Jolly Sheep and Big Big Wolf, a cartoon movie based on an animated Chinese TV series, earned 68 million yuan (US$10 million) at the box office two weeks after its release on January 16.

The movie's box office income has well surpassed that of an American film, Madagascar 2, which hit the big screen on January 1.

The Chinese cartoon began its run on the first day of the month-long winter vacation for Chinese primary school pupils and the children seemed to go straight from the school to the movie theater.

The movie producer, Shanghai Wenguang Group involved its 13 TV channels and 13 radio channels and used new media to promote the movie before it was shown.

The movie producers worked to design sheep and wolf characters that would garner the widest appeal. They invited employees to vote for preliminary images of the characters and the finalists were shopped out to middle and primary schools and kindergartens for further comments. The producers also consulted toy manufacturers to learn about their potential market.

When the movie was unveiled, the cartoon figures were immediately remembered by the audience as pre-launch products related to the movie had been well-received.

Many children got to know the movie through TV advertisements and asked their parents to take them to see the "Jolly Sheep."

Wenguang also distributed 3.5 million stuffed toys of the movie characters to fast food restaurants nationwide.

"I think it (Jolly Sheep and Big Big Wolf) is more fascinating than Madagascar 2, " said 8-year-old Wang Lu, who had seen both the Chinese and American cartoon movies.

However, some parents did not share their children's enthusiasm. Yin Xiuling, Wang's 68-year-old grandmother, complained that the movie was "childish" and did not appeal to adults at all. "I almost fell asleep in cinema," she said.

But the clamor generated by primary school children brought box office results as parents joined their children in the theater -- buying two or three tickets to keep them accompanied.

Some young adults found the movie funny enough to watch. Dong Lei, a 22-year-old college student found the characters lively and amiable. "The Jolly Sheep and the Big Big Wolf are so cute," she said.

However, compared with the animation technology of Hollywood cartoon movies such as Kung fu Panda, the movie still has room for improvement, said cartoonist Yang Lin.

(Xinhua News Agency February 7, 2009)