'Transformers 4' sweeps China's film records

The critically-panned sci-fi robot blockbuster "Transformers 4" has broken a series of Chinese film industry records since its opening last Friday.

"Transformers: Age of Extinction," directed by Michael Bay, smashed all previous box office records set by "Monkey King," "Iron Man 3," and "Titanic 3D." It raked in 20.80 million yuan (US$3.33 million) at midnight, setting a new record; it went on to collect 190 million yuan (US$30.42 million) on the opening day, the biggest opening day record, and 214 million yuan (US$34.26 million) on Saturday, the biggest single day box office record.

Overall, it pulled in a haul of 614 million yuan (US$98.3 million) in three days, the biggest opening weekend and breaking records as the fastest to reach the 100 - 600 million yuan marks in China's film market. By contrast, the previous record-holder "Monkey King" reached the 600 million yuan mark on its seventh day while "Titanic 3D" took ten days to reach the same mark. "Transformers 4" is on the pace to break the all-time China record set by James Cameron's "Avatar," which grossed 1.378 billion yuan (US$220.62 million) in China.

The "Transformers" movie has caused a phenomenon, and long queues in every cinema. Many could only buy tickets for the next day when tickets for the same day sold out. What is amazing is the weekend's returns show that "Transformers 4" opened to US$100 million in the United States, the biggest opening of the year so far according to Boxofficemojo.com, and the same film's China's box office performance matches its U.S. performance -- this kind of thing has never happened before, considering that although cinemas in China are booming, there are fewer than in the United States.

Although "Transformers 4" is poised to set more box office records, the metallic, explosive and loud movie was widely panned by film critics. The rating on film critic website rottentomatoes.com gave it only 16 percent fresh (good reviews), an abysmal failure. Rolling Stone's Peter Travers gave it zero stars and wrote: "Michael Bay has done the impossible...the Bay-man has made the worst and most worthless Transformers movie yet."

The film does appeal to Chinese audiences in large part because the second half of "Transformers 4" happened in China. Landmarks in Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing and Hong Kong are all included, as well as Chinese movie star Li Bingbing and various Chinese brands, such as Shuhua Milk and a short appearance of China.org.cn's logo. However, Michael Bay said his inspiration for the China scenes was creative rather than commercial. "I make movies for worldwide audiences not for specific country," Bay said at the Hong Kong premiere, "We have done filming in Egypt and many cities in America for the previous three movies. We need to find a faraway place from the United States and I have been fascinated with China, so we came. China is so beautiful, especially the scenes in Wulong. "

But "Transformers 4" was in danger of losing the China market before its debut when a dispute over a sponsorship deal threatened to disrupt the release. Beijing Pangushi Investment Co Ltd, which owns Pangu Plaza, a prominent hotel near the Beijing Olympic venues, filed a complaint to local court and demanded changes to the film because it said Paramount did not meet its obligations to feature its property in the movie and it had no "Transformers" exhibitions or press conference plans. The Beijing firm said it was revoking permission to show its buildings in the film. Paramount Pictures, Jiafix Enterprises (which help implement the agreement regarding the production of "Transformers 4" in China) and Pangushi, quickly resolve the dispute.