China's most expensive film could prove its biggest flop: NPR



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The actor Wu Lei and actress Zhang Yishang attend a press conference for the film Asura in January in Beijing.

VCG / VCG via Getty Images


hiding the legend

rocking seesaw

VCG / VCG via Getty Images

The actor Wu Lei and actress Zhang Yishang attend a press conference for the film Asura in January in Beijing

VCG / VCG via Getty Images

Asura A fantastic epic based on Buddhist mythology presented as the most expensive Chinese film ever made, was removed from theaters after a dismal weekend of opening.

On the official account of the movie Weibo Twitter), the producers offered "their sincerest apologies to the viewers who did not have the chance to see the film, as well as to all the Chinese participants and internationals who have participated in its production over the past six years. "

The Guardian describes Asura as a combination of" complex special effects, stars of great renown and [a] huge crews ". "

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" Named after the triple-headed gods of Buddhist mythology, Asura starred Wu Lei, 18, a shepherd who s? turns out to be the reincarnation of one of the leaders of a warrior king – also call ed Asura – aimed at invading the sky (Tony Leung Ka-fai and Carina Lau Kar-ling play the other two heads), "The newspaper wrote.

It would have cost 750 million yuan ($ 112 million) and production involved 2,500 people from around the world, according to the Post which says that it was mainly shot in the provinces of Qinghai, Ningxia and Hebei, but spent 15 months in post-production in the United States. ] The People's Daily Communist Party officials attended the Opening of the film earlier this month and gave a boost.

Still, that was apparently not enough to compensate for poor reception of the public: The Chinese evaluation site Douban.com earned 3.1 out of 10. This is reflected in the box office opening of Asura – a disappointing figure of 49 million yuan ($ 7.3 million). It was a much smaller cash out than another film, Hidden Man by Chinese director Jiang Wen, who opened the same weekend and raised $ 51 million.

A representative of Zhenjian Films told Chinese news Sina that the decision to shoot the film "was made not only because of the bad box office," but "to make some changes to the film and release it again."

As the BBC notes, "Unless the film achieves much greater success the second time, Asura the loss [$105 million] would make it one of the biggest flops of the year. 39, film history. "

However, The Hollywood Reporter reports that movie producers believe that they may have been the victim of paid trolls to play the review sites.

Hollywood Reporter writes:

"These ghostwriters for rent are known in China as" shuijun ", a derogatory term that literally means" l & # 39; 39, army of water, because the companies pay them to "flood" the forums with false opinions 59008] The producers of Asura allege now that they have been the target of a particularly aggressive "water army" attack.In a second post of social media, they say that they discovered a large number of comments 1/10 for Asura posted on [review site] Maoyan by suspicious accounts immediately after the release of the film. "

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