On June 13, 2024, during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday in mainland China, the performance of the box office for movies was exceptionally weak. The total box office revenue was only 383 million yuan, a sharp decline compared to the 910 million yuan during the Dragon Boat Festival in 2023, almost the worst performance in the past decade. The new film “The Negotiation Expert,” produced and starring Andy Lau, is estimated to have incurred losses exceeding 50 million yuan.
This year, there were numerous domestic and foreign films released during the Dragon Boat Festival in mainland China, covering various genres such as comedy, action, suspense, and animation, but no box office hits emerged. According to statistics from the Chinese Communist Party’s Film Bureau, the total box office revenue during the 2024 Dragon Boat Festival period was 383 million yuan, attracting approximately 9.62 million viewers. The highest-grossing film barely crossed the 100 million yuan mark. Even the official Xinhua News Agency admitted that “this year’s overall box office performance during the Dragon Boat Festival was below expectations.”
Industry insiders point out that although there were many new domestic and foreign films released during the Dragon Boat Festival this year, encompassing various genres like comedy, action, suspense, and animation, there was a lack of major commercial blockbusters that could drive the market. In contrast, a film called “The Disappearance of She” in the 2023 Dragon Boat Festival contributed a staggering 500 million yuan to the box office. Looking back at the 2018 Dragon Boat Festival, the box office also reached 910 million yuan, with just one film, “Jurassic World 2,” contributing 700 million yuan to the total.
According to recent data from the professional version of the movie data platform Maoyan, as of 10 p.m. on June 11th, the top two films during the Dragon Boat Festival were “I Don’t Want to Be Friends with You” and “Never Give Up in Fighting against Crime.” The former had a single-day box office exceeding 6.7 million, with a screening rate of 19.1%. Although leading in various data aspects compared to other films released during the same period, its advantage wasn’t significant. After four days of screening, it won the top spot for three days, accumulating a box office revenue surpassing 108 million. On the other hand, the latter had a single-day box office of 6.45 million, with a screening rate of 17.8%.
Meanwhile, Andy Lau’s produced and starred film “The Negotiation Expert” fell behind. According to an article on the NetEase platform, as of 10 p.m. on June 11th, the single-day box office of “The Negotiation Expert” was 4.99 million, with a screening rate dropping to 12.6%. It is evident that theaters are not optimistic about the film’s prospects. After four days of screening, the total box office revenue reached 96.4 million.
The article analyzed, “In the later half of June, the summer holiday blockbusters will be released, and the poorly scheduled ‘The Negotiation Expert’ will find it difficult to surpass 150 million in total box office revenue.” It is believed that the production cost of the film exceeded 100 million, and even without considering the high promotional costs, with a projected box office revenue of 150 million, the film’s losses would be over 50 million, making it “the biggest box office disaster of this year’s Dragon Boat Festival.”
The author commented, “In order to sell tickets, the promotional efforts often heavily relied on Andy Lau, with the producer’s name displayed larger than the director’s on posters. It can be said that Andy Lau went all out for this film, staking his own reputation.”