Peter Chan's new martial arts epic, "The Warlords," has beaten
Ang Lee's much bankable "Lust, Caution" to secure the No.1 spot at
the 2007 Chinese-language box-office.
As of Sunday, "The Warlords" has raked in 260 million yuan
(US$35.74 million), ten million more than "Lust, Caution," the
second strongest box-office winner, said a report on Web portal
Sina.com.cn.
"The Warlords" is being or has been screened in the Chinese
mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as Singapore and Malaysia.
It reaped 200 million yuan on the mainland alone, making Peter Chan
the second Chinese director, following Zhang Yimou, to have crossed
the 200-million-yuan boundary.
The film, starring Andy Lau, Jet Li, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Xu
Jinglei, revolves around the story of three sworn brothers in the
Qing Dynasty in the 1860s.
(CRI January 8, 2008)