China's 'end of the year' movie season begins

China's "end of the year" movie season has just begun. And as always, big-time directors are rushing to show their works. "Back to 1942" and "The Last Supper" both hit screens this Thursday. Who will win the duel?

Only four weeks are left for 2012. For China's year-end movie market, the last hurrah is cried out by 'Back to 1942' and 'The Last Supper'. Here we are at one of Beijing's movie theaters and we discover both films, together with 'Life of Pi', Ang Lee's 3D blockbuster, share equally the screening times.

"Back to 1942" has a 210 million investment, and its Director Feng Xiaogang is also a good promise that has never been broken. What's more, the film has a strong cast. At the premiere press conference, the director said he hadn't thought of the possible box-office, because he didn't want to under-estimate it.

Facing such a confrontation, Lu Chuan, a younger generation director, said he needed more understanding and support from audiences. "The Last Supper" was supposed to screen in the summer but was postponed to the winter. And they have only 12 days to promote it.

Lu Chuan, director of "The Last Supper" said, "We are not old film workers and we don't have an absolute monopoly on the media and market. We are just young people brave enough to face all the other films."

So far, the two seem to have equal attraction for audiences and cinemas.

Yang Tianyu, audience member said, "I'm going to watch '1942' with my family. But they don't want to see 'The Last Supper', so I'm here to see it. I'll watch both."

Xu Meng, operations manager of UME International Cineplex, said, "The films' limited release last night saw around half-full attendance. So basically the two tied. But 'Life of Pi' performed better."

By the end of last week, "Life of Pi" had raked in more than 100 million yuan after four days' screening. But it only showed for a week in IMAX on the Chinese mainland, before giving way to "Back to 1942," which will seize 3D and IMAX screens all over China for at least a month.

Whether to experience the starvation in '1942' or to join the king's 'supper', the choice wouldn't bother audiences for too long. Because there are 40 films following them. In December we're gonna see the 'Chinese Zodiac', which is directed and played by Jackie Chan, and will hit Chinese market on December the 20th. On the same day we'll also see the 'Guillotines', a 3D kongfu fighting film. And Wong Kar Wai's 'The Grandmasters' has already postponed from December to January. It seems that this is the fiercest ever competition for China's year-end movie market.

There's a reason for the crowded year-end market, or to be more exact, the new-year film season. It spans around two months but includes holidays like Christmas, New Year, Spring Festival, Lantern Festival and Valentine's Day. It contains a quarter more gold than other periods. But not everyone wants to spend all their spare time in cinemas.

Yang Tianyu said, "It's better to distribute them equally over the year. Because people won't have much time to watch every film in such a short time."

More than 600 domestic films have been made in 2012. But competing with 34 imported films, they only took 40 percent of China's total box-office in the first three seasons. Now, Chinese blockbusters are squeezed in the year-end to battle with each other.

With so many movies vying for attention, it remains to be seen just which one will grab the lion's share.