Zhang Yimou's "Cliff Walkers" tops 700 mln yuan at China's box office

BEIJING, May 9 (Xinhua) -- The cumulative box office revenue of "Cliff Walkers," Chinese director Zhang Yimou's first foray into the spy genre, hit 700 million yuan (about 108 million U.S. dollars) early on Sunday morning.

The action thriller grossed more than 52 million yuan on Saturday, marking the sixth consecutive day it has dominated China's daily box office since its release on April 30, data from the China Movie Data Information Network shows.

"Cliff Walkers" is set in 1930s Harbin, northeast China. It follows Communist Party special agents as they test their wits against their enemies to complete a secret mission.

Rao Shuguang, president of the China Film Critics Association, has hailed Zhang's new film as not only a personal breakthrough for the director in terms of film genre and narrative exploration, but also an expansion and breakthrough for China's new patriotic films.

Box office tracker Maoyan predicts "Cliff Walkers" will complete its run with a total revenue of approximately 1 billion yuan.

"Break Through the Darkness," a crime action tentpole telling the story of China's fight against organized crime, continued to hold strong in second place. Its latest gains of 31 million yuan have brought its total sales closer to the 200-million-yuan mark.