The Expendables isn't throwaway in China

---

---

Box Office News

Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables made RMB73 million ($10.7 million) over three days in China at the weekend. The film, which opened 20 Aug, had planned to move its opening day forward to 13 Aug, but had to push back a week when enough prints couldn't be secured on time.

3-D animation Shrek Forever After was in second place. It opened in China on Monday 16 Aug, Chinese Valentine's Day, and secured RMB58 million ($8.5 million) in its first week on release on approximately 1.3 million admissions. The film had a high average ticket price of US$6.63.

Aftershock (唐山大地震) dropped to third place on its fifth week in theatres, adding another RMB35 million ($5.1 million) over the week for a current gross of RMB629 million ($92.5 million) after 31 days in theatres. It now needs just RMB50.7 million to become the second film in China to cross US$100m.

In fourth place, Wang Lee-hom's (王力宏) comedy Love in Disguise (戀愛通告) is set to become the highest grossing Chinese film by a first-time director. By Sunday night, the film had taken RMB47 million ($6.9 million), including RMB12 million ($1.9 million) on Chinese Valentine's Day.

By comparison, Li Weiran's (李蔚然) debut, Welcome to Shamatown (決戰剎馬鎮), made RMB47.4 million earlier this summer. Jay Chou's romantic fantasy Secret (不能說的秘密), which marked his directing debut, made RMB33.3 million ($4.9 million) on release in China in 2007.

---