CHINA BOX OFFICE: Local romantic drama My Old Classmate beat Donnie Yen action drama Iceman 3D at the Chinese box office last weekend, grossing $17.31m in its first three days.

Directed by Frant Gwo, My Old Classmate stars Zhou Dongyu, who previously starred in Zhang Yimou’s Under The Hawthorn Tree, and Lin Gengxin (Young Detective Dee: Rise Of The Sea Dragon). The film, which taps into the current trend for nostalgia-drenched romantic dramas, is distributed by Beijing-based Enlight Pictures.

Iceman 3D, starring Yen, Wang Baoqiang and Huang Shengyi, came in second with $11.28m over its opening weekend (April 25-27). Directed by Law Wing-cheong, the film follows an imperial guard and three traitors who are frozen for 400 years and continue their battle when finally defrosted. The film was produced by China 3D Digital Entertainment (3D Sex And Zen: Extreme Ecstasy) and distributed by Beijing-based Le Vision Pictures.

The two openers pushed Captain America: The Winter Soldier to third position in the weekly chart (April 21-27), with a fourth week gross of $8.94m. The Disney/Marvel production has now made an impressive $107.22m in mainland China.

Dante Lam’s That Demon Within came in fourth with $7.73m in its second week for a cumulative gross of $15.67m. Transcendence took fifth position with a weekly gross of $7.17m and a cume of $17.82m. Fox animation Rio 2 grossed $6.78m for sixth position and a cume of $31.79m.

The next four places in the chart were taken up by local productions: mystery thriller Best Suspects grossed $560,000 for a cume of $1.34m; horror Death Is Here 3 took $230,000 ($5.47m); romantic comedy Delete My Love took $220,000 ($3.76m), tying with Aubrey Lam’s The Truth About Beauty, which also grossed $220,000 ($13.38m).

The upcoming weekend is a national holiday in China (May 1-3). The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is scheduled to open on May 4.

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