China Box Office: ‘Battle at Lake Changjin’ Roars Past $80M as Holiday Weekend Gets Underway
The Hollywood Reporter
China’s latest war epic The Battle at Lake Changjin, co-directed by A-list Chinese filmmakers Chen Kaige, Hark Tsui and Dante Lam, has rocketed to the top of China’s box office during the opening days of the country’s long National Day holiday period.
The film was released Thursday and had already earned approximately $82 million by 6 p.m. local time Friday, according to local ticketing app Maoyan, which projects the film will finish its run with a total of well over $500 million. China’s National Day holiday period stretches over the Oct. 1-7 period and is typically one of the country’s biggest box office windows of the year.
The powerful start all but assures that The Battle at Lake Changjin will emerge as the weekend’s biggest earner at the worldwide box office, beating MGM’s much anticipated Bond installment No Time to Die, which is forecast to pull in $80 million to $100 million from more than 50 global markets. Battle at Lake Changjin will easily top $150 million from just one market — China.
Produced by Bona Film Group and state-backed film companies Shanghai Film Group and Huaxia, The Battle at Lake Changjin is believed to be China’s most expensive film ever made, with a production budget of over $200 million — considerably more than recent Hollywood war epics like Sam Mendes’ 1917 ($95 million) and Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk ($150 million).
The Battle at Lake Changjin also stars China’s most bankable leading man, Wu Jing, star of Wolf Warrior 2 (2017), which remains the biggest Chinese film in box office history with $867 million. Twenty-year-old rising star Jackson Yee, the lead of the Oscar-nominated Better Days ($230 million) and A Little Red Flower ($216 million), co-stars alongside Wu.
The film glorifies Chinese sacrifices and heroism during the real-life, 1950 Battle at Lake Changjin during the Korean War (or “the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea,” as it is known in China). A crucial victory for the Chinese side, the historic battle saw the PLA overcome long odds to successfully blow up the Shuimen Bridge and push U.S. military forces into retreat.
The Global Times tabloid ran a story Friday arguing for the film’s “implications for today’s China-U.S. competition,” citing chest-thumping social media commentary about the movie — such as a Weibo user who wrote, “Had the feeling that Chinese people are not, and have never been, afraid of the US; Seventy years ago, the U.S. could not win the Korean War, and they can’t win today’s trade war either” — as well as various local military experts, such as one who emphasized that “the film shows that the Chinese people don’t provoke troubles, but never flinch when trouble comes their way and are able to defeat provocations, which has great implications for today’s China-U.S. competition.”
The Battle at Lake Changjin has generated strong scores with Chinese filmgoers — 9.5 on Maoyan and 7.6 on Douban — which should assure that it retains its frontrunner position throughout the long holiday.
Other National Day releases pulling in big numbers include tentpole ensemble film My Country, My Parents, which had earned a healthy $35 million by early Friday evening in China.
The film is the third installment in a series of patriotic ensemble films that began with 2019’a My People, My Country, which earned a whopping $425 million — only to be narrowly beaten by the second film in the series, My People, My Homeland, which brought in $433 million last October. Maoyan currently projects the new feature, My Country, My Parents, to finish its run with considerably less, about $192 million.
Like its predecessors, the new film aims to tell a series of charming stories of ordinary Chinese life, stirring a sense of pride in Chinese culture. My Country, My Parents comprises four vignettes, each directed by an A-list actor/director, including Wolf Warrior‘s Wu Jing; actress Zhang Ziyi (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) in her directorial debut; comedy hitmaker Xu Zheng (star of Dying to Survive, 2018, $451 million), and comedy actor turned director Shen Teng (most recently seen in Hi, Mom, which earned $822 million earlier this year).
Several smaller Chinese films opened Friday to make a run at the holiday box office, but The Battle at Lake Changjin and My Country, My Parents, were overwhelmingly dominant, taking 64 percent and 29 percent of the day’s total ticket sales, respectively.
词汇：
1.epic
表示“史诗般的电影（或书籍）”，英文解释为“a long film/movie or book that contains a lot of action, usually about a historical subject”。
2.A-list
A-list表示“知名的，成功的”（used for describing people who are the most famous），如：A-list celebrities 一线明星。B-list就表示“ 二流的”（used for describing people who are quite famous but not as famous as the A-list people），如：B-list actors 二流演员。
🎬电影《自由作家》（Freedom Writers）中的台词提到：This was an A-list school before they came here. 他们来这之前这是个顶级学校。
3. rocket
rocket作动词除了表示“迅速上升，猛涨”，也可以表示“迅速取得成功；一举成名”，英文解释为“to achieve a successful position very quickly”，举个🌰：
Their new album rocketed to number one in the charts.
他们的新专辑跃居排行榜首位。
4. project
表示“预计，推算”，英文解释为“to calculate an amount or number expected in the future from information already known”举个🌰：
Government spending is projected to rise by three percent next year.
明年政府的支出预计将增加3%。
5.run
熟词僻义，表示“（一部戏的）连续上演（期）”，英文解释为“the period during which a play is performed”举个🌰：
The musical's London run was a disaster.
该音乐剧在伦敦的演出彻底失败。
6. well
用于强调某些介词，英文解释为“used to emphasize some prepositions ”举个🌰：
The results are well above/below what we expected.
结果比我们预想的要好/差得多。
7. star
表示“由…主演”，英文解释为“If a play or movie stars a famous actor or actress, he or she has one of the most important parts in it.”举个🌰：
It is a Hollywood movie, "The Secret of Santa Vittoria," directed by Stanley Kramer and starring Anthony Quinn.
这是一部由斯坦利·克莱默执导、安东尼·奎因主演的名为《圣维多利亚的秘密》的好莱坞影片。
8. bankable
这个词的意思大家应该不难猜出来。bank表示”银行“，银行里有什么？钱。-able这个后缀表示”有能力的；能够达成的“。那么整合起来就是”有能力赚到很多钱的“，所以bankable的意思是”卖座的；吸金的；能赚大钱的“。英文解释是：In the entertainment industry, someone or something that is described as bankable is very popular and therefore likely to be very profitable. 举个🌰：
This film made him the most bankable star in Hollywood.
这部电影让他一举成为了好莱坞最卖座的明星。
9. glorify
表示“吹捧；吹嘘；美化”，英文解释为“to make sth seem better or more important than it really is”举个🌰：
He denies that the movie glorifies violence.
他否认这部影片美化暴力。
📺美剧《超感猎杀》（Sense8）中的台词提到：Movies like what? - Movies that glorify violence.哪类电影? - 那种美化宣扬暴力的电影
10. retreat
1) 表示“to move away from someone or something”，英文解释为“后退；离开；退避”举个🌰：
It was not a conscious choice to retreat from public life.
退出公众生活并非有意为之。
2) 表示“撤回（计划）”，英文解释为“to decide not to do something you were planning to do, because it was unpopular or too difficult written”举个🌰：
The Canadian government has retreated from a plan to kill 10 wolves.
加拿大政府取消了要杀死10头狼的计划。
11. tabloid
tabloid /ˈtæblɔɪd/ 表示“通俗小报（文短图多，内容多为名人逸事，常被视为不太严肃；版面通常比大报小一半）”，英文解释为“(sometimes disapproving) a newspaper of this size with short articles and a lot of pictures and stories about famous people, often thought of as less serious than other newspapers”举个🌰：
The story made the front page in all the tabloids.
这件事成了所有小报的头版新闻。
12. run
熟词僻义，表示“刊登；发表；包含（某种词语、内容等）”，英文解释为“When newspapers or magazines run a particular item or story or if it runs, it is published or printed.”如：Their argument ran something like this... 他们的论点大致是这样的…，举个🌰：
The New York Times ran a series of four scathing editorials.
《纽约时报》连续刊登了4篇尖刻的社论。
13.story
熟词僻义，可以表示“新闻报道”，英文解释为“a report in a newspaper, magazine or news broadcast”如：a front-page story 头版报道。
14. chest-thumping
表示“拍胸口（夸夸其谈）的”，英文解释为“used to describe behaviour that is intended to show how powerful and strong you are, or a person that behaves like this”举个🌰：
This display of chest-thumping triumphalism was most unseemly.
这种夸夸其谈的胜利主义做法是最不得体的。
15. flinch
表示“（因疼痛或恐惧）猛地一颤；畏缩，退缩”，英文解释为“to make a sudden, small movement because of pain or fear”举个🌰：
He didn't even flinch when the nurse cleaned the wound.
护士清洗伤口的时候，他都一点也没畏缩。
16. provocation
provocation就是由动词provoke“激起，引起”变化而来，表示“激怒；挑衅；挑衅性事件”，英文解释为“If you describe a person's action as provocation or a provocation, you mean that it is a reason for someone else to react angrily, violently, or emotionally.”
17. -goer
-goer，这个用法很常见，表示“常去...的人；...迷”，如：cinema-goer 或者movie-goer可以表示影迷，电影观众。还有诸如gym-goer, shopping-goer, ...
18.front-runner
表示“（比赛、竞赛中的）领先者；赛跑中跑在前头的人；最有可能获胜者”，英文解释为“In a competition or contest, the front-runner is the person who seems most likely to win it.”举个🌰：
She is one of the front-runners in the contest.
她是竞赛中的领先者之一。
19.tentpole
表示“大片（电影）”，英文解释为“a film that is expected to be very successful and so able to fund a range of related products or films”。
20.ensemble
表示“集成；全体，整体；剧团；（尤指）乐团”，英文解释为“a group of things or people acting or taken together as a whole, especially a group of musicians who regularly play together”举个🌰：
She bought a dress and matching hat, gloves, and shoes - in fact the whole ensemble.
她买了一件连衣裙，还有与之配套的帽子、手套和鞋子——实际上是全都配齐了。
21.healthy
表示“大而显得成功的；可观的”，英文解释为“large and showing success”如：a healthy bank balance 一大笔银行结余，a healthy profit 丰厚的利润。
22.whopping
whopping /ˈwɒpɪŋ/ 表示“庞大的，巨大的”，英文解释为“If you describe an amount as whopping, you are emphasizing that it is large.”如：a whopping fee 一笔巨额费用，举个🌰：
She won awhopping91.2 percent yes vote.
她赢得了91.2%的高票支持。
23.narrowly
此处作为副词，表示“勉强地；将将；以毫厘之差”，英文解释为“only by a small amount”，举个🌰：
She narrowly missed winning the race.
她与大奖失之交臂。
补充：
📍narrow本身作形容词表示“狭窄，狭隘的，有限的”等，如：a narrow bridge/passage/gap 狭窄的桥梁/通道/缝隙，a narrow face 瘦长的脸；
还可以指“勉强的，差距微小的”，英文解释为“If you have a narrow victory, you succeed in winning but only by a small amount.”举个🌰：
Voters approved the plan by a narrow majority.
投票人以微弱的多数通过了这个方案。
补充：
📍narrow victory/defeat/majority/margin
险胜/惜败/微弱多数/微小的差距
📍a narrow escape表示“死里逃生”（a situation in which you avoid danger although you very nearly do not）举个🌰：
We got out in time but it was a narrow escape.
我们险些未能及时逃脱。
📍a narrow squeak表示“险胜，侥幸成功”(a success that was almost a failure）举个🌰：
We caught the ferry but it was a narrow squeak.
我们险些没赶上渡船。
📍narrow-minded（adj.）表示“心胸狭窄的，气量小的”（not willing to accept ideas or ways of behaving that are different from your own），如：narrow-minded opinions/views 狭隘的观点，a narrow-minded person 心胸狭窄的人。与之相反的是：broad-minded 心胸宽广的。
24.bring in
表示“赚得”，英文解释为“Someone or something that brings in money makes it or earns it.”举个🌰：
I have three part-time jobs, which bring in about $24,000 a year.
我有3份兼职工作，一年能赚大约$24000。
25. feature
熟词僻义，表示“（电影的）正片，故事片”，英文解释为“the main film/movie in a cinema programme”。
26.predecessor
predecessor表示“前任，前辈；原有事物，前身”，英文解释为“someone who had a job or a position before someone else, or something that comes before another thing in time or in a series”。
📍successor表示“继任者，接替者；继承人；接替的事物”，英文解释为“someone or something that comes after another person or thing”举个🌰：
This range of computers is very fast, but their successors will be even faster.
这个系列的电脑速度很快，但它的换代产品速度会更快。
27.stir
stir表示“激发，激起（强烈的感情）；引起（强烈的反应）”，英文解释为“to make someone have a strong feeling or reaction”，举个🌰：
The poem succeeds in stirring the imagination.
这首诗能够激发起想象力。
28.vignette
vignette /vɪˈnjɛt/ 表示“（清晰展示人物特征、局势等的）短文，简介，花絮；（表演）片段，小品”，英文解释为“a short piece of writing or acting that clearly shows what a particular person, situation, etc. is like”。
29.-turned
...-turned-...，字面意思也是很好理解，xxx转变为xxx的，turned可以解释为“...出身的”（someone who has done one job and then does something completely different），比如，English-teacher-turned-founder of ...英语老师出身的xxx公司创始人，an actor turned politician 演员出身的政治家，a housewife turned author家庭主妇出身的作家。
run这个词真的很灵活，除了有跑、运营、上演、刊登的意思，还有打理的意思，前几天看《绝望的主妇》里有句They've got a $200 million pension fund. They're looking for somebody to run.他们手上的两个亿退休金需要打理。
好句子：
1. A crucial victory for the Chinese side,the historic battle saw the PLA overcome long odds to successfully blow up the Shuimen Bridge and push U.S. military forces into retreat.
2. The film shows thatthe Chinese people don’t provoke troubles, but never flinch when trouble comes their way and are able to defeatprovocations, which has great implications for today’s China-U.S. competition.”
