The Chinese cartoon "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" has become the biggest box office winner of home-made animations with a take of 30 million yuan (about 4.39 million U.S. dollars) from its opening weekend box office.

The revenue well surpassed the record holder "Storm Rider - Clash of Evils", an animated adaptation of the Storm Riders comic, which raked in 25 million yuan in two weeks from last summer's release, Tuesday's Beijing News reported.

The film made 8 million yuan on its first day of release on Jan. 16.

Zhao Jun, general manager of the China Film South Cinema Circuit Co. Ltd., called the cartoon movie a "dark horse" and forecasted a minimum 60-million-yuan in its total box office.

Insiders attributed the cartoon's success to the large group of potential viewers cultivated by a 500-episode popular TV animation series that had been aired for three years.

The film, based on the TV series and starring the same characters, tells a story about several goats and their old enemy Big Big Wolf, who defeat their common enemy - bacteria - together.

A manager of the Beijing-based Stellar International Cineplex was quoted as saying that the cinema has assigned a big hall which was scheduled to screen "Red Cliff II" for "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" to satisfy viewer's demand.

"Red Cliff II", an historical epic directed by Hollywood-based Hong Kong director John Woo, opened on Jan. 7 and reportedly raked in almost 180 million yuan in 11 and a half days.

(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2009)