Upcoming 'lion dance' film captures the limelight

In the rapidly-transforming Chinese movie market, word of mouth comment sometimes plays the pivotal role in deciding the "destiny" of a new film, thus makingI Am What I Am - a forthcoming animated film - half way to be a winner.

The Chinese film has accumulated a high score of 8.3 points out of 10 on Douban, one of the country's most popular review aggregators, since it started multiple rounds of test screenings earlier this month.

Besides, the film, which will open across domestic theaters -including all the over 720 IMAX cinemas - on Friday, has also obtained 9.4 points out of 10 on the ticketing platform Maoyan, the highest of all domestic animated films released this year.

Under the helm of director Sun Haipeng, the film has Zhang Miao - known for several of China's top blockbusters such as Wolf Warrior 2 and The Wandering Earth - as its executive producer.

Unfolding from a visually arresting scene to brief the history of lion dancing, a centuries-old folk art mostly to celebrate Lunar New Year, the tale fictionalizes an underdog teenager joins hands with two of his intimate friends, overcoming a lot of odds to pursue their dream - becoming the best lion dance performers.

Currently, the film has grossed around 18 million yuan ($2.83 million) at the ticket bookings for its official opening day, propelling it to top the country's presale box office charts on Dec 17, according to the live tracker Beacon.