Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Stephen Chow's Journey to the West opens with 12.5 Million USD in China


Actor-director Stephen Chow's (周星馳) fantasy blockbuster Journey to the West has entered the Year of the Snake with a bang by earning 78 million yuan (US$12.5 million) on its first day of release on mainland China:

"With its takings on Feb. 10, the New Year’s Day holiday according to China’s traditional lunar calendar, the film has overtaken the opening-day record previously held by Painted Skin: Resurrection, which took 70 million yuan (US$11.2 million) at the box office when it opened on June 28 last year."
Source : China Box Office: Stephen Chow Smashes Opening-Day Record for Domestic Film

According to popularasians.com the casting of uprising China actors such as Wen Zheng (文章) and Huang Bo (黃渤) and Taiwanese singing sensation, Show Luo (羅志祥), sexy sirens, Shu Qi (舒淇) and Chrissy Chau (周秀娜) may have helped boost its mainland draw. The movie was released in Hong Kong and China on 7 February 2013.

The movie has received a lukewarm response from Hong Kong viewers. As Andrew Sun wrote in South China Morning Post, "We've come to accept Woody Allen movies without Woody Allen but Stephen Chow Sing-chi comedies without Chow really aren't the same". His absence from the movie as an actor is probably the main reason for its lukewarm reception in Hong Kong: "The performance of the king of mo lei tau is so integral to the humor, it defines it. The jokes are just not the same without the joker."



In this adaptation of the classic Chinese novel of the same name, young demon hunter Xuan Zang, fearlessly guided by the belief of "giving himself for the greater cause", risks his all and conquers a fish demon, a pig demon and the demon of all demons, Sun Wukong. He takes them in as his disciples, and melts them with love. Meanwhile, Xuan Zang discovers the true meaning of Greater Love himself. In order to atone for their own sins and save the lay people, the four or them embark on a journey to the west that's full of challenges...

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