Confession of Pain, widely regarded as a potential box
office rival to Zhang Yimou's latest blockbuster, Curse of the
Golden Flower, looks set to lose the year-end race.
Confession, released on December 17, collected 24
million yuan (US$3.08 million) from Friday to Sunday, while
Curse, which debuted on December 14, reaped another 50
million yuan (US$6.4 million) in the same period, topping 2006
China's domestic movie box office with a record 193 million yuan
(US$24.73 million).
The number of Beijing cinemas screening Curse was
triple that of the cinemas showing Confession last weekend
and the digital screening rooms of big cinemas were all reserved to
play Curse only.
Wu Hehu, manager of Shanghai United Cinema Line Co. Ltd., said
the cinema added screenings of Confession as 95 percent of
seats were sold in previous screenings.
Confession of Pain, starring 2000 Cannes Film Festival
Best Actor Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, and Xu Jinglei, is the
story of a policeman's intricate revenge for murder.
Curse, which stars Gong Li, Chow Yun-Fat and Taiwan pop
star Jay Chou, tells the story of an imperial family's slow decline
and features vast battle scenes between the sons of the reigning
emperor and empress.
Director Jia Zhangke's Still Life, which earlier this
year won the Venice Film Festival's top prize, the Golden Lion, was
also released in China this month.
The film, described by Jia as an "artistic project", has made
only 1.5 million yuan (US$187,500) at the box office, but the
director considers the coincidental timing of the release date with
Curse to offer an alternative for Chinese audiences.
(Xinhua News Agency December 27, 2006)