Box office laughs way to 8b yuan record

China's box office sales during the eight-day Lunar New Year exceeded 8 billion yuan (HK$8.8 billion), with Yolo directed by comedian Jia Lin leading the revenue with 2.72 billion yuan sales, according to data from Maoyan Entertainment (1896).

From February 10 to 17, the country's box office posted record high in sales of 8.02 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 18.5 percent, Maoyan said. And the total number of moviegoers grew 26.4 percent to 163 million from a year ago, the data showed.

The comedy Yolo, which stirred heated online discussions over weight loss, saw its revenue account for more than one-third of the total sales and Sony Pictures has reportedly acquired international distribution rights to the film.

Pegasus 2, directed by Han Han, ranked second with 2.40 billion yuan.

Boonie Bears: Time Twist, a new feature from the Chinese animated cartoon series Boonie Bears and Zhang Yimou's Article 20 were in third and fourth place, with 1.39 billion yuan and 1.34 billion yuan, respectively.