BEIJING – Venice competition film "The Sun Also Rises" failed to do much rising at the Chinese box office.

Pic grossed some RMB 14 million ($1.86 million) between its local bow on Sept 17 and this Wednesday, according to its distributor PolyBona.

Figures would be quite impressive for an art-house title, but scarcely do credit to one of the most anticipated Chinese movies of the year. Release pattern was worthy of a mainstream commercial pic, boasting 400 prints and a further 200 digital prints.

A PolyBona spokesperson said the movie was taking in $133,000 a day at the moment, but Internet postings and commentaries on the pic show many viewers have struggled with the movie, saying it is "complicated" and difficult to understand.

Pic's controversial helmer, Jiang Wen hit back at such criticism telling one publication that if his partner could understand it then so could others. Jiang stars in the film, alongside Joan Chen and Zhou Yun. Pic took one year to make.

Pic, with a production budget approaching $10 million that made it one of the most expensive Chinese films of the year, is Jiang's third as helmer and his first since the end of a five-year ban for taking his previous effort "Devils on the Doorstep" without official permission.

 

(Written by Clifford Coonan, 27 September 2007, www.varietyasiaonline.com)