Van Damme Spoof Is Killing Chinese Box Office

Big numbers are being pulled by a new movie starring Jean Claude Van Damme at the Chinese box office.  Pancake Man (AKA Jianbin Man) has been setting some records there according to Variety.  They say that the film opened Friday and enjoyed 179,000 screenings that allowed it to power to $69m million in three days. That total included the $22.4 million record on Friday for the biggest live action opening day by a Chinese movie. It beat the previous benchmark, set only a week before by “Tiny Times 4.0.

So yet more proof that the Chinese film market is emerging as a major competitive force and a place to be if you want to earn those big bucks.  Which isn’t really surprising.

The film tells the story of a poor street food vendor who gains super powers from his pancakes (jian bing). Pancake Man features Jean Claude Van Damme as a villain and is written, directed and stars Da Peng, who is a well-known in China for his web series Diors Man