"The Eight Hundred" preview sales hit 100 million yuan amid China box office's gradual recovery

Source: Xinhua| 2020-08-18 21:58:10|Editor: huaxia

BEIJING, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- "The Eight Hundred," a war epic film that won applause from moviegoers and critics alike after its preview screenings began on Aug. 14, saw its total preview sales surpass 100 million yuan (over 14 million U.S. dollars) on Tuesday amid the gradual recovery of China's box office market.

This comes less than three days before the film's formal release in China on Friday.

Box office data compiled by Maoyan, a movie-ticketing and film data platform, showed that as of 9 p.m. on Tuesday, "The Eight Hundred" had grossed a total of 114 million yuan from previews, with 14 million for Friday last week, and around 50 million each for Tuesday and Monday.

"The Eight Hundred" topped the daily China box office chart from Monday to Tuesday and driven by its preview sales, the daily China box office total rose to nearly 76 million on Monday, a new high since movie theaters started to reopen on July 20 after months-long closures to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.

Directed by Guan Hu, "The Eight Hundred" depicts Chinese soldiers' defense of a warehouse against the invading Japanese army during the Battle of Shanghai in 1937.

Yin Hong, vice chairman of the China Film Association and a professor at Tsinghua University, has hailed "The Eight Hundred" as a movie that "Chinese filmmakers should be proud of."

It marked a new height for Chinese war films, or even Chinese films, following the 2007 Feng Xiaogang film "Assembly," Yin said.

Shot entirely with IMAX cameras, "The Eight Hundred" is the first major Chinese film to land in Chinese theaters since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Overseas, it is slated for release in North America, Australia, and New Zealand on Aug. 28, a week after its formal release in China, according to CMC Pictures, a distributor of the film. Enditem

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