Recently, the mainland Chinese film market welcomed the release of 8 new movies, but it appears that none of them can save China’s “summer blockbuster season.” Apart from the buzz surrounding the disappointing box office performance of the highly anticipated “Sauce Garden,” starring Xiao Shenyang in “Unusual Deal” had a disastrous debut, with a first-day box office of only 15,000 yuan (RMB), and a total box office of just 76,000 yuan over 3 days, a pitiful result.
“Unusual Deal” is a comedy film starring Xiao Shenyang and Jiang Wu in lead roles, with Yang Rong, Gao Jie, and Ma Yuko in supporting roles. The film tells the story of Jia Yun and Bao Shuai, a pair of difficult brothers who suddenly come into a windfall without knowing the circumstances, leading to a series of comedic mishaps.
With an investment of 100 million yuan, “Unusual Deal” premiered on June 20th, with a first-day box office of only 12,800 yuan, attracting less than 500 viewers. As of 23:00 on June 22nd, the film’s total box office over 3 days was just 76,000 yuan, with a screening rate and box office share both less than 0.1%, essentially being forcibly pulled from theaters. The production company subsequently released the film directly on online platforms, giving up on the theatrical market.
Since rising to fame after participating in the CCTV Spring Festival Gala in 2009, Xiao Shenyang has starred in several films but has consistently faced box office failures. In the following years, he mostly became a supporting actor, with some of the films he appeared in performing decently at the box office, leading some netizens to lament that “Xiao Shenyang is indeed not suitable as a lead actor.”
Now, Xiao Shenyang has returned as a lead actor in collaboration with Jiang Wu on “Unusual Deal,” only to face another box office disaster.
In fact, Xiao Shenyang hit a bottleneck around 2016, with leading roles in big films like “The Three Smiles of Film” and “Laughing in the Wind” receiving poor reviews, and his skits failing to recreate past glory, which eventually led to the creation of “Unusual Deal.”
According to reports in mainland Chinese media, “Unusual Deal” was filmed in 2016 with Xiao Shenyang attempting a transition by taking on the role of screenwriter and lead actor in the film. However, after shooting was completed, there was silence surrounding the film. There were rumors that the film would be released in 2019, but it was delayed until finally meeting the audience in 2025.
It’s worth noting that after the Chinese New Year box office season, the mainland Chinese film market has hit a standstill, seemingly reverting to a decade ago overnight.
A film like “Nezha 2” seemed to have absorbed all of China’s annual box office, leading the mainland cinema chains to see the “summer blockbuster season” as a lifeline. However, following the box office failure of “Sauce Garden: The Case” directed by Chen Kaige and starring Zhang Ziyi and the negative public opinion surrounding the college entrance exam cheating scandal involving the leading actress Narenqixi in Wu Jing’s “Arrowman: Wind Rises in the Desert,” it’s highly probable they won’t catch up. This year, Hollywood movies like “Superman” and “Jurassic World: Rebirth” are likely to take the spotlight in the Chinese summer blockbuster season.