Promotional material for Full River Red Photo: Courtesy of Maoyan

'Full River Red'

Chinese director Zhang Yimou's Full River Red is a highly anticipated costume film starring comedy actor Shen Teng and hit star Jackston Yee. The film is scheduled to be released on Sunday, and the pre-sale has reached 68.94 million yuan ($10.15 million) as of Wednesday, topping the pre-sale rank in the Chinese New Year film period, according to Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan. 

The name Full River Red comes from a poem by Yue Fei, a military general during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) who was well-known for his patriotism and loyalty to his country. 

The film tells a historical story based on the era of the Southern Song Dynasty.



'Hidden Blade'

Hidden Blade, starring Hong Kong veteran Tony Leung and Chinese mainland star Wang Yibo is a period suspense film. The film will be aired on Sunday, and the pre-sale has reached 68.90 million yuan ($10.14 million) as of Wednesday, ranking the third on the list, according to Maoyan. The film tells the story of underground workers risking their lives to send out information and defend their motherland during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-45).

"In Shanghai during the war time, it was a chaotic world where good and bad people were mixed together. The underground workers risked for their mission under such condition, we created our story based on those unsung heroes," producer Yu Dong said at a press conference on Tuesday.