BEIJING | This may be the biggest failure of Chinese cinema: a $ 112 million budget mega-production was removed from the bill after only three days, following a box office and criticism catastrophic.
Presented as the most expensive 100% Chinese film in history, “Asura” has released only 48.7 million yuan (6.2 million euros) in revenue after its release on Friday, according to China Box Office.
“The film is removed from the halls (…) We apologize to all those who wanted to see it, but will not have the opportunity,” said the producers Sunday on the social network Weibo, without specifying the reason for their decision.
A producer of the big-screen movie said in early June in the Chinese press to expect a total box office of 3 billion yuan (380 million euros).
The film, based on Buddhist mythology, features an imaginary kingdom threatened by a coup d’etat. One of the main actors is Tony Leung Ka-fai, known abroad for playing the title role of the movie “The Lover” (1992).
Helped by a huge promotional campaign, “Asura” took six years to produce.
The movie was quelled by the audience on the website Douban.com, the main platform for film criticism in China, where he got the disastrous rating of 3.1 / 10.
“The dialogues are worthy of a five-year-old! “Commented a user. “In six years, you have not been able to tweak this scenario a little better? “Asks another.
“Disastrous”, “ridiculous”, “dismaying” are the adjectives that come up most often.
“It’s a sumptuous pile of excrement” slice a user. “It’s removed from the screens? At least the producers have a realistic vision of its value … ”
Chinese director Zhang Yimou’s “Great Wall” (2016), with Matt Damon, cost more, with a budget of $ 150 million. But it was a Sino-US co-production.