If Maoyan predicts that Andy Lau's Spring Festival "Mr. Red Carpet" will win 2 billion at the box office, I can still hold a hehe attitude, because the early publicity is enough, but now some people predict that "Mr. Red Carpet" can win the Spring Festival movie The box office of 4 billion made me stunned! ! !
Can we take a down-to-earth look at Andy Lau’s overall box office performance? Starting from "Tian Ji·Fuchun Mountain Residence" in 2013, his "Bomb Disposal Expert 2" in 2020 is considered the best in the past ten years, winning 1.315 billion.
Last year, he continued to update, and nearly ten movies were released online. Take "Stealth" and "Goldfinger" in the most recent quarter. The lineup is quite good for Hong Kong movies, but they only made a total of 700 million. + box office.
And don't talk about the 4 billion in "The Wandering Earth 2". You must know that he is not the absolute leading actor in this movie.
"The Wandering Earth 2" can achieve such a high box office in the 2023 Spring Festival. The first is the dividend of the "Wandering Earth" IP, the second is the cooperation between Wu Jing and Andy Lau, and the third is the film arrangement and marketing method, which takes into account all aspects. It was not Andy Lau's box office ability that supported "The Wandering Earth 2" which earned 4 billion+.
At the same time, we also need to look at the overall movie environment. Although the Spring Festival has become the prime time for movies, Hong Kong movies have contributed most. In 2013, "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" had 1.246 billion, and in 2014, "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" had 1.04 billion. , 2016's "Mermaid" 3.39 billion, all used high box office to tell the importance of Hong Kong movies.
However, Hong Kong films have not done well in recent years. Mainland audiences prefer to watch Chinese-language films that are representative of the region, such as "Wolf Warrior" and "The Wandering Earth". The decline of Hong Kong films during the Spring Festival has been irrepressible.
In the face of market rules, even a superstar with charisma like Andy Lau is having a hard time during the Spring Festival. For example, in 2021, his "The Crowd" will compete with "Detective Chinatown 3" and "Hello, Li Huanying".
"The Crowd" had only 8.5% of the film schedule on the first day of release, and almost all of the prime time was taken up by "Tang Detective 3". It was even worse on the second day, with the film schedule dropping directly to 2.8%, and the prime time film schedule was almost zero. Basically, those who want to watch this movie can only choose to watch it in the early morning.
And this is not deliberate crowding out by the theaters, but the early promotion of "Tang Detective" was done very well, and the market demand is huge. The theaters will naturally give a red light to movies with high attendance for the sake of dividends, and it will be released during the 2021 Spring Festival. Ten days later, Andy Lau's "The Crowd" ranked at the lowest box office. This is the current situation of Hong Kong films during the Spring Festival.
Speaking of the past, let’s talk about the present. Andy Lau’s “Mr. Red Carpet” movie was originally officially announced to be released on November 17, 2023.
Later, because Andy Lau had two new films to premiere in December, "Goldfinger" and "Stealth", he was afraid of the embarrassing phenomenon of three Andy Lau films competing against each other, so mainland directors were asked to help out, and the highly popular "Mr. Red Carpet" was withdrawn. Let’s try it during the Spring Festival.
"Mr. Red Carpet" also specially released a withdrawal video for this purpose. Director Ning Hao half-joked that the withdrawal was the intention of the investors.
Obviously the investors are still thinking clearly. Instead of arranging Andy Lau's movie in a random schedule, it is better to put it on the Spring Festival schedule with the best box office contribution. What if it turns out to be a dark horse and becomes a winner? People always have to have ideals, right?
Moreover, "Mr. Red Carpet", a collaboration between Ning Hao and Andy Lau, is indeed not a purely Hong Kong film. The main reason is that director Ning Hao is a pioneer of Chinese noir films.
His films have obvious personal style, such as his debut film "Incense" and his famous film "Crazy Stone" and "No Man's Land" which was nominated for the Golden Bear Award. Each of them is not a mainstream commercial film, but each one The reputation is very good.
And Ning Hao likes breakthroughs and new scripts. In his words: "I just use myself as a sparring partner. If they have any ideas, we will play together."
This time he was in "Mr. Red Carpet" Zhong obviously chose to "play" with Andy Lau.There is no "Hong Kong style" in the original story, and the content is about things in the entertainment industry.
Although people have always said that the prototype of "Mr. Red Carpet" is Andy Lau himself, but judging from the leaked story introduction, it is obvious that the male protagonist Liu Weichi in the movie does not have many similarities with Andy Lau.
He has indeed been in the industry for 40 years, but he is a has-been Hong Kong star, and it has always been a pain for him not to become an actor. He will also have to prove himself when he goes to the countryside to film.
But apart from the period when Andy Lau himself declined in Hong Kong films and many superstars went overseas to make films, Andy Lau has always been a Hong Kong superstar with great appeal.
Moreover, he has also won the Golden Horse Best Actor and the Golden Statue Best Actor. He is a solid actor, but the prototype character is really not suitable.
Ning Hao also had a lot of fun in "Mr. Red Carpet", and even played the role of the director Lin Hao in the film. Outside the scene were Andy Lau and Ning Hao, and inside the scene were Liu Weichi and Lin Hao. The fake and the real are all in one Crew, it’s fun to think about.
At present, "Mr. Red Carpet" has been selected by many international film festivals. It was shortlisted for the main screening unit of the 48th Toronto International Film Festival and was also selected as the closing film of the 28th Busan International Film Festival. It is obviously a film that wants to win. Award trends.
After all, "Mr. Red Carpet" is competitive during the Spring Festival, but the advantage is not particularly obvious. Maoyan's 2 billion is still within the range, but it is too vain to win 4 billion at the box office!
