The Flowers of War ~ Chinese Movies&TV

Jīnlíng Shísān Chāi — The Flowers of War

The Flowers of War (Chinese: 金陵十三钗; pinyin: Jīnlíng Shísān Chāi), is a 2011 Chinese historical drama war film directed by Zhang Yimou who is considered as the best director in China, starring Christian Bale, Ni Ni, Zhang Xinyi, Tong Dawei, Atsuro Watabe, Shigeo Kobayashi and Cao Kefan.

Zhang Yimou, Christian Bale and Ni Ni

It is set in 1937, Nanjing, China, during the “Rape of Nanjing”, at the time of the Second Sino-Japanese War. A group of escapees, finding sanctuary in a church compound, try to survive the plight and persecution brought on by the violent invasion of the city. The film is based on the novel 13 Flowers of Nanjing, by Geling Yan.

Novel: 13 flowers of Nanjing

It was selected as the Chinese entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards, but did not make the final shortlist. It also received a nomination for the 69th Golden Globe Awards. The 6th Asian Film Awards presented The Flowers of War with several individual nominations, including Best Film. On November 7, 2011, it was announced that the film’s North American distribution rights were acquired by Wrekin Hill Entertainment, in association with Row 1 Productions, leaving The Flowers of War to a limited release in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco for late December, 2011, and expanding into the following year. Limited release for Washington, D.C., Hawaii, and Virginia commenced on January 20, 2012.

Box office:

The Flowers of War was released in China just days after the 74th anniversary of the Nanking Massacre. In its first four days of release, it took in $24 million at the box office. It was named the top-grossing Chinese film of 2011, having earned $70 million after two weeks, beating the previous title-holder Beginning of the Great Revival, which grossed $62 million. 17 days ahead, the movie had grossed up to $83 million, making it the sixth-highest grossing film in China, following American exports such as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($145.5 million) and Avatar ($204 million). After five weeks of release the movie earned $93 million in China.