Shaolian

I think we're into the 2nd week of Chinese New Year, and people are ready for sad movies again 😋. Also, more and more positive reviews are coming out praising the film for its scope and storyline. I plan to watch it at the weekend here in Malaysia too.

China correctly opted for "zero covid" policy during the first 2 1/2 years of the pandemic, when deadlier variants like Delta were still rampant, and vaccines or knowledge of the virus has not matured. America has a quarter of China's population, and "living the the virus" during that early period has resulted in excess of a million deaths. If China with 4 times the population were to do the same, simple maths would mean 4 million deaths. Also China's medical industry is not as matured as America, so there were every chance of even more deaths. Indeed, China not only prevented more deaths during these 2 1/2 years, its economic growth were the highest among the largest economies of the world as well. However, as the virus especially since the onset of Omicron has evolved into a milder strain, and as vaccines and knowledge to deal with it has matured, the benefits of "zero covid" has reach a state of diminishing returns. For better or worse, the Chinese government has calculated that now is indeed the time to start living with the virus. And hopefully, the worse effects of the previous virus strains are well and truly behind us. Well for the sake of humanity I hope so.

So, they did realize that some of those CGI were not up to scratch? Better not to tarnish National Day with sub-par CGI 😜

Hi, Gavin. Is there any links to this news? Is there any updates on the film. Thanks in advance.

Looks like the more modern jets like the J-20s are going to be more prominent in this movie compared to the movie Sky Hunter. But the CGI is, well, still too CGI. But I guess it's still a learning curve for the Chinese movie makers in making these kinds of movies. Can't wait for the induction of the Fujian CATOBAR carrier and its stealth carrier fighter the J-35 into the Chinese Navy. Then, we can have a proper Top Gun clone movie 😄

Hi, Happy New Year! Just curious, is there any candidate movie to crack US$1b in China this coming Lunar New Year?

This is another "classic". "The Emperor and the Assasin" (荊軻刺秦王), by Director Chen Kaige and starring Gong Li. A more brutal and less romanticized retelling of the assassination attempt on the would be first emperor of Qin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTaU6ziWKD8

Have you watched the film? How do you know that it's mediocre?

I have a feeling 2019 could be the final year where the US/Canada combined "Domestic" box office would be more than the Chinese one. With the pandemic still raging across North America well into 2021, China's BO will retain its lead for next year as well. It will be interesting to see what 2022 brings.

How about Top Gun 2? Aren't the Chinese crazy over the first Top Gun movie? And if the new movie's storyline doesn't go out of its way to antagonize China, I could see huge numbers for it at the Chinese box office.

Also, if the RMB does indeed appreciates, China's box office would increase in dollar terms as well. $300m OW in ten years is the absolute MINIMUM possibility.