ABSTRACT
Ang Lee’s Lust/Caution set new box office records in several regions in Asia, such as China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, where this film has been most successful globally (see Table 5.1). 2 Interestingly, these four regions were each occupied by Japan at some time during World War II, which united them in intricate historical relationships and social developments. The remarkable box office records in these four regions suggest a possibility of shared colonial memories, which are often painstakingly forgotten/forbidden by the official histories, but brought to mind/recollected by the content of the film. This is one of the most significant reasons why the movie has resulted in such polarized controversies and debates of pro et contra in mass media within/among these regions. The controversy is such that many Sinophone media channels have coined a phrase to describe this complexity: “the Lust/Caution phenomenon” (色戒現象). Lust/Caution sales figures https://www.niso.org/standards/z39-96/ns/oasis-exchange/table">
Domestic Total Gross: $4,604,982
Distributor: Focus Features
Release Date: September 28, 2007
Genre: Foreign
Runtime: 2 hrs, 38 mins
MPAA Rating: NC-17
Production Budget: $15 million
Foreign Total as of Aug. 16, 2009: $62,486,933
https://www.niso.org/standards/z39-96/ns/oasis-exchange/table">Country
Total Gross
As Of
Release Date
Argentina
$60,943
6/22/08
Australia
$794,259
4/27/08
5/1/08
Austria
$240,807
12/16/07
1/17/08
Belgium and Luxembourg
$295,633
3/23/08
11/1/07
Bolivia
$3,717
4/5/09
1/30/08
Brazil
$299,932
8/16/09
3/26/09
Chile
$19,977
9/14/08
5/15/09
China
$17,109,185
12/16/07
8/21/08
Colombia
$50,087
2/8/09
11/1/07
Croatia
$29,267
3/23/08
9/26/08
Czech Republic
$39,830
1/20/08
1/31/08
Denmark
$173,981
4/6/08
1/17/08
Ecuador
$2,091
3/8/09
3/14/08
Finland
$87,618
2/28/08
3/6/09
France and Algeria, Monaco, Morocco, and Tunisia
$1,735,655
3/25/08
2/8/08
Germany
$1,162,030
12/16/07
1/16/08
Greece
$430,438
12/2/07
10/18/07
Hong Kong
$6,249,342
1/6/08
11/8/07
Hungary
$32,208
3/2/08
9/26/07
Iceland
$15,020
1/27/08
2/28/08
Indonesia
$72,726
12/23/07
1/11/08
Israel
$121,446
Final
10/25/07
Italy
$2,396,632
3/9/08
1/10/08
Japan
$2,336,681
4/13/08
1/4/08
Latvia
$28,571
12/30/07
2/2/08
Lithuania
$22,630
2/17/08
12/14/07
Malaysia
$139,966
12/2/07
12/28/07
Mexico
$208,626
9/14/08
9/27/07
Netherlands
$189,698
2/6/08
3/28/08
New Zealand and Fiji
$89,244
2/6/08
1/24/08
Norway
$49,364
3/9/08
1/17/08
Peru
$23,684
12/14/08
2/8/08
Philippines
$104,536
12/23/07
9/25/08
Poland
$472,514
Final
11/7/07
Portugal and Angola
$100,056
3/9/08
1/18/08
Russia – CIS
$206,535
1/13/08
2/1/08
Serbia and Montenegro
$24,275
7/6/08
11/15/07
Singapore
$1,143,184
2/3/08
3/6/08
Slovakia
$6,446
6/11/08
10/4/07
Slovenia
$16,725
3/23/08
5/15/08
South Africa (Entire Region)
$31,615
7/31/08
2/7/08
South Korea
$13,085,178
10/19/08
7/18/08
Spain
$2,115,646
5/11/08
11/8/07
Sweden
$380,142
6/15/08
12/14/07
Switzerland
$336,842
11/4/07
2/1/08
Taiwan
$7,940,104
12/23/07
10/18/07
Thailand
$48,963
2/10/08
9/24/07
Turkey
$106,180
12/16/07
11/22/07
Ukraine
$3,491
12/23/07
11/2/07
United Kingdom and Ireland and Malta
$2,072,318
3/30/08
12/20/07
Uruguay
$6,754
6/14/09
1/4/08
Venezuela
$36,872
10/26/08
4/29/09
Note
Overall foreign totals are updated weekly for most currently playing movies. The national breakdowns are updated less frequently and do not necessarily add up to the foreign totals. Adapted from Box Office Mojo https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315849829/b1e4c2d1-81de-4a6a-a98e-2d9c64344b28/content/www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=lustcaution.htm" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=lustcaution.htm.
