Beijing: "Dead To Rights," a film on the Nanjing Massacre, has taken China's summer box office by storm, surpassing 1 billion yuan (about 140 million U.S. dollars) in just eight days. Directed by Shen Ao, the film became the first post-Spring Festival release to achieve this box office milestone and has maintained its daily box office dominance in China since its July 25 debut.
According to Namibia Press Agency, the film has topped daily box office charts in all provincial-level regions across the Chinese mainland for five consecutive days through Friday. So far, it has attracted over 30 million admissions, reflecting its strong resonance with audiences.
"Dead To Rights" draws on verified photographic evidence of Japanese wartime atrocities during the Nanjing Massacre, telling the story of a group of Chinese civilians seeking refuge in a photography studio during the brutal occupation of Nanjing by Japanese aggressors. In a desperate bid for survival, they are compelled to assist a Japanese military photographer in developing film, only to discover that the negatives contain damning evidence of atrocities committed by Japanese forces across the city. Determined to expose the truth, they secretly keep the negatives and risk their lives to smuggle them out to the outside world.
Director Shen Ao emphasized in an interview that few people truly understand how these photographic records of Japanese wartime atrocities survived, highlighting the film's mission to depict how Chinese civilians risked their lives to preserve the damning evidence.
"Dead To Rights" currently holds an 8.6 out of 10 rating on Douban, a key film review site. A popular comment on Douban noted that the film avoids sensationalism, allowing chilling images to speak for themselves, making every scene piercingly poignant.
A Maoyan user recalled a touching moment post-screening, when a young girl asked her mother about "post-credit scenes," to which the mother replied, "The real 'post-credit scene' begins when we step out of the cinema." This sentiment captures the film's profound message: a call to cherish the peace and vitality of modern China, made possible by past sacrifices.
Renowned director Feng Xiaoning hailed the film as "a new high point" for Chinese cinema, noting that audience members were deeply moved and remained seated until the credits finished rolling.
According to the latest projections, "Dead To Rights" is now expected to gross over 4 billion yuan in total revenue, potentially becoming China's second-highest-grossing film of the year so far, trailing only the animated blockbuster "Ne Zha 2."