CHINA BOX OFFICE: Tsui Hark’s The Taking Of Tiger Mountain topped the China box office with a robust $51.72m in its opening six days, while Gu Changwei’s Love On The Cloud opened in second place with $23.17m over five days.

Tsui Hark’ 3D epic action film is based on Qu Bo’s novel Tracks In The Snowy Forest , about a group of PLA soldiers battling bandits in northeast China during the 1940s. Produced by Bona Film Group, it stars Zhang Hanyu and Lin Gengxin.

Huayi Brothers’ Love On The Cloud, starring Chen He and Angelababy, is a romantic drama about dating and ambition in modern-day Beijing.

Last week’s box office champion, Jiang Wen’s Gone With The Bullets, fell to third place in its second week, grossing $20.23m between December 22-28, according to EntGroup figures.

After 11 days in release, the film has grossed $75.5m, a little under expectations. And as John Woo’s The Crossing Part 1 has also taken less than expected with a cume of $32.38m after 27 days, observers are speculating that China’s year-end box office may fall short of the $5bn total that was previously predicted.

On the other hand, Zhang Yibai’s Fleet Of Time has been an unexpected year-end hit, grossing a further $4.35m last week for a cume of $93.47m and fourth place in the chart. The Crossing Part 1 came in fifth with $2.58m over the week.

Animated feature The Nut Job, a co-production between Canada, the US and South Korea, grossed $2.53m over its opening three days, while Meet Miss Anxiety took $1.68m for a cume of $25.91m after 17 days.

Three new releases scrambled for the very low spoils at the bottom of the top ten: Spanish sci-fi thriller The Last Days took $1.29m in three days; local drama Golden Brother grossed $1.27m in five days; and local horror Death Trip took $670,000 in three days.

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