Liu Dehua, after the unfortunate reception of his latest film “Mr. Red Carpet” both at its premiere and re-release, announced on April 23 the start of a concert tour in 8 cities across mainland China. Despite the significant box office failure of his film, the concert announcement was considered a crucial piece of news for Liu Dehua. Surprisingly, on the day of the announcement, the news only ranked 42nd on Weibo’s trending topics. Some Chinese media outlets subtly commented, saying, “The buzz is there, but it feels a bit elusive.”
This tour, titled “Today… is the Day,” will kick off in major cities like Shanghai and Beijing. With estimates suggesting that Liu Dehua has millions of fans in China, tickets for the concert are expected to be in high demand. Although official ticket prices are yet to be disclosed, some online sources have already mentioned ticket prices exceeding tens of thousands of yuan, leading fans to exclaim that “snatching tickets” has turned into “snatching money.”
A media figure with the online handle “Crazy Prince” recently shared ticket information for the July Guangzhou stop of Liu Dehua’s concert tour. The table clearly indicated prices for various seating sections: front row seats in the inner area are priced at 40,000 yuan, while the best seats in the 10th row are marked at 15,000 yuan. Side-stage front row seats are priced at 10,500 yuan, and the 10th row is at 7,600 yuan. Although this information may not cover all ticket prices, the revealed prices are indeed staggering.
Some netizens calculated that to see Liu Dehua’s face directly, one would need to spend at least 9,000 yuan, which amounts to at least two months’ salary for the average working-class individual.
According to industry sources in mainland China, tickets for concerts by A-list singers are typically priced from 500 to 2,000 yuan. Comparisons were drawn with Jay Chou’s 2023 concert ticket prices, where the front 10 rows were priced at 2,000 yuan. Liu Dehua’s ticket prices are now reportedly 7.5 times higher than Jay Chou’s concert tickets from last year.
There are concerns about the issue of reselling by scalpers. Jay Chou’s tickets were resold by scalpers for 15,000 yuan last year. If the same happens with Liu Dehua’s tickets, one can only imagine how much higher the prices could skyrocket.
It’s reported that the exorbitant scalped prices for Liu Dehua’s concert tickets are due to high demand and limited supply. Scalpers anticipate that given the massive fan base of Liu Dehua, as millions vie for just thousands of tickets, the prices will keep rising, almost like an auction.
Moreover, some platforms have started offering a “proxy buying” service for Liu Dehua’s concert, where audiences pay a fee upfront to secure a ticket. If successful, the money goes to the platform, but if unsuccessful, the money is refunded. The proxy buying fee starts from 3,000 yuan for Liu Dehua’s concert, in addition to the actual ticket price, estimated between 500 and 2,000 yuan. This means fans acquiring tickets through the proxy service would start at 3,500 yuan.
Considering the total cost of attending a concert at 3,500 yuan, working audiences would also need to consider taking time off, purchasing travel tickets, and accommodation, amounting to no less than 5,000 yuan, equivalent to a month or more of their earnings. After the revelation of the high proxy buying fees, many netizens expressed reluctance even if it were just 30 yuan.
Given that the official announcement for Liu Dehua’s concert ranked only 42nd on trending topics, some Chinese netizens lamented that “he has truly fallen out of favor.” Others remarked, “Perhaps a single concert announcement may not mean much, but Liu Dehua’s decline has been evident and repeated.” “Since Liu Dehua was grasped by the Chinese Communist Party and made a vice-provincial official, helping the scum Jackie Chan ‘win’ as the Vice Chairman of the eleventh China Film Association, I stopped paying attention to him,” another user wrote.
It is widely known that Liu Dehua’s movie “Mr. Red Carpet,” which had an investment exceeding 260 million yuan, ended with a mere total box office of 94.22 million yuan. This ranks it as the worst-performing film of the New Year period, even trailing behind films like “Boonie Bears” and “We Are Champions.” Given that box office numbers are determined by the number of viewers, “Mr. Red Carpet” only had 1.86 million moviegoers. Some questioned, “After being a popular idol for so many years, does Liu Dehua only have this limited fan base?”
In fact, on the popular short video platform Douyin, Liu Dehua’s fanbase has surpassed 70 million. Some have expressed that even if just a tenth of his fans bought tickets to see “Mr. Red Carpet,” the movie’s box office performance wouldn’t have been so dismal.
In recent years, Liu Dehua has been actively seeking collaborations in mainland China, deeply integrating himself into the entertainment industry there. A commentary on Netease News mentioned, “When the ‘Detective Chinatown’ series became popular, he took on a cameo role; when ‘The Wandering Earth’ series gained traction, he actively contacted Guo Fan to participate in ‘The Wandering Earth 2’; both ‘Project Gutenberg’ and ‘The White Storm 2’ had good reviews and box office performances, and now, with ‘Project Gutenberg 2,’ Liu Dehua’s name is on board…”
Some Chinese netizens remarked, “As the ‘King of Hong Kong,’ Liu Dehua is of such an advanced age now, yet still touring, which is truly commendable.” Some even shared photos of a 63-year-old Liu Dehua with white hair and a beer belly.
While the movie studio claimed that Liu Dehua’s new look in “Project Gutenberg 2” was for the character’s portrayal, a source cited by Netease News stated, “The reason for the concert tour was due to the underperformance of ‘Mr. Red Carpet.’ With successive cancellations and re-releases, the final box office fell short of 100 million yuan, resulting in substantial losses since the star had a high salary and the production cost reaching 200 million yuan. Moreover, having signed a gambling agreement prior, he incurred significant debts, compelling his return to the music industry to earn money.”