This week, 13 new films will be released in the mainland Chinese film market. Among them, the two films that have garnered the most attention are “The Mandarin Tower: Horror” and “City on Fire.” Of particular interest is the science fiction film “City on Fire,” with an investment of 200 million yuan and produced and starred by Andy Lau. The film only grossed 340,000 yuan on its first day of limited release, drawing special scrutiny.
According to reports from mainland Chinese media, “The Mandarin Tower: Horror” is considered one of the domestically produced horror films with the strongest star-studded cast in recent years. The story of the movie is simple – a wealthy man sets up a game where anyone who survives for 7 days in a haunted mansion will split a death insurance of 7 million. The main characters stay at the Mandarin Tower, experiencing nightmares, hallucinations, late-night cries, and supernatural events like blood footprints on the walls. Despite the attraction of the Halloween-themed storyline, as of 10:00 pm on October 29th, the film had only garnered 868,000 yuan in presale box office.
However, reports indicate that the film that performed even worse at the box office this week was “City on Fire,” produced and starred by Andy Lau.
Public information shows that “City on Fire” tells the story of Fan Weili, played by Andy Lau, a former public official at a Hong Kong port who resigns after a tragic accident resulting in the death of his wife. For the next 10 years, Fan Weili has been haunted by nightmares. The film focuses on a disaster caused by a leakage of highly radioactive substances due to the increasingly severe mishandling of hazardous electronic waste in Hong Kong. The film delves into power struggles and profits among high-level decision-makers, featuring numerous special effects scenes.
Reports state that the production cost of “City on Fire” exceeded 200 million yuan, and the film is touted as the “first Chinese language radiation disaster epic.” While industry figures such as Zhang Yimou and Guo Fan have given the film high praise, hoping that positive word-of-mouth could boost box office sales, mainland audiences do not seem convinced.
According to data from the “Maoyan” platform, “City on Fire” started limited showings on the 25th with 2,976 screenings nationwide, attracting 10,000 viewers with an average attendance of about 3.5 people per screening, an occupancy rate of 3.3%, and a first-day box office of only 340,000 yuan, falling short of projections. As of 10:00 pm on October 29th, the film had been in limited release for 6 days, with box office earnings of less than 9 million yuan. The total presale box office was just over 460,000 yuan.
In 2014, Andy Lau’s films seem to have faced a string of bad luck. Earlier this year, the Lunar New Year film “Mr. Red Carpet,” starring Andy Lau, premiered in mainland China on the first day of the Lunar New Year, accumulating only 73 million yuan in 5 days before being pulled from theaters. Data from the producer, “Joy Media,” revealed that the film had a production cost of 260 million yuan, including production fees of 20.86 million yuan, director and lead actor fees of 24.6 million yuan and 60.7 million yuan, respectively. The film incurred losses of 234.37 million yuan in less than a week of release.
On September 30th of this year, the aviation-themed crime action movie “Flight Crisis,” starring and produced by Andy Lau, was officially released. With an investment of 300 million yuan, the film garnered 288 million yuan in ticket sales after 26 days of release. By the end of its one-month run on October 29th, the film had grossed 295 million yuan. The “Maoyan” platform had previously predicted that even if the film’s final total box office reached 365 million yuan, it would still fall short of the initial projection of 650 million yuan, indicating potential losses exceeding 200 million yuan, making it the film with the largest losses during this year’s Chinese National Day holiday in mainland China.
Chinese self-media outlet “Reliable Movie Critic” commented, “To boost box office sales, the production often uses Andy Lau as the prominent figure in promotions, with the producer’s name displayed larger than the director’s on posters.” The article points out that despite Andy Lau’s considerable efforts for the film, the changing consumer mentality of mainland Chinese audiences due to the significant economic downturn makes selling tickets increasingly challenging.