'Lost in Thailand' sets box-office record

'Lost in Thailand' sets box-office record

BEIJING (AP) — A low-budget, domestically produced comedy has unexpectedly become the highest-grossing Chinese film to date.

Chinese state media say the wacky road movie "Lost in Thailand" has grossed more than 1 billion yuan ($160 million) since its Dec 12 debut. The official Xinhua News Agency, citing an independent monitor of box office figures, said Wednesday that it also beat James Cameron's "Titanic" in 3-D, the most popular foreign film in 2012, in Chinese theatres.

Set in Thailand, the film tells the story of two businessmen who go searching for their boss in the northern region, and then link up with a tourist eager to explore the kingdom. It is filled with slapstick humour and action scenes.

The previous record for a domestic film was 726 million yuan set by "Painted Skin 2."

Over 1.1 million Chinese tourists visited Thailand between January and June last year, up 28.9% from the same period of 2011 and making the Chinese the largest number of tourist arrivals in the kingdom.

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