BEIJING, Dec. 22, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bona Film Group Limited ("Bona" or the "Company") (Nasdaq:BONA), a leading film distributor in China, today announced that its soon-to-be-released feature film, The Great Magician, was exclusively screened at State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television's ("SARFT") New Year Film Reception on Thursday, December 15, 2011.
Over 200 guests attended this exclusive showing of The Great Magician, including representatives from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Commerce, and Ministry of Culture, as well as representatives of 42 embassies and 16 foreign media outlets. The stars of the film were also on hand and took questions from the audience.
Bona Founder, Chairman and CEO Yu Dong remarked, "We are proud our upcoming film, The Great Magician, was honored by SARFT in this way. We believe this event symbolizes the growing government support and respect Bona film productions have earned. We are looking forward to the release of The Great Magician next year following our IMAX 3D martial arts feature film, Flying Swords of Dragon Gate, which has already achieved over 180 million renminbi in domestic box office receipts since its release on December 15. The number of Chinese moviegoers only continues to increase, and we are well positioned to capitalize on China's booming film industry."
At the reception, SARFT Director Cai Fuchao applauded the film and China's film industry as a whole. He stated, "China has produced over 500 feature films since the beginning of 2011, generating box office receipts of more than 12 billion renminbi. Every day China adds, on average, nine new film screens and the number of film screens nationwide has already exceeded 9,000."
In 2010, China produced 526 feature films, a 15% increase from 456 in 2009. China's gross box office in 2010 reached nearly 10.2 billion RMB, a 64% increase from over 6.2 billion RMB in 2009.
About The Great Magician
The Great Magician tells the story of a legendary Chinese magician fighting a warlord to rescue his fiancée during the period of the Republic of China after the fall of the Qing dynasty. The film was directed by Derek Tung-Sing Yee and stars Tony Leung, Zhou Xun, and Sean Lau.
Bona holds a 60% investment stake and full distributions rights for The Great Magician.
About Bona Film Group Limited
Bona Film Group Limited (Nasdaq:BONA) is a leading film distributor in China, with an integrated business model encompassing film distribution, film production, film exhibition and talent representation. Bona distributes films to Greater China, Korea, Southeast Asia, the United States and Europe, invests and produces movies in a variety of genres, owns and operates eleven movie theaters and manages a range of talented and popular Chinese artists.
For more information about Bona, please visit http://www.bonafilm.cn.
The Bona Film Group Limited logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=8412
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