DESPITE its strong Hollywood competitors like The Medallion and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, the homemade film Green Tea showed an unexpected competitiveness in the market.

The first weekend since its debut has seen the movie wrapping a box office of over 300,000 yuan (US$36,000) in Beijing, almost the same as the blockbuster Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.

Local filmmakers have found the market response surprising. Though starring two heavyweight movie stars Zhao Wei and Jiang Wen, the film has been categorized as a film appealing to a small audience for its artistic presentation. Moreover, with the Hollywood big-budget films sweeping the summer film market, few people expected the film to be hot.

However, local moviegoers gave high marks to the film. Market feedback for Zhao and Jiang's performance in the film was very positive, with many grading the film at 85. Even producers of Green Tea find the response surprising.

According to Dahuayi, investor of Green Tea, director Zhang Yuan has decided to shoot a sequel to the film due to the positive market feedback. Both the leading actor and actress are likely to play in the sequel.

The investor also revealed that they are working to send Green Tea to next year's Oscar to compete for the Best Foreign Language Film Award. If successful, the film could send Zhao, who shares the same popularity as Zhang Ziyi in China, to the international stage, thus becoming a milestone in her career.

Editor: Wings