"The Mystery of the Talisman uses excellent action scenes and stunning visual spectacle to tell audiences a story rooted in the ancient Chinese legend of the twelve zodiac animals.
In this tale, Jackie Chan transforms into a treasure-hunting expert, embarking on an adventure with his father and his niece Jade.
To be honest, I haven't seen such a thrilling treasure-hunting adventure movie since Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 1989.
I recommend everyone to go watch the film. It's a must-see movie this summer."—Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"Although Christopher Nolan is still a new director with only two feature-length films to his name, he's already showing signs of a mature filmmaker.
In The Mystery of the Talisman, Director Nolan demonstrates exceptional camera work. Additionally, the film's visual effects and action scenes reach the highest Hollywood standards.
Hans Zimmer's soundtrack, which incorporates an oriental flavor, complements the film beautifully and is worth listening to as a standalone score as well."—New York Post
"What surprised me most in the film was the young Chinese actress Chang Shu. Though she's not even fifteen yet, her mature performance in the movie already shows that she is a rising star.
Furthermore, Manda Wu and Bingbing Li also gave commendable performances. Bingbing Li fully displayed what can only be described as the elegance of an Eastern beauty.
I think she will become the dream girl of many North American teenagers for some time…" —Los Angeles Business Daily
Seeing the news headline that she might become the dream girl of North American teenagers made Bingbing Li's cheeks flush with red. Domestic media are still too conservative; North American media, on the other hand, always speak their mind—they're known for their bold style.
Gilbert, however, felt that Sarah was actually being quite generous. All that praise he felt a little embarrassed just reading it.
A North American dream girl could be anyone, and that includes Bingbing Li. But if she wanted to claim that spot, it wouldn't be so easy.
Because ahead of her stood countless other dream girl candidates still waiting for their chance.
Frankly speaking, the actresses from the San Fernando Valley were all more likely than Bingbing Li to make it.
After grossing $59.209 million in its opening weekend, The Mystery of the Talisman entered its second week of weekday screenings, and the film crew officially kicked off their North American promotional tour.
Jackie already had a certain level of popularity in North America, and the scale of the promotion was in line with that of a typical commercial film.
The cast did roadshows in several cities and appeared on a few talk shows for interviews to promote the film, which generated a decent response.
During the four weekdays, the film pulled in $22.527 million at the box office a rather strong result. Over the second weekend, it made another $20.326 million.
With that, the film's North American box office reached $120.62 million in just ten days.
While this result wasn't as jaw-dropping as The Return of the King or Spider-Man, which both grossed over $100 million in just three days, it still counted as a solid performance for a commercial film.
Professional box office forecasting agencies predicted that The Mystery of the Talisman would ultimately gross between $180 million and $220 million in North America.
However, the film did not manage to retain its box office crown during the second weekend. That week, New Line Cinema's Austin Powers in Gold Member debuted and raked in $73.5 million, snatching the number one spot.
Though The Mystery of the Talisman missed out on the North American crown, it opened in multiple countries and markets that week, where it also saw impressive results.
When The Mystery of the Talisman landed in the Chinese market, Chinese moviegoers finally got to see a film starring Chinese actors in a Hollywood production. It sparked a viewing frenzy not seen since The Return of the King, earning 34.8 million RMB in its opening weekend.
Thanks to this movie,Shu Chang and Bingbing Li truly skyrocketed to fame in the Chinese-language film industry.
It's just a pity that, in this era, movie actors may carry more prestige, but their reach and audience impact can't compare to the actors from popular TV dramas. So despite their success,Shu Chang and Bingbing Li still weren't as well-known as some of the hottest TV stars.
Still, they were the envy of actors across the mainland, because they had roles in a Hollywood film and rumor had it the North American box office had already passed the $100 million mark.
In this era, who else could star in a film that crossed $100 million at the North American box office? Probably only the cast of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Another unexpected effect of The Mystery of the Talisman was that it accelerated the influx of capital into the film industry—especially from coal magnates and real estate tycoons.
Numerous film companies sprang up like mushrooms after the rain, and many film projects were approved quickly, particularly big-budget historical epics, since foreigners showed strong interest in them.
It can be said that, ever since the 1990s, China's domestic film industry had suffered from a lack of funding, but that situation had now greatly improved.
And famous directors were no longer short on investments—many investors were throwing money at them to make movies.
This boom was mainly due to the explosive growth of the Chinese film market over the past couple of years, giving people hope and attracting massive inflows of hot money into the industry.
For Chinese-language filmmakers, this was a rare and valuable opportunity.
Outside of China, Jackie Chan appeal in Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia remained strong.
The film grossed $5.27 million in South Korea, $10.356 million in Japan, and a combined $8.224 million across various Southeast Asian regions.
Surprisingly, outside of East and Southeast Asia, the overseas box office champion turned out to be Mexico, where it earned $4.268 million.
Other release regions included Australia, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and more than a dozen other countries and markets.
As for Europe, the film is scheduled to gradually premiere in one to two weeks.
Still, in its first week of wide overseas release, the film grossed $44.362 million, and combined with its North American earnings, it successfully claimed the number one spot in global box office rankings.
For a Hollywood film whose biggest star is Jackie Chan, with its most recognizable figure being producer Gilbert, and the rest of the cast being virtually unknown, and with such a unique subject matter, this performance is already more than satisfactory.
Gilbert emphasized in communication with the crew: "Now that the first installment has made a name for itself, the second and third will only get better, and the audience will become more and more eager to see them."
Gilbert's professional judgment regarding films is very convincing, so no one is particularly worried about any surprises with The Mystery of the Talismans.
In fact, Gilbert believes that The Mystery of the Talismans will surpass $500 million in global box office, a figure that would be more than enough to convince studio executives to move forward with sequel productions.
However, according to the current schedule, the sequel won't begin production until next year at the earliest.
Jackie Chan has to first focus on filming Rush Hour 3, and Nolan doesn't plan on directing the sequels.
Still, Gilbert already has directors in mind for the rest of the series: he's chosen Alfonso Cuarón from Mexico and Tsui Hark from Hong Kong to collaborate.
In the first film, Tang Jili, recommended by Jackie Chan, didn't quite meet Gilbert's expectations, so he decided to replace Tang with someone more suitable.
Tsui Hark, upon seeing that it was a Hollywood blockbuster and the sequel to The Mystery of the Talismans, which had sparked a viewing frenzy in Hong Kong—readily accepted.
Although the sequel project hasn't officially started yet, he has already flown in from Hong Kong to meet Gilbert in person and has also been in contact with Alfonso Cuarón to begin planning the next film.
In many ways, The Mystery of the Talismans can be considered one of the earliest co-productions between China and the United States.
Its release went very smoothly, encountering little to no smear campaigns, making it a promising start for future collaborations of this kind.
It remains to be seen whether there will be more and more China–U.S. co-productions in the future.
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