TWO of China’s most popular young writers are now hitting cinemas in their new careers as movie directors.

    “Tiny Times 3,” the third installment of the film franchise directed by Guo Jingming, was released July 17 and had a box office take of 110 million yuan (US$17 million) on the first day. “The Continent,” Han Han’s maiden effort as a film director, was released Thursday and is on target to reach box office revenue of 800 million yuan.

    The fact that the films are hitting screens around the same time puts them under the spotlight, drawing inevitable comparisons between Han, 32, and Guo, 31, while at the same time putting them in polar positions.

    The two men have always been lumped together since they have so much in common: Both won awards in their teens at the New Concept National Writing Competition, both have a vast number of young fans and readers in China and both have turned to filmmaking in their latest career changes.

    The “Tiny Time” trilogy traces the lives of four young women from high school to early adulthood. They are best friends and competitors in both love and work, have to deal with loss and betrayal and deal with the ups and downs of financial loss and gain. The first film broke box office records in only a few days, while “Tiny Times 2” generated a box office revenue of more than 800 million yuan.

    Han’s film is about three young men from an island and their journeys of self-discovery to the continent and adulthood. In contrast to the chic costumes and posh setting of the “Tiny Times” trilogy, “The Continent” is a road movie filled with sweat, sand, wind and the smell of gasoline. The film may be partly autobiographical, based on the fact that Han himself is an award-winning auto rally racer from suburban Shanghai.

    Besides actress Yang Mi and actor Kai Ko, who are popular in China, other leading actors and actresses from “Tiny Times 3,” such as Chen Xuedong, Guo Caijie and Xie Yilin, are relatively new to audiences.

    Unlike Guo, Han’s film stars popular actors and actresses such as Feng Shaofeng, Joe Chen, Yuan Quan, Wallace Chung, and Wang Luodan. Meanwhile, Han also put a lot of effort into the theme song of the movie. Popular folk singer Pu Shu and Hong Kong singer Gloria Tang sang for the movie. Pu, who has not released any singles for 10 years, sang for the opening of the movie. The new hit single topped music charts the day it was released.

    The two films also chose to promote their films using the power of the Internet.

    The fundraising event for “Tiny Times 3” has made the film one of the most heated topics of discussion across social media with more than 24.73 million views on microblogs, while Han, who is also an opinion leader among young netizens, also started introducing the production of the film in May. (Wang Yuanyuan)