The disaster-themed crime action film “Crisis Flight” starring and produced by Andy Lau has been gradually declining in daily box office earnings since its official release on September 30th. The film, with an investment of 300 million yuan, has accumulated a total box office of 169 million yuan in the first 7 days of its release. Industry estimates suggest that the film is expected to incur a loss of over 200 million yuan, making it the mainland China’s biggest box office loss during the “National Day” holiday season this year.
“Crisis Flight” mainly tells the story of Andy Lau’s character, security expert Gao Haojun, and his family being hijacked by criminals on a plane, demanding a ransom of 3.5 billion yuan. The film was expected to receive a positive response during its premiere, but some netizens expressed disappointment. Netizen “Mr. Wang” commented, “This movie is total garbage. For those interested in this genre, I recommend watching the Korean film ‘Hijacking’ starring Ha Jung-woo.” The film “Hijacking” stars Ha Jung-woo from South Korea.
The mainland Chinese self-media platform “New World with Lulu” commented, “Although I have been a fan of Andy Lau since I was a teenager, his reputation has gradually declined in recent years.” The review also criticized the film’s lack of logic and transformation into a superhero fantasy film in the later part.
Data from the mainland box office platform “National Day Blockbuster” shows that as of 10 p.m. on October 6th, “Crisis Flight” had only earned 24 million yuan in daily box office, with a screen share of 11.1% and a box office share of 10.1%. This indicates a reversal where screen share is already surpassing the box office share, and the total box office after 7 days of release is only 169 million yuan.
The platform “Maoyan” predicts that the film’s total box office may reach 365 million yuan, significantly lower than the initial estimate of 650 million yuan. The challenges are further compounded by the film’s production cost of 300 million yuan and the pressure to break even. If the total box office indeed stops at 365 million yuan, it would mean a loss exceeding 200 million yuan, making it the film with the biggest box office loss during this year’s “National Day” holiday season in mainland China.
According to reports, in recent years, Hong Kong films have been unable to afford big-budget productions, with most Hong Kong-style blockbusters seen on mainland screens being co-productions. Mainland Chinese film companies provide funding while Hong Kong companies contribute production teams.
This year, three consecutive co-produced films, “Customs Frontline,” “Legend,” and “Crisis Flight,” have all suffered dismal box office results in mainland China. This has led to doubts in the mainland market about this co-production model. As a result, the producer of the upcoming film “Kowloon Walled City” recently announced that mainland film companies have temporarily stopped investing in Hong Kong films.
During this year’s New Year holiday season, Andy Lau’s film “Mr. Catwalk,” which was released in mainland China on the first day of the Lunar New Year, only earned 73 million yuan in 5 days before being withdrawn from theaters due to losses. The production cost of the film, as disclosed in the financial report by the producer “Joyful Media,” was 260 million yuan, including a production fee of 20.86 million yuan, and director and lead actor salaries totaling 24.6 million yuan and 60.7 million yuan, respectively. The film incurred a loss of 23.437 billion yuan in less than a week.
It is worth noting that as the year comes to a close, Andy Lau has several films set to be released in mainland China, including “City Ablaze” on November 1st, as well as “The Gold Game” and “Raging Fire”, which are yet to have confirmed release dates this year.
While most new films during the “National Day Blockbuster” season have underperformed at the box office, some movie enthusiasts had hoped that Andy Lau’s “Crisis Flight” in this season would boost confidence in Hong Kong cinema. Unfortunately, it seems that Andy Lau was unable to turn the tide.