Life is as entertaining as Art
Feb. 2nd, 2023 11:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tanithryudoBeen following the melodrama that is the CNY holiday period box office in China, and the multiple movies who are fighting tooth and nail for their piece of the pie.
There's 《深海》whose reviews are very polarized. There's 《无名》 which became target of its "流量" actor's fans & anti-fans (成也流量败也流量). There's 《熊出没》 which is running steady but whose fans are salty about the low percentage of theater sessions (is that what the term is?) and IMAX sessions.
But the fiercest fight has been the top two movies: 《满江红》vs 《流浪地球2》.
Basically the accusation from the Wandering Earth 2 supporters is that they had the highest gross & attendance on day 1 of release, but starting the 2nd day, more theater sessions were given to MJH. That MJH kept its higher share of sessions even though it's actual attendance % is one of the lowest among all the films (especially starting this week after people started working again). That MJH made under the table deal with theaters to keep more of the profits during the holiday period to ensure their # of rooms, thus squeezing the rest of the movies out of what should have been better performance. Particularly, why does a wuxia detective movie deserve the lion's share of IMAX rooms over Wandering Earth or either of the 2 animated movies. And, MJH used false advertising of the movie as a comedy and happy ending film fitting for holiday family outings, when it's really neither, and incorporates bad history besides.
The MJH supporters (and fans of its "流量" actor) insist that the movie is perfectly suited for all audiences unlike WE2, because sci-fi is too niche for the majority chinese audience to understand, and WE2 is too long and boring besides. That MJH deserves its championship in the box office and that its success does accurately reflect the public's choice.
Also this week, as the government holiday period ended and people started going back to work, it looks like 央视 is leaning towards support of WE2, leading to fun articles like this one.
Me personally, I haven't seen MJH and I don't really have a stake in this fight, so I don't really have a strong opinion either way. But watching the fighting on douban, bilibili, and weibo is pretty entertaining in itself.
EDIT to add: And then there's this bit of supreme irony... This song 《明天的世界更美好》 was originally expected to be a standard tribute to Beijing Radio's 30th anniversary. But no, the important bit is that it's co-produced by CCTV6 (the movie channel), which used it for this MV tribute to all of the movies showing during this holiday period. As some fans have ironically stated, it's about the only place where you'll find these movies together in Love & Peace. XDXDXD
There's 《深海》whose reviews are very polarized. There's 《无名》 which became target of its "流量" actor's fans & anti-fans (成也流量败也流量). There's 《熊出没》 which is running steady but whose fans are salty about the low percentage of theater sessions (is that what the term is?) and IMAX sessions.
But the fiercest fight has been the top two movies: 《满江红》vs 《流浪地球2》.
Basically the accusation from the Wandering Earth 2 supporters is that they had the highest gross & attendance on day 1 of release, but starting the 2nd day, more theater sessions were given to MJH. That MJH kept its higher share of sessions even though it's actual attendance % is one of the lowest among all the films (especially starting this week after people started working again). That MJH made under the table deal with theaters to keep more of the profits during the holiday period to ensure their # of rooms, thus squeezing the rest of the movies out of what should have been better performance. Particularly, why does a wuxia detective movie deserve the lion's share of IMAX rooms over Wandering Earth or either of the 2 animated movies. And, MJH used false advertising of the movie as a comedy and happy ending film fitting for holiday family outings, when it's really neither, and incorporates bad history besides.
The MJH supporters (and fans of its "流量" actor) insist that the movie is perfectly suited for all audiences unlike WE2, because sci-fi is too niche for the majority chinese audience to understand, and WE2 is too long and boring besides. That MJH deserves its championship in the box office and that its success does accurately reflect the public's choice.
Also this week, as the government holiday period ended and people started going back to work, it looks like 央视 is leaning towards support of WE2, leading to fun articles like this one.
Me personally, I haven't seen MJH and I don't really have a stake in this fight, so I don't really have a strong opinion either way. But watching the fighting on douban, bilibili, and weibo is pretty entertaining in itself.
EDIT to add: And then there's this bit of supreme irony... This song 《明天的世界更美好》 was originally expected to be a standard tribute to Beijing Radio's 30th anniversary. But no, the important bit is that it's co-produced by CCTV6 (the movie channel), which used it for this MV tribute to all of the movies showing during this holiday period. As some fans have ironically stated, it's about the only place where you'll find these movies together in Love & Peace. XDXDXD
(no subject)
Date: 2023-02-08 12:56 am (UTC)You explained the MJH kerfluffle better than my mom. I was pretty confused what the hell was happening. Mom sent me a link to watch MJH and...yeah, it's kind of a bleh movie with bad history and honestly, I think the director (Zhang Yimou) should just stick to modern stories. All of his pseudo-historical drama pieces have been pretty bad. It's kind of mind boggling how he manages to screw up anything remotely historical. 😖
(no subject)
Date: 2023-02-08 11:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-02-08 11:20 pm (UTC)Mom couldn't finish MJH. Her take is "this movie is shit, no wonder it's being accused of cheating". So uh...yeah.