A still of Chinese cartoon film "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" [ent.sina.com.cn]

Chinese cartoon film "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" has made a good start at the Shanghai box office since opening on Friday.

According to Shanghai United Cinema Lines, the city's leading cinema chain, the film took more than 5 million yuan (US$731,387) on the opening weekend, only about 600,000 yuan (US$87,762) less than Hollywood animation "Kung Fu Panda" made in its Shanghai opening weekend in June.

However, the film made 8 million yuan on its first day of release nationally, almost three times more than "Kung Fu Panda" made on its first day. It made 30 million yuan on the weekend nationally, making it a bull among the animations in the year of ox.

The dark horse would contribute at least 60 million yuan to the domestic movie industry by the Spring Festival, said Zhao Jun, general manager of China Film South Cinema Circuit Co Ltd.

Wu Hehu, deputy director of the cinema chain, attributed the domestic cartoon movie's success to its large fan base and the ongoing winter vacation of local students.

"This film is based on a 500-episode popular TV animation series which has already built a big fan base," Wu said. "Its opening week box office is the best-ever performance for a domestic animated film."

Audience under 10 liked the easy humor as well as the funny and stupid adventures of the little grey wolf. The film also entertained adults by adding some popular elements and metaphors to last year's hot topics, such as ticket scalpers, domestic copycat industry and the milk formula scandal.

Wu expected the film also had the potential to exceed what "Kung Fu Panda" had achieved. The Hollywood animation made about 29 million yuan at the chain's box office and more than 100 million yuan nationally.

So far, Yonghua cinema at Xujiahui has taken about 600,000 yuan in ticket sales from the film. The cinema has also received many calls inquiring about the animation film's screening time.

The film tells a hilarious story of Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, who this time face the same enemy - bacteria. With joint effort, they defeat the enemy and become friends.

(Shanghai Daily January 20, 2009)