator known as the father of Hollywood blockbuster series "Shrek", "Monster Hunt" tells a story of a young man who creates a monster by accident. Its star-studded cast includes Jing Boran, Bai Baihe, Yao Chen, Tang Wei, Eric Tsang and Sandra Ng.

Initial prospects for the movie did not look good after its original lead, Taiwanese actor Kai Ko, was involved in a drug scandal. Kai Ko was arrested along with Jackie Chan's son Jaycee Chan for taking narcotics in August 2014, and the movie was re-shot with a new leading actor.

But box office figures beat expectations by surprise.

The movie took in 171 million yuan on the first day of screening, 300 million by day two, and 500 million by day three, setting the opening-day and single-day records of a local film.

Analysts expect box office figures to continue to grow in the coming weeks.

China is the world's second-largest film market. The box office totaled 20.4 billion yuan in the first half of 2015, according to SARFT. Domestic films raked in a very respectable 9.5 billion yuan, compared to foreign movies which grossed a total of 10.8 billion yuan.

 

[TaiShang]

'Monkey King' brings passion to local animation studios

The Chinese blockbuster "Monkey King" has broken box office records raking in more than 618 million yuan, making it the biggest hit in the Chinese animation film market.

The success of the movie also re-ignited the passion of Chinese local animation makers, who are trying to find a way out for Chinese animations in face of the competition from the US and Japan as well as a market with huge potentials.

With more local and international talents joining the industry and a more mature financial environment, more local studios are chasing their dream to become the next Pixar or Dreamworks.

The 3-year-old studio Light Chaser in a Beijing suburb is one of them. The founder Zhou Yu said that they keep learning from Pixar and Dreamworks. But they don't see them as competitors, as the market is large enough.

 

[StarCraft_ZT]

@Peter C

 

[William Hung]

This Monster Hunt movie looks like it copied from another Chinese cartoon I used to watch called Pokemon.

Aww man, good memories:

 

[+4vsgorillas-Apebane]

This Monster Hunt movie looks like it copied from another Chinese cartoon I used to watch called Pokemon.

Aww man, good memories:

Cant tell if trolling..........


On another note, back in the late nineties.

Pokemon 7.30 - 8.30 am coincides with breakfast.
Dragon ball Z 8.0 am - 8.30am coincides with dressing up for school (during commercial breaks)

8.30am sprints out the door all the way to school by 8.45 before bell sweating and panting.

good times.

 

[TaiShang]

‘Monkey King’ beats ‘Panda’
2015-7-26 16:43:01

A promotional poster for the Monkey King: Hero is Back Photo: CFP

Hollywood animated film Kung Fu Panda 2 reigned as king of the animated box office in the Chinese mainland for almost four years since its release in May 2011. However, the top spot now has a new king in domestic animation Money King: Hero is Back.

On Saturday, the studio behind Hero is Back announced Saturday that as of that afternoon, the film had earned a total of 620 million yuan ($99.8 million), while Kung Fu Panda 2's former record was 617 million yuan. It also announced that the film was being shown in 12.11 percent of screens in China despite having been out for two weeks.

"What we have gotten back from audiences goes beyond box office numbers; it is a dream that is getting clearer. The reaction of audiences shows that we can now share good Chinese stories with the rest of the world," Tian Xiaopeng, the film's director said.

Rao Shuguang, general secretary of the China Film Association, stated that he sees the success of Hero is Back as proof that the gap between Chinese and Hollywood animation is narrowing. Liu Fan, an associated researcher with the Chinese National Academy of Arts, commented that the records set by Hero is Back,Monster Hunt and Jian Bing Man reflect the rising quality of domestic productions.

Three US films hold places on the top five list of the highest earning animated films in China, while Stand by Me Doraemon, which was imported in May, is the only Japanese film on the list.

 

[William Hung]

Cant tell if trolling..........

What??

On another note, back in the late nineties.

Pokemon 7.30 - 8.30 am coincides with breakfast.
Dragon ball Z 8.0 am - 8.30am coincides with dressing up for school (during commercial breaks)

8.30am sprints out the door all the way to school by 8.45 before bell sweating and panting.

good times.

And then go to school and talk to your friends the whole day about the episode. Definitely good times.

The thing I most fondly remembered was the Pokemon gameboy games. A few rich kids was lucky enough to have a gameboy and play the pokemon games. The rest of us poor kids was sharing GB emulators and older Pokemon roms to play it on PC. Then of course the whole school days was spent talking about our game progress and the new Pokemon we captured.

 

[Aepsilons]

What??



And then go to school and talk to your friends the whole day about the episode. Definitely good times.

The thing I most fondly remembered was the Pokemon gameboy games. A few rich kids was lucky enough to have a gameboy and play the pokemon games. The rest of us poor kids was sharing GB emulators and older Pokemon roms to play it on PC. Then of course the whole school days was spent talking about our game progress and the new Pokemon we captured.

Good times, good memory of yesteryear.

Remember?

But probably you were used to this:

 

[William Hung]

Good times, good memory of yesteryear.

Remember?

But probably you were used to this:

Man don’t get me started on Pokemon video clips. When I have more free time, I’ll be posting lots of them. Pokemon has them all, funny clips, action clipclips, sad tear-jerking clips. Just wait.

 

[TaiShang]

 

[opruh]

This Monster Hunt movie looks like it copied from another Chinese cartoon I used to watch called Pokemon.

Aww man, good memories:

You must be stupid.

 

[William Hung]

You must be stupid.

Huh why? please explain.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

@Peter C

They are climbing up the charts

World wide Animations

 

[TaiShang]

Top 4 Chinese Movies that Break Box Office Records
2015-07-27

A picture posted by Xu Zheng showing a crowned Huba - the name of the monster in the new box office hit film - dancing on top of his iconic shaven head to celebrate the success of "Monster Hunt" on July 26 in 2015. [Photo: Chinadaily]

According to the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People’s Republic of China , live-action animation film "Monster Hunt" has earned more than 1.276 billion yuan at the box office after it hit Chinese cinemas on July 16.

"Lost in Thailand" directed by Xu Zheng has held the Chinese box office record from 2012 which Xu also congratulated Monster Hunt on its success.

"Records are set to be broken," his Weibo posting read, "Go ahead, Chinese movies."

Top 4 Chinese Movies in Box Office History

First Place ★★★★★

Photo taken on July 26, 2015 shows Huba, a monster in the film "Monster Hunt", at a cinema in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province. [Photo: weibo.com]

Directed by Raman Hui, the Hong Kong animator known as the father of Hollywood blockbuster series "Shrek", "Monster Hunt" tells a story of a young man who creates a monster by accident. Its star-studded cast includes Jing Boran, Bai Baihe, Yao Chen, Tang Wei, Eric Tsang and Sandra Ng.

Second Place★★★★☆

Poster of "Lost in Thailand" [Photo: Xinhua]

The recent success of a low-budget comedy shows that Chinese audiences are not too demanding. They simply want to be entertained and, sometimes, have a nerve touched.

"Lost in Thailand", the successful low-budget comedy, cost just 30 million yuan to make but earned 1.268 billion yuan at the box office.

It has become the first Chinese film ever to pass the 1-billion-yuan threshold and overtake the Hollywood movie Avatar.

Third Place★★★☆☆

The film still of Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons. [Photo: Chinadaily]

The movie "Journey to the West" was released on February 10, 2013 in China. It is loosely based on the Chinese classic "Journey to the West."

It earned 1 billion yuan (159 million U.S. dollars) in just half a month.

Fourth Place★★☆☆☆

A poster of Ning Hao's road trip comedy Breakup Buddies. [Photo: ent.cnr.cn]

Breakup Buddies, a comedy, directed by Ning Hao, has reached 1.167 billion yuan (188 million U.S dollars) at the box office, ranked after Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons.

 

[TaiShang]

Local studio wants to be 'China's answer to Pixar'
CCTV.com

07-27-2015

With China's hairy hero the Monkey King swinging back into action, it appears people's interest in Chinese-made animation movies has been re-ignited. And with more local and international talents joining the industry and a more mature financial environment, more local studios are chasing their dream to become the next Pixar or Dreamworks.

The girl needs 300,000 strands of animated hair, almost three times more than a real-life girl, to make this swing appear more real. That is just one of the fun parts of computer-generated-imagery animation. Computers are a necessity, but the believability and acting still come first.

The animators themselves are cast like performers and in this dream-making industry, Hollywood will no longer play the dominant role. On a visit to Light Chaser studio in a Beijing suburb, Yu Zhou, the founder of this three-year-old Chinese company, said that they keep learning from Pixar and Dreamworks. But they do not see them competitors, as the market is large enough.

Zhou said in China you can find capital, artists, and even the most cutting-edge animation technology, but the toughest part is management. In the CGI industry, studios follow a step-by-step integrated system allowing everyone to build off one another's work, what's called a production pipeline.

Liu Lu, an industry veteran who worked for Pixar for many years, is tasked with building a powerful management system so this 150-person team can work together.

More international talents have been attracted back to China, looking for new opportunities that are hard to come by in the well-established Hollywood ecosystem.

In the US, animations can take up to 15 percent of movies' market share. This compares to only 5 percent in China. But more local studios are joining the competition and want to grab a slice of the growing pie. They plan to take advantage of their international experience, as well as local talents and Chinese creativity.