Science-fiction blockbuster “Avatar” grossed more than 33 million yuan (4.8 million dollars) on its opening day in China this week, setting a new record, state media reported Wednesday.
James Cameron’s ground-breaking 3-D epic surpassed Zhang Yimou’s “A Simple Noodle Story”, a remake of the Coen brothers’ “Blood Simple”, which earned 21 million yuan when it opened on December 10, Xinhua news agency said.
“Avatar”, which has already grossed one billion dollars worldwide, opened on Monday in China to enthusiastic crowds of filmgoers.
The movie tells the story of paralysed war veteran Jake, who is sent on a mission from Earth to the planet Pandora, where he falls in love with a blue humanoid named Neytiri of the alien Na’vi race.
“The tickets for today were sold out before 10:00 am,” Song Lichen, the communications director for the China National Film Museum, where “Avatar” is being shown on the country’s largest IMAX screen, told Xinhua.
The agency quoted a spokesman for distributor China Film Group Corporation, Weng Li, as saying “Avatar” was likely to surpass disaster flick “2012″ as the highest-grossing film of all time in China.
China currently allows 20 foreign films to be shown in local movie theatres every year on a revenue-sharing basis, according to Chinafilm.com, a government-linked website.
Blessed with a boy-next-door appeal and a zesty personality, it’s inevitable that popular MediaCorp host Pornsak has become an instant hit with the aunties.
However, the Thai-Chinese host who came to Singapore to study at the age of ten, wasn’t too enthusiastic about the ‘auntie-killer’ label.
“Really? I don’t really want that,” said the former radio deejay, shaking his head before breaking into laughter.
He grudgingly accepted the tag and attributed his surge in popularity among the homemakers to a series of well-received heartland variety programmes.
However, I sensed that Pornsak was still slightly perturbed about his lack of affinity with the younger female audience.
“I do not understand. I was also hosting (reality singing competition) ‘Campus Superstar’. Why am I not popular among the younger female audience?” he asked.
While he couldn’t come out with an explanation for this ‘weird phenomenon’, he recalled one experiment where he and fellow MediaCorp host Lee Teng tried to test their popularity among female teens and how it backfired on him.
“I and Lee Teng were on the bus when we saw a group of young girls standing at the traffic light so we decided to prove our popularity by waving to them and see who will get the most response.”
“When it was my turn to wave, the girls simply stood there apprehensively and looked at me. It was quite awkward and I was about to give up when I saw this group of aunties standing behind them waving fervently at me. I was so ‘paiseh’ (embarrassed in Hokkien),” laughed the 27-year-old.
The unexpected outcome simply summed up the boyish host’s appeal to our domestic homemakers.
But all that could change in 2010 as Pornsak makes the leap from hosting to acting. The popular host gets top billing alongside Dai Yang Tian and Joanne Peh in the upcoming Channel 8 telemovie showcase as a bodyguard who develops a crush on Peh.
With the combination of fighting and emotional scenes, it sounds like a juicy role that could easily make him the breakout star this year. However, with only one cameo appearance on his resume, how is he coping?
“Firstly, I don’t even think that I should consider my appearance on ‘Mr and Mrs Kok’ as acting because my character in that episode was Pornsak so I was just acting as myself,” he laughed sheepishly.
He recalled how he was in a state of disbelief when producers informed him that he was selected to play the male lead in the telemovie series.
“I was thinking ‘Are they crazy, what do they see in me?’ I have to play a bodyguard that knows lion dancing and there are three things that I do not have.
“Firstly, look at my build, how to be a bodyguard? Secondly, I don’t fight and lastly, I know nuts about lion dancing,” he spoke animatedly.
Upon confirmation of his role, Pornsak immediately headed for the gym to bulk up and signed up for Muay Thai classes to pick up some basic fighting skills.
“No choice, I know I cannot fight very well but at least I must have the ’seh’ (aura in Hokkien). That’s very important when it comes to fighting,” he said.
The self-proclaimed peace-loving host admitted that fighting has never been his forte as he looked back at a particular scene which required several takes (so many that he lost count) because he kept getting the fight sequence wrong. It was so bad that the stunt choreographer had to make changes to accommodate him.
“I’m not the most athletic person to begin with and I have some problems with my hand-leg coordination. There was this particular scene where I had to punch Yang Tian with my left hand but I kept attacking with my right so we had to retake scene after scene.
“Eventually, the exasperated stunt choreographer stepped in and said, ‘Okay, no problem. You just start with your right hand.’ He had to rearrange the entire fighting sequence,” he said.
And if fight scenes weren’t difficult enough, the novice actor had to overcome another nemesis – acting. In desperation, he resorted to calling his close pal and fellow MediaCorp host Michelle Chong for a crash course in Acting 101.
“Michelle came over to my place around 10 pm after watching a play. She went through every single line in the script and even did a live demonstration. I’m so grateful to her,” he said.
Under Chong’s guidance, the diligent actor meticulously scribbled notes like ‘at this point, tilt you head up 45 degrees and look slowly across to your right’ on his script that drew laughter from the production team.
“They were looking at my script with all my scribbled notes and started laughing at what I wrote. I had no choice. There are some scenes that I simply could not relate to,” he explained.
This could be Pornsak’s toughest challenge in his eventful career to date but if everything goes according to plan, his upcoming role could be the final piece in the jigsaw for him to conquer the younger female population.
Singapore Idol winner Sezairi Sezali received 61 per cent of total votes cast in the recently concluded season of the popular singing contest.
The 22-year-old had clinched the crown against hot favourite Sylvia Ratonel, who made history as the first female Singapore Idol finalist.
Sylvia received 39 per cent of the votes.
Sezairi has signed with Universal Music Singapore, and said his album will be out by April or May.
The final results tally was announced by MediaCorp on Thursday.
Catch BlogTV.sg at 9:30pm Thursday on Channel NewsAsia, where Singapore Idol judge Ken Lim and runner-up Sylvia discuss the results and the competition.
Microsoft announced Wednesday that “Project Natal” gesture recognition games, where the human body serves as the controller, will be released at the end of the year for the Xbox 360 videogame console.
“2010 is going to be the biggest year in Xbox history,” Robbie Bach, the head of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division, said in a speech which kicked off the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) here.
“This holiday 2010 you’ll be able to bring home Project Natal which will work with your existing Xbox 360 console,” Bach told exhibitors and journalists at the gadget extravaganza.
“With Project Natal we are removing the last barrier to gaming — the controller,” he said, providing “an entirely new but completely natural way to play.
Bach’s announcement followed a keynote speech by Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, who said the US software giant has raked in 20 billion dollars from sales of 39 million Xbox 360s and more than 500 million associated games.
A prototype of Natal was unveiled to rave reviews by Microsoft at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) videogame industry show in Los Angeles in June.
The technology uses a 3-D camera and gesture recognition software to let people play videogames using natural body movements instead of handheld controllers.
Natal lets people play driving games, for example, by simply moving their hands as if turning a car steering wheel.
On-screen figures in boxing, skateboard, soccer and other sports titles mimic the body movements of real-world players.
Microsoft last year released a software kit for videogame makers interested in designing titles to take advantage of Natal’s capabilities.
British videogame icon Peter Molyneux, chief of Lionhead Studios, has described Natal as a “landmark in computer entertainment.”