China's top film makers duel at box office
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-12-19 22:19

No-one has done as much for the modern Chinese movie industry as venerated directors Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou. So as China celebrates its centenary of cinema this month, it's apt that the country's leading lights are going head-to-head at the box office.

A man looks at advertising posters for 'The Promise' at a Beijing cinema house. No-one has done as much for the modern Chinese movie industry as venerated directors Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou. So as China celebrates its centenary of cinema this month, it's apt that the country's leading lights are going head-to-head at the box office. [AFP]

Surprisingly though, Zhang, director of big-budget blockbusters "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers", has gone back to basics with a modestly budgeted art film, while Chen has taken over the epic martial arts mantle with the most expensive Chinese-made film ever made.

Despite the films' differences, talk of rivalry is rife as Chen's 42 million dollar fantasy film "The Promise" opened in Beijing on Wednesday, just a week before the release of Zhang's down-to-earth "Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles".

But Zhang is downplaying the significance.

"Everyone is putting ("The Promise" and "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles") together and I think is a good thing because if everyone is talking about them then they will do well at the box office," he said in an interview in the current edition of New Weekly.

"But for myself, I don't really pay attention to this because I think that to make movies by competing against someone else is just too ridiculous. It should be enough just to try to make a good film."