'Coming Home' earns 80 mln on opening weekend

Zhang Yimou's latest film, "Coming Home," raked in 82.40 million yuan (about 13.22 million US dollars) in its opening weekend, said its producer, Le Vision Pictures, on Tuesday.

The romance, starring Gong Li and Chen Daoming, tells the story of an intellectual who tries but fails to reunite with his wife when he is transferring from one labor camp to another in the early 1970s. He returns home three years later only to find his beloved wife has amnesia.

The highly anticipated drama by the star Chinese director pulled in 30 million yuan on Friday, an opening-day record for a Zhang movie.

"The film's performance at the box office is due largely to Zhang's personal reputation," said Huang Qunfei, general manager of the New Film Association.

Huang added that a lack of competition also contributed to the film's ticket sales, as Hollywood blockbuster "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," which opened on May 4, had neared the end of its screening run.

"Coming Home" is Zhang's first film since he joined Le Vision Pictures last May. His recent releases include "The Flowers of War" in 2011 and "Under the Hawthorn Tree" in 2010.