This year, there are 21 new films released during the Mid-Autumn Festival in mainland China, setting a historical record in terms of quantity. However, the box office performance has been lackluster. Among them, “Happy Endings” only made 624 yuan on its first day, with just 14 viewers, making it possibly the worst-performing new film of this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival.
The plot of “Happy Endings” is unclear. It started production in 2021, obtained a license for public screening in 2023, but was delayed until 2024 to be released. According to several Chinese media reports, the film lacks renowned directors and lead actors. Director Han Wangzeng has only made five films in total, two of which were web films. Among his theatrical releases, “Love of Muscle Cake” in 2022 had a box office of only 4,775 yuan, and another film released in 2024, “Love Endures,” made just 48,000 yuan.
Reports indicate that due to the severe financial losses, unable to secure investment from film companies, the director of “Happy Endings,” Han Wangzeng, ended up being the producer of the film himself.
Data from the film platform shows that on the first day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the film “Happy Endings” made only 624 yuan with 14 viewers. Including pre-sales, the total box office revenue for the film is currently at 728 yuan, with a projected final box office revenue not expected to exceed 10,000 yuan, making it possibly the worst-performing new film of this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival.
One analysis suggests that the dismal box office performance of “Happy Endings” is mainly due to the fact that domestic audiences are almost unaware of the existence of the film. “On the one hand, both the director and actors of the film are relatively unknown, and on the other hand, there was no prior publicity before the official release of the film.” Some even suspect that the 14 viewers might have been the film’s staff members.
Of note, amid the Mid-Autumn Festival films in mainland China, Wu Jing’s new film, “The Wandering Earth 2” in 3D, and the behind-the-scenes documentary “Adventure Again” premiered. “The Wandering Earth 2” earned 3.8 million on its re-release day, while “Adventure Again” made only 81,500 yuan on its premiere day, indicating that audiences are no longer buying into the Communist Party’s heavily promoted “Space Edition ‘Wolf Warrior'” films.