Hawthorn opens fairly but not spectacularly

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Box Office News

Zhang Yimou's (張藝謀) romance Under the Hawthorn Tree (山楂樹之戀) has performed fairly, but not spectacularly on release in China. Since it opened on 15 Sep, a day earlier than advertised, it had made RMB45 million ($6.7 million) by Sunday night.

Although the official budget of the film has not been announced, it is speculated that it may be as low as RMB20 million ($3m), meaning that the perfect box office track record of Zhang Yimou and his producer Zhang Weiping (張偉平) has not been broken.

It is the first time that China Film Group (中國電影集團公司) and Huaxia (華夏電影發行公司) have partnered on distributing a Chinese film. Until A Simple Noodle Story (三槍拍案驚奇), handled through Huaxia, the Zhangs had previously distributed their films exclusively through China Film Group.

The film has also broken new ground with its moon cakes tie in. After a limited edition of 3,000 boxes of hawthorn fruit moon cakes sold out, more were produced and are expected to create significant income for the Zhangs' Beijing New Picture Film (北京新畫面影業有限公司) company.

Zhang Weiping announced yesterday that the film's two young stars, Zhou Dongyu (周冬雨) and Shawn Dou (窦骁), will travel to the Hawaii festival, claiming that the festival will screen Hawthorn Tree. The film is already set as the opening film of the Pusan festival on 7 Oct.

The number one film at the Chinese box office last week was Christopher Nolan's Inception, making RMB78 million ($11.6 million) for a cumulative gross of RMB280 million ($41.6 million) by Sunday night after 19 days in cinemas.

The Expendables has now taken RMB213 million ($31.7 million) after one month on release, while Feng Xiaogang's (馮小剛) Aftershock (唐山大地震) continues its record-breaking run with RMB648 million ($96.5 million).

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