BEIJING, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- About 86 percent Chinese of audiences have given a high rating to the new year blockbuster "Assembly," which is unprecedented among the country's holiday hits, according to a survey by the China Film Association.

    The previous best-liked film was the Hollywood action hit "King Kong" with a 73.5 percent approval rating in the association's annual survey. The latest survey is the fourth.

Chinese veteran director Feng Xiaogang's war epic film "Assembly"  premieres in Beijing on Tuesday night, Dec. 18. It received an overwhelmingly joyous response from ten thousand audience members.  (Xinhua Photo)

    The survey, the core of an in-depth report on China's film market, sent 1,000 questionnaires to 20 large cinemas nationwide starting on Dec. 20.

    Unlike previous holiday hits, which ranged from joyous clichés to the dark humor of "Assembly" director Feng Xiaogang's other films, "Assembly" is a human drama about a soldier of a People's Liberation Army unit during the civil war in the 1940s. The soldier, once a company commander, devoted his entire life to redeeming the honor of fellow soldiers who are declared missing inaction.

    Some 73.5 percent of respondents said it was a heart-warming film, and 99 percent said they were not disappointed by Feng's new project.

    "All the characters were hardly acting. Everything in the film seemed so real," said filmgoer Dang Guohui, mentioning a friend's father who was a soldier at that time and who broke into tears when the company commander in the film started speaking.

    "He kept saying, 'it was all so real ... their clothes ... their words ... even the company commander's bad temper was exactly the same.'"

    Professor Yin Hong of Tsinghua University said: "'Assembly' has set an example for all the country's mainstream blockbusters."

    Rao Shuguang, with the China Film Art Research Center, agreed, saying that "Assembly" could set a direction for Chinese movies.

    Besides the overwhelming praise from fans and critics, "Assembly" has also done great box office. In its first nine days, the film has raked in more than 130 million yuan (16 million U.S. dollars), which was the total gross of Feng's last ambitious ancient epic, "The Banquet."

    The survey results, released on Thursday, are preliminary and amore comprehensive result is expected in February. The survey included Wong Kar Wai's star-studded "My Blueberry Night" and others.

    The previous masterpieces of the bankable 50-year-old Feng include "Big Shot's Funeral" (2001), "Cell Phone" (2003), "A World Without Thieves" (2004) and "The Banquet" (2007).

War epic film "Assembly" premieres in Beijing

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