"Never Say Die" sets new box office record

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Thanks to the Mid-Autumn Festival taking place in the same week, China's national holiday period extended to eight days this year. This helped push the country's movie box office revenue to a new record, with around a dozen films taking in a combined 2.62 billion yuan (about 398 million US dollars). That's a 51-percent rise compared to last year's holiday week.

Domestic comedy "Never Say Die" (羞羞的铁拳) dominated the National Day holiday box office, bringing in 1.47 billion yuan (223 million US dollars).

Cast of "Never Say Die" hold press conference. /Xinhua Photo

The latest release for Fun Age Pictures, a Beijing theater troupe-turned-movie production house, features a male boxer swapping bodies with a female reporter, is adapted from one of their stage plays. This pulled in over half of the total box office take from the longest National Day holiday in Chinese history.

"I watched the stage version before. This film version still makes me laugh from beginning to end. Fun Age's comedies never let me down," said an audience member.

Poster of "The Foreigner". /Xinhua Photo

Martin Campbell’s "The Foreigner" (英伦对决) took second place, bringing in 446 million yuan (67.7 million US dollars). The thriller stars big names such as Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan.

Hong Kong director Wong Jing's "Chasing the Dragon" (追龙) grabbed third place with 398 million yuan (60.5 million US dollars ). Wong is known for his low-brow comedies, but his latest is a gangster flick, which has been praised by audiences being as his best film in recent years.

"This movie reminds me of the old-school Hong Kong gangster movies in the 1980s and 90s. And it stars Andy Lau and Donnie Yen. I like it very much," said an audience member.

Chinese musical comedy “City of Rock” (缝纫机乐队) climbed to fourth place with revenue of 259 million yuan (39.3 million US dollars). The film is comedian Da Peng’s latest effort after his big-screen debut “A Hero or Not” in 2015.

Poster of “City of Rock”. /Xinhua Photo

Actor Li Chen’s directorial debut "Sky Hunter" (空天猎) was in fifth place. The aerial action movie grossed 246 million yuan (37.4 million US dollars).

The total box office for the eight-day holiday was 2.62 billion yuan (398 million US dollars), representing a 51% year-on-year rise and setting a new record for the holiday period. 2015 was the last year with the highest box office take, at 1.85 billion yuan (281 million US dollars).

Last year, revenue for the seven-day National Day holiday period was 1.58 billion yuan (240 million US dollars), the first decline for the holiday slot in a decade.