BEIJING – With a $113-million budget, the most expensive Chinese film evermade has become a flop of historic proportions, pulled from theatres on itsopening weekend after bringing in a paltry $7.3 million.
Fantasy film “Asura” was intended as the first instalment in an epictrilogy inspired by Tibetan Buddhist mythology, part of a drive byauthorities to promote works bearing elements of traditional Chineseculture.
The film cost 750 million yuan ($113.5 million) to make, state media said,and opened on Friday, but Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan said it onlytook in just over $7.3 million at the weekend.
By Sunday, the film´s official social media account posted a statementdeclaring that it would be removed from theatres as of 10 pm that night.
“We express our apologies to all those who wanted to but won´t have thechance to see it,” it said.
Most of China´s biggest blockbusters to date have been made with half thebudget lavished on “Asura”.
The estimated loss of $106 million would make it the fifth-biggest flop inmovie history worldwide, behind frontrunner “Sinbad: Legend of the SevenSeas” which suffered losses of $125 million, according to data from websiteBox Office Mojo.
State media had touted the movie before it was released, with the ChinaDaily hailing “Asura” as “the most hotly anticipated blockbuster of China´scompetitive summer season.”
“It´s a very imaginative movie. We wanted the film to raise confidence inour own culture and train more domestic talent,” Yang Hongtao, chairman ofNingxia Film Group, one of the movie´s backers, told the paper ahead ofFriday´s opening.
Six years in the making, the film was heavy on expensive visuals, featuring2,400 scenes with special effects in its runtime of just 141 minutes, thepaper noted.
Bankable Hong Kong actors Tony Leung Ka-fai and Carina Lau starred, whilehigh-powered foreign talent — such as Oscar-winning Ngila Dickson, costumedesigner for the “Lord of the Rings” franchise — also took part.
Yet the film garnered a rotten 3.1 rating on Douban, China´s mostinfluential user review platform.
“My god, it´s horrifying! It´s just a magnificent pile of excrement!” oneuser wrote.
Wildly different reviews on the country´s two largest ticketing platformsprompted a virulent retort from the movie´s production team, posted Fridayto its social media account. – APP/AFP