Romantic rendezvous

The Beijing box office has started the new lunar year in the same fashion that it ended the last one, with a host of post-Spring Festival blockbusters poised to sweep movie lovers off their feet in time for Valentine's Day.

More than 20 films will be released this month including action-adventure flick Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and Happy Feet Two. Both sequels will be available in 3D.

For those in the mood for tales of love, Chinese films Romancing in Thin Air II directed by Johnnie To and starring Sammi Cheng and I Do directed by Sun Zhou and starring Li Bingbing will both be released ahead of February 14, giving couples plenty to enjoy.

Valentine's Day and its lead-up is the one of the most profitable periods for Chinese cinemas following Spring Festival. The February film frenzy will see four movies hit the big screen on the 10th, three on the 17th and another four on the 24th.

Usually, only one or two films dominate the Chinese box office at any one time. This causes headaches for film producers, as it's more difficult for their productions to dominate.

Some early casualties have already emerged to make way for the big pictures. Chinese films shot on lower budgets including Marry A Perfect Man and The First Love have both been dumped from the Valentine's Day screening schedule, along with The Locked Door and Bang Bang Formosa.

Their departures pave the way for Love (starring Shu Qi and Zhao Wei), I Do, Romancing In Thin Air II, Truth or Dare (starring Wen Zhang and Miao Pu) and French film Largo Winch (directed by Jérome Salle and starring Tomer Sisley).

Directed by Doze Niu, Love follows the ups and downs of couples from different social classes. It marks Niu's follow-up effort from 2010 gangster film Monga, which won best art direction at the Taipei Film Festival that year. In a modern change of pace, Romancing In Thin Air II follows the tale of microbloggers who write about their trials and tribulations in love online.

Going head-to-head with foreign blockbusters Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (directed by Brad Peyton and starring Dwayne Johnson and Michael Caine) and Happy Feet Two (directed by George Miller and featuring the voices of Elijah Wood and Robin Williams) looms as a tough challenge for the domestic films,

however the lack of a foreign romantic epic could tip the battle of the box office in Chinese filmmakers' favor.

Yu Chao, deputy manager of Capital Cinema in Beijing, said business was expected to boom. "Romance films certainly attract couples, but other films will also find their mark with fans," Yu said.