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October 23, 2006

TRIAD ELECTION US RELEASE

So TRIAD ELECTION (maiden name: ELECTION 2) is coming out on April 25 at Film Forum in New York followed by a national roll-out and the DVD of ELECTION 1.

Bummer, but the movies have been extremely profitable for Milkyway. ELECTION 1 and 2 had a combined budget of HK$50 million and a combined box office gross of HK$29 million and combined overseas sales (according to Dennis Law, Milkyway's chairman) of HK$40 million (which is about US$5 million).

Not so good news for EXILED, which opened to do HK$430,000 on 37 screens on its first day (ELECTION and ELECTION 2 had opening grosses of over HK$1 million on their opening days and they were both Category III movies). EXILED went on to gross HK$2.62 million over the weekend, despite good reviews, a wide marketing campaign and a wide release - this makes it the number two movie for the weekend (after WORLD TRADE CENTER) and gives it a softer opening than even THE DEPARTED (HK$3.89 million).

(Thanks to the sharp-eyed reader who sent this in)

October 23, 2006 at 10:09 AM in News | Permalink

Comments

It's a shame (re: Exiled). It is indeed a great movie. Probably tied for my favorite To film (tied with Throwdown).

Posted by: Simon Abrams | Oct 23, 2006 10:17:25 AM

But if you look at the box office gross for "The Mission" (which isn't a bit of a stretch since it does feature almost the exact same cast and appeal to the exact same audience), "Exiled" isn't doing all that bad. At the time of its theatrical release, "The Mission" did only about HK$4 million at the box office. "Exile" has already made HK$2.62 million in its opening weekend. Milkyway's "heroic bloodshed" films have never done very well at the box office, so the performance of "Exiled" is on par for it to do about HK$5-7 million, which would be the usual box office for a To heroic bloodshed picture.

Honestly, I don't think To, with his track record, would expect much more than this, even after the success of the Election series("The Mission" came on the heels of another hit To flick, "Running out of Time."), whose success really came from the controversy surrounding the film.

Maybe To should've just kept the "triad handshake" in Exiled

Posted by: Kevin Ma | Oct 23, 2006 5:45:20 PM

EXILED's Anthony Wong has a small but meaty, English-language role (as a Chinese colonel) in the forthcoming adaptation/remake of THE PAINTED VEIL, with Edward Norton and Naomi Watts. I was surprised, and pleased, to see him (liked the movie, too).

Posted by: Robert Cashill | Oct 23, 2006 7:16:19 PM

But EXILED also receives much bigger marketing campaign than what THE MISSION received in 1999.

(Of course, EXILED is also much more expensive than THE MISSION...... EXILED was cost HK$40 million to make, THE MISSION was cost about HK$3 million to make)

Posted by: no name | Oct 23, 2006 7:55:33 PM

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