Avatar continues to set records in China, grossing 300 mln yuan in 8 days

BEIJING, Jan. 13 -- Hollywood blockbuster "Avatar" pulled in 309

million yuan (about 45 million U.S. dollars) nationwide as of Monday, spokesman

of the China Film Group Corporation, the movie's distributor in China, said on

Wednesday.

Weng Li said it was the first movie in the country to reach the figure

within eight days.

The 3D epic earned 56 million yuan at the box office last Saturday alone,

surpassing the American adventure movie "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"

which took 43 million yuan on its most successful day.

"Avatar" scooped around 33.03 million yuan when it opened on Jan.4,

becoming the most successful film in China in terms of opening day box office

sales.

"Its schedule is perfect," Li Xianping, general manager of Beijing Ziguang

Cinema, said, "It almost has no competition since few blockbusters have been

released recently in the country."

"Novel 3D technology and positive reviews from audiences also have

influenced ticket sales," she added.

"Avatar' occupies more than 90 per cent of the whole box office," said Wu

Hehu, deputy general manager of Shanghai United Circuit, a major distributor in

the country.

He said all weekends' IMAX tickets for the month had been sold out at the

company's Peace Cinema in Shanghai.

In Beijing, people are lining up from the small hours of the morning

outside the China National Film Museum, which has the largest IMAX screen in the

country, to buy "Avatar" tickets, Song Lichen, communication officer at the

museum told Xinhua.

Weng believed the science fiction epic was on course to hit 500million yuan

in China.

"The film is likely to break the box office record set by '2012'," said

Weng in an earlier interview. The disaster film had raked in 460 million yuan in

2009 after it premiered in China on Nov. 13 to become the box office champion in

the country.

Since its premiere on Dec. 18, 2009 in North America, James Cameron's new

film has taken more than 1.3 billion U.S. dollars worldwide, second only to his

romance "Titanic" which earned 1.8 billion U.S. dollars.