China's advance holiday box office tops 200m yuan

BEIJING - Advance box office sales for China's upcoming week-long Spring Festival holiday hit 200 million yuan ($31.54 million) by Tuesday evening.

Topping the preview and advance sales chart covering eight titles set for release on Feb 1, or Spring Festival, is "The Battle at Lake Changjin II," according to box office tracker Maoyan.

The sequel to the 2021 war blockbuster "The Battle at Lake Changjin" topped 76 million yuan, accounting for about 38 percent of the total bookings.

Set during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-1953), "The Battle at Lake Changjin" tells the story of Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) fighting bravely in freezing weather in a vital campaign at Lake Changjin, also known as Chosin Reservoir.

Its sequel, of which the Chinese title also roughly translates to "Watergate Bridge," follows CPV soldiers of the same company as they take on a new task. And this time, their battlefield is a crucial bridge on the retreat route of American troops.

"Nice View," one of the eight new titles, comes in second on the preview and advance holiday sales chart, with more than 30 million yuan.

Comedies "Only Fools Rush In" and "Too Cool To Kill" rank third and fourth, respectively, with over 20 million yuan each.

The advance holiday sales of director Zhang Yimou's new film with the working title "Snipers," also set during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, has exceeded 14 million yuan.

The Spring Festival holiday is usually a lucrative moviegoing period in China. The holiday last year generated total revenue of more than 7.8 billion yuan, a record high.