Taiwan
Although the film only attracted moderate box-office success during its first weeks of release, it was helped by strong word of mouth buzz, mainly in blogs and on the PTT, eventually leading to its record-breaking box-office performance.
In addition, Robert Chen, an assistant professor in the Department of Radio and Television at National Chengchi University, suggests that the film's success may be related to the lack of competition caused by 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. And the distributor also successfully to avoided a direct confrontation with The Dark Knight of the summer.
| Date | Accumulated box-office in Taipei (NT$) | Milestone |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 29, 2008 | 5.66 million | |
| Sep 11, 2008 | 28.18 million | surpassed Secret to become the top-selling Taiwan-made film in this island's cinematic history |
| Sep 18, 2008 | 51.99 million | |
| Sep 27, 2008 | 109 million | surpassed The Dark Knight's 109-million accumulated Taipei sales record |
| Oct 4, 2008 | 151 million | surpassed Lust, Caution's 136-million accumulated Taipei sales record |
| Oct 6, 2008 | 164 million | surpassed Police Story 3's 156-million accumulated Taipei sales record to become the top-selling mandarin-language film in Taiwan history |
| Oct 14, 2008 | 201 million | surpassed The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King's 200-million accumulated Taipei sales record to become the 4th top-selling film in Taiwan history |
| Oct 19, 2008 | 215 million | surpassed The Lost World: Jurassic Park's 213-million accumulated Taipei sales record to become the 3rd top-selling film in Taiwan history |
| Nov 1, 2008 | 225.7 million | surpassed Jurassic Park's 225.2-million accumulated Taipei sales record to become the 2nd top-selling film in Taiwan history, only behind James Cameron's Titanic's 387.8-million |
| Dec 12, 2008 | 232 million | Final Taipei box-office (530 million total for the entire country) |
Critics attribute the film's box office success to its honest depiction of the rural southern Taiwan; the strong emotional resonance among older viewers; the humorous tone, optimistic characters, and musical performances.
Read more about this topic: Cape No. 7, Reception