Mainland director Feng Xiaogang recently responded publicly for the first time to the box office failure of his new film “Mission Possible” during an interview with “Phoenix Weekly’s” branch “Lengshan RECORD.” He expressed, “I am very sorry to the investors.”
Feng Xiaogang’s “Mission Possible,” which was released during this year’s Dragon Boat Festival season, found itself in a double dilemma of box office and reputation after its official premiere. The film, starring heavyweight actors Lei Jia’ying and Hu Ge, was initially expected to potentially reach a box office of 1 billion yuan, but ended up only grossing 119 million yuan.
Facing the lackluster box office performance from the beginning of its release, Han Hong made a special effort to appeal to the Beijing audience for support by exclaiming, “Beijing has a population of over 20 million, please support us, kick off the first wave of box office, that’s all we need! Thank you all!”
Unexpectedly, Han Hong’s fiery call, imbued with the spirit of Beijing’s alleyways, resulted in both her and the movie getting dragged into a whirlwind of public opinion. The internet was filled with criticisms of “emotional manipulation,” with comments mocking, “Why should 20 million people in Beijing support you?” Many voices also retorted, “Face for face, wallet for wallet, don’t use favors as bargaining chips,” “Good movies will naturally attract audiences, no need for people-pleasing tactics,” “What does the box office have to do with us?”
Some internet users reminded of Feng Xiaogang’s controversial statement during the 2017 Shanghai International Film Festival Golden Goblet Forum, in which he publicly stated, “The proliferation of garbage movies in the market is due to the existence of a large number of trash audiences.” In the eyes of netizens, at that time, Feng Xiaogang appeared condescending and sharp-tongued, attributing the poor reception of films to the audience. With shifting times, his new film facing cold response, inviting Han Hong to call on the audience to “come out and support,” the glaring double standard is stark.
During the interview, Feng Xiaogang did not shy away from the fact that “Mission Possible” fell short of box office expectations. He admitted that seeing the final box office result of 119 million yuan was heartbreaking for him. Facing the camera, he said, “I am very sorry to the investors.” In response, some netizens remarked to Feng Xiaogang, “Your biggest apology should be to Han Hong.”
There were previous rumors that the total investment in “Mission Possible” amounted to as high as 300 million yuan, and Feng Xiaogang clarified this issue. He mentioned that the actual production and filming expenses for the movie were around 165 million yuan. However, even with this, the 119 million yuan box office against the 165 million yuan cost still resulted in significant losses.
Apart from expressing apologies to the investors, Feng Xiaogang also addressed the previous massive controversy sparked by his statement that “garbage movies are mostly due to trash audiences.” He explained that his words were taken out of context, deliberately used to incite audience emotions, leading to many people becoming angry with him. Feng Xiaogang changed the phrasing, believing that “quality movies require quality audiences.” He felt that this box office failure was greatly influenced by online violence and public opinion backlash.
Many netizens believe that while Feng Xiaogang owes apologies to the investors, he should consider the feelings of regular audience members. Some comments suggest that blaming poor movie box office on irrational online backlash is unreasonable; audiences spend money on tickets, if the movie is not good, they choose not to watch, so they should not be educated otherwise.
There are also viewpoints suggesting that Feng Xiaogang’s traditional era of filmmaking may be fading away, with his film aesthetics and style being somewhat out of touch with the tastes of mainstream young audiences today.