Nostalgia fuels cool cat's success

Chinese in their 30s have delivered a surprise box-office success to Japanese animation Stand By Me Doraemon. Xu Fan reports.

Most Chinese born in the early 1980s shared a similar childhood dream - to have a homestay robot as powerful as Doraemon, the Japanese animation character that was officially introduced to the country nearly 30 years ago.

Childhood nostalgia now has helped fuel a box-office miracle. The 3-D computer animated film Stand By Me Doraemon raked in more than 327 million yuan ($52.7 million) in its first five days since May 28, making it the highest-grossing Japanese movie ever in the history of mainland cinemas.