The box office of A Chinese Tall Story in Mainland China has reached 50million in RMB two weeks from its theatrical debut in China. According to Mr. Wang Zhong Lei of Hua Yi Brothers, the partnering company in mainland China, he is well satisfied with the result. He states that under the situation of there being The Promise before this title and Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles afterwards, this kind of figure is a very good figure indeed.
As a matter of fact, within the period near the close of 2005, there were 4 attention gasping titles including Perhaps Love, The Promise, A Chinese Tall Story and Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles that appeared consecutively. Whether this would lower audience's willingness to enter the cinema because of "visual exhaustion" is without a doubt a huge test. The fact that the all-aggressive title The Promise took its appearance before all others begs for the question of "will what come first kill the appetites of everything else"? This is certainly a valid worry to the publisher of the tall story. Fortunately, the word of month is good since its release and the box office performance has been strong. King Kong will certainly cook up the pressure again. Yet, according to Wan Zhong Lei, the tall story should have the power to endure; he does not expect the box office performance to take any major slide.
(hkfilmart January 19, 2006)
