Promotion material for The Bravest Photo: IC

Promotion material for The Bravest Photo: IC

With movies like The Eight Hundred, The Last Wishes and more withdrawing from cinemas, Chinese animated movie Ne Zha has blown up at the box office since its release on Friday. This Thursday, a new Chinese movie The Bravest is set light a fire under moviegoers when it comes to getting them in cinemas. 

Basing on journalistic essays by writer Baoerji Yuanye, the film directed by Hong Kong director Tony Chan and starring Huang Xiaoming, Du Jiang and Ou Hao tells the true story of a group of firefighters who save a coastal Chinese city from an oil fire. 

The movie holds a score of 9.6 out of 10 on Chinese movie site Maoyan and has earned 52 million yuan ($7.5 million) from pre-screenings. 

On Chinese media review site Douban, reviews from those who watched pre-screenings have focused on how close to the real fire the movie sticks and how the firemen became heroes by conquering  their fear. 

"It is shocking to see the fire. Very impressive. The cast has great performances playing ordinary firefighters," commented Douban user Shantouyougemiao. 

With 12 movies under his belt, almost all romance films such as Bride Wars, Hot Summer Days and Fall In Love Like A Star, Chan made a bold move by making an action film. Chan said that he hopes to improve on mainstream blockbusters by focusing on "true feelings" and "true restoration."

According to Chan, before filming started, they talked to a number of firefighters to get to know about their true experiences. 

As good word of mouth continues to spread, Ne Zha has climbed to the top of the Chinese box office, raking in nearly 800 million yuan in its first four days.