Weekly Box Office: “Lost in Thailand” Shatters Mainland Box Office Records

Lost in Thailand <人再囧途之泰囧> has shattered box office records to become the biggest Chinese-language film to play in mainland China theaters. As of yesterday, Lost in Thailand raked in 802 million RMB, surpassing Painted Skin 2’s <画皮2> earlier record of 702 million RMB.

Playing in theaters for only 15 days, Lost in Thailand is expected to soar higher towards the 1 billion RMB mark.

Made on a shoestring budget of 30 million RMB, Lost in Thailand’s exemplary box office performance left many gaping. The comedy, about two rival business managers setting foot in Thailand to find the company’s majority shareholder to win a contract approval, stars Xu Zheng (徐峥), Wang Baoqiang (王宝强), and Huang Bo (黄渤). Fan Binbing (范冰冰) accepted a guest starring role to support Xu Zheng’s first scripting and directorial effort.

Lost in Thailand is praised for being outrageously funny, but also contains moving elements about what to treasure most in life. Many theatergoers gathered their family and friends to see the film together, ending the year on a cheerful note.

Although last week saw the opening of Jackie Chan’s (成龍) CZ12 <十二生肖> and Chow Yun Fat’s (周潤發) The Last Tycoon <大上海>, they were no match for Lost in Thailand. For the week ending December 23, Lost in Thailand raked in weekly sales of 370 million RMB. CZ12 opened with 217.15 RMB, while The Last Tycoon earned a dismal 22.60 million RMB and The Guillotines <血滴子> 26.15 million RMB.

Mainland China Box Office 

Week Ending December 23, 2012 
(in millions RMB)

*Mainland box office figures from Sohu.com. Hong Kong box office figures for the week ending December 23, 2012 were unavailable at the time of publication.

“Lost in Thailand’s” Trailer

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