While summer vacation has finally come to an end in China, the country's film market is still doing all it can to get butts in seats. With the summer limitation on imported films finally lifted, Hollywood blockbusters are now free to compete for the attention of audiences in China. Chinese films won't be backing down either: Ulterior Motive, Lost in Hong Kong, Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe and many other major competitors are coming into the month prepared to do battle.
Among the 53 films that are scheduled to release over the next 15 days, four imported and three domestic films are very likely to dominate the market.
From abroad
Starting from Tuesday to the middle of September, overseas films will be a major force in theaters, with Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation taking the lead.
Tom Cruise, globe-hopping travel, spies, high-tech gadgets and humor; these are some of the signature elements of the Mission: Impossible franchise, and the new Rogue Nation looks to be no exception. Although Cruise is not as young as he used to be, the actor still insists on performing many of his own stunts, such as swinging around Dubai's Burj Khalif tower in Ghost Protocol and hanging from a flying plane in Rogue Nation, a decision that has earned him the respect of action fans everywhere.
While Rogue Nation keeps a majority of the crew from earlier films, this time the director seat has been turned over to Christopher McQuarrie, the director of Cruise's 2012 film Jack Reacher and the scriptwriter for The Usual Suspects (1995) and Edge of Tomorrow (2014). Actress Rebecca Ferguson is also a new addition to the franchise. Normally taking on period films, it will be interesting to see her decked out in modern attire.
Following closely behind with a September 13 release is the long anticipated animated film Minions, which debuted worldwide almost three months ago.
The cute appearance and behavior of the little yellow creatures quickly won audience hearts when they appeared in supporting roles in 2010's Despicable Me. With merchandise featuring the minions proving extremely popular, the little yellow guys have finally been given a chance to prove themselves as leads on the big screen.
The story takes place long before the first Despicable Me and finds the minions working for the evil Scarlett Overkill, who asks them to steal Queen Elizabeth II's crown.
Three years ago, Disney's Wreck-It Ralph took audiences back to their childhoods spent playing arcade games after school. This year, sci-fi action comedy Pixels looks to capitalize on that same nostalgia with a mixture of live action and CGI.
Based on the 2010 short film of the same name, Pixels sees aliens invade Earth after they misinterpret videos of classic video games as a declaration of war. Former arcade champions are called on to fight in a war involving creatures inspired by video games like Pac-Man and Space Invaders.
Poorly received critically in North America, Pixels may still be able to attract Chinese audiences with its creative hook that capitalizes on the country's former arcade fever. The film hits mainland theaters on September 15.
Coming on September 17, South Korean espionage film Assassination is probably the highest anticipated non-US films among this month's imports. While many Chinese moviegoers' tend to think of rom-coms when it comes to South Korean film, Assassination, together with last year's historical war film Roaring Currents, presents something different.
While tales of spies and assassins fighting against Japanese occupation during the 1930s is far from unfamiliar territory to moviegoers here, how South Korea approaches this subject may be the biggest selling-point for Chinese audiences, and may prove enlightening for producers of domestic TV and film.
Back at home
Making room for imports during mid-September, domestic films looking to bring in large audiences have all gathered at the end of the month, also in part to capitalize on the Mid-Autumn and National Day holidays.
While there are plenty of mid-budget comedies to satisfy audiences this month, Lost in Hong Kong stands out from the crowd due to the director and lead actor Xu Zheng's surprising box office achievement with the previous comedy in the franchise - Lost in Thailand (2012).
Just like the title indicates, this time the setting moves from Thailand to Hong Kong. While the film's plot may not be all that surprising, how the film plans on bringing laughter to audiences is something everyone is waiting to see.
Adapted from the first four books of the popular book series Ghost Blows Out the Light, Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe starts in 1979 with a military expedition that decides to explore deeper into West China's Kunlun Mountains after discovering the remains of a mysterious creature. Attacked by many more strange creatures, only one member of the expedition, Hu Bayi, is left alive. Retiring from the army years later, Hu returns to Beijing where he meets a childhood friend and a scientific research team who want him to return to the mountains to seek out the creatures.
The film's director, Lu Chuan, is well-known for his works such as Kekexili: Mountain Patrol (2004) and City of Life and Death (2009), yet his recent commercial films such as The Last Supper (2012) have not performed very well at the box office.
Set for the last day of September, Chronicles is clearly targeting the one-week holiday the one-week holiday.
Premiering that same day is action/crime film Saving Mr. Wu, which is based on the real-life kidnapping case of actor Wu Ruofu in Beijing in 2004.
While the film stars famous Hong Kong actor Andy Lau in the leading role, Wu is also participating in the film. Early press releases have revealed that the film aims to depict events as realistically as possible while also presenting a tense action story involving the conflict between police and gangsters.
