'Founding' breaks Chinese record
Propaganda pic earns $60 million at box office
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The state-run China Film Group hopes to build on the pic’s success with a sequel, “The Founding of a Party.”
“The Founding of a Republic,” made to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the communist state, has been a phenom in China -- a propaganda film that people actually wanted to see.
The pic, co-directed by China Film head Han Sanping and Huang Jianxin, mixes propaganda with sophisticated drama to document the key moments when Chairman Mao Zedong’s scruffy band of revolutionaries overcame Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist KMT to establish the world’s most enduring communist state.
China Film Group issued about 1,400 copies of the movie on Sept. 19 to coincide with the National Day holidays. China had nearly 4,100 screens at the end of 2008.
The big draw was probably the presence of more than 170 of China’s stars, including action heroes Jackie Chan and Jet Li, actors Leon Lai, Donnie Yen and Gou Ye, actresses Zhang Ziyi, Zhao Wei and Miao Pu, plus a host of helmers and comedy stars.
“It’s a win-win film regarding entertainment and Chinese culture,” said China Film spokesman Weng Li.
Pic still trails the all-time B.O. record set by “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” this year, but has overtaken Feng Xiaogang’s “If You Are the One,” which took $47 million last year.
