China to screen 13 films during Spring Festival holiday

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Up to 13 films will be shown across China during this year's Spring Festival, a peak time for domestic box office, the China Daily reported on Thursday.

The films include "Crazy Alien," "The New King of Comedy," "The Knight of Shadows: Between Yin and Yang," "A Boyfriend for My Girlfriend," and "Animal Rescue Squad." Twelve of them are domestic films while the animated film "Peppa Pig" is a China-Britain co-production.

A still from the film "Crazy Alien."/Photo via Xinhua News Agency

The Lunar New Year falls on February 5 this year. Most Chinese will have seven days off, usually to be with their families.

For this season, Kung Fu film star Jackie Chan will return to the big screen in his adventure film, "The Knight of Shadows: Between Yin and Yang."

A poster of the film "The Knight of Shadows: Between Yin and Yang."/Photo via Xinhua News Agency

Three sci-fi films will be screened, including "The Wandering Earth," a film adapted from Hugo Award-winning writer Liu Cixin's 2008 novel of the same name.

Figures on box office tracker Maoyan show that "Crazy Alien," a sci-fi comedy, currently tops the pre-sales box office charts for the first day of the holiday, grossing 29.3 million yuan (4.4 million U.S. dollars), according to the newspaper.

A poster of the film "The New King of Comedy."/Photo via Xinhua News Agency

It is tightly followed by Han Han's comedy "Pegasus" and "The New King of Comedy" by Stephen Chow. In 2013, Chow's movie "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons," was the film that ushered in China's annual Spring Festival box office craze.

In 2018, the Spring Festival box office revenues surged nearly 70 percent from a year earlier, the newspaper said.

(Top Photo: Audience members watch a movie wearing 3D glasses. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency