China Film Group's national tribute film "The Founding of a Republic" has bagged an estimated 124 million yuan (US$18.2 million) in ticket sales in just four-and-a-half days after its debut in domestic cinemas on September 16.

The movie has set a new record among domestic-made movies for the highest first-week box office income on the Chinese mainland, previously held by the war epic "Red Cliff" in 2008. However, it was still inferior to "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen", which earned about US$ 160 million on the Chinese mainland during its opening week earlier this year.

(CRI September 22, 2009)