Los Angeles/Taipei, Dec. 26 (ANTARA/CNA) - Shipwreck epic "Life of Pi" is on its way to become Oscar-winning director Ang Lee's highest-grossing film ever, according to the latest box office figures released by the film's distributor.
As of Dec. 23, the 3-D Hollywood blockbuster, 70 percent of which was shot in Taiwan, had raked in more than US$235 million at box offices worldwide.
The figure was only slightly less than the US$245 million earned by Lee's previous highest-grossing film "Hulk."
In Taipei, "Life of Pi" is the only film this year to be the box office leader for five consecutive weekends. The film grossed NT$26 million (US$893,470) around Taiwan last weekend, outshining all other movies screened.
Overall, "Life of Pi" had grossed NT$390 million in Taiwan as of Dec. 23, trailing only the top-grossing film of the year "The Avengers," which has earned NT$600 million at the local box office, according to a Dec. 25 report by the Taipei-based China Times.
Besides commercial success, "Life of Pi,' which explores faith through tales of a shipwrecked Indian boy adrift on a lifeboat alone with a Bengal tiger, has also won critical acclaim.
To date, two U.S. film critic groups -- the Kansas City Film Critics Circle and the Las Vegas Film Critics Society -- have honored Lee as director of the year in recognition of the Taiwan-born, U.S.-based filmmaker's work in "Life of Pi."
The film, a magical realism adaption of the Canadian novelist Yann Martel's 2002 Man Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name, has also won nominations for many other awards, including three nods for the 70th Golden Globe Awards -- best motion picture, best director and best score.
Earlier this week, Scott Feinberg, an awards analyst with the Hollywood Reporter, a publication focusing on the Hollywood movie industry, predicted that "Life of Pi" could get six nominations, including best film and best director, at the Academy Awards, the industry's most prestigious awards. (T.A045)
