Chinese blockbuster Wolf Warriors 2 kicks Forrest Gump off list of top 100 grossing films
The film is riding the wave of China’s new-found patriotic fervour at the movies, whipped up by the ruling Communist Party
Fresh from shattering China’s box office record, patriotic blockbuster Wolf Warriors 2 has claimed another slice of history by becoming the first non-Hollywood film to break into the top 100 all-time grossing movies worldwide.
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The flag-waving action movie’s plot line of Chinese soldiers saving war-ravaged Africans from Western baddies has resonated in an increasingly self-assured China. The film last week became the country’s all-time top earner less than two weeks after its release.
The strength of those domestic receipts has now propelled the film on to industry monitor Box Office Mojo’s all-time 100 list, where on Wednesday it knocked 1994’s Forrest Gump from the No. 100 spot.
Box Office Mojo says Wolf Warriors 2 has grossed US$682 million worldwide, nearly all of it in Chinese cinemas.
But it looked likely to climb further up the list – latest figures from the official China Movie Data Information Network says Wolf has already raked in 4.75 billion yuan (HK$5.5 billion) in domestic sales as of Wednesday.
That would put it nearly another 10 places higher on Box Office Mojo’s list, in the company of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1, and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
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The film is filled with special effects, stunts and explosions worthy of Hollywood, and boasts a rather ominous tagline: “whoever offends China will be hunted down no matter how far away they are”.