Recently, director Zhang Chaoli apologized to relevant personnel through a short video. He said: "I'm sorry to our producers and to our team members."
It turns out that the movie version of "花千 Bone" directed by him has landed The film has been released in mainland theaters. The main reason why Zhang Chaoli apologized is that the film's opening box office was really disastrous, and he consciously failed to live up to everyone's expectations.
So, how was the box office performance of the movie version of "A Thousand Bones of Flowers"? What about the quality and reputation of the movie? What is the main reason for all this?
Don’t worry, let Brother Fei come along one by one!
1. Mainland box office report for the third week of 2024: "A Thousand Bones" failed to make it to the top ten.
The flowers are falling, showing the desolation!
After the finale of Wong Kar-wai and Hu Ge's "Flowers", the mainland TV drama industry has welcomed several new films.
Including Wang Kai's "The Great River", Yang Zi and Fan Chengcheng's "Long Time Love", and Ju Jingyi's "Sword and Sword IV" all failed to reach the expected ratings and playback volume.
The same is true for the film industry. After the New Year's Day release of Dapeng's "The Annual Party Can't Stop" and Qu Chuxiao and Zhang Jianing's "Twinkle Twinkle Star" set off a small climax, the market fell rapidly.
In the third week of 2024 (January 15th to 21st), the mainland box office rankings were newly released. The market grossed a total of 505 million, a decrease of 8% from the second week, assisting the market to exceed 2 billion in January.
The top three are "The Annual Meeting Cannot Stop", "Temporary Robbery" and "Goldfinger".
In terms of old films, except for "The Annual Party Can't Stop" which continues to stand out, the other films performed generally.
's movie "What's in the Zoo" adapted from the Korean comedy "Secret Zoo" ranked fifth. In its second week of release, the cumulative box office reached 64.63 million, and it is predicted that the box office will stop at 85 million.
This is the first time that Bao Beier, the lead actor, has acted in Japanese and Korean films, including "My Robot Girlfriend", "Sunny Sisters", "Northeast Love Brother", "Fat Man Action Team", etc.
I just want to say: "Bao Beier, can't you live without Japan and South Korea?"
"The Annual Party Can't Stop", which was released in its fourth week, once again hit 177 million last week, ranking first at the box office for three consecutive weeks. There is no rival anywhere, with a total box office of 951 million. This will be the first film to hit 1 billion in box office in 2024.
has two new films entering the top ten of the list. One is "Temporary Robbery" starring Aaron Kwok, Lam Jiadong and Ren Xianqi. It received 85.68 million in its first week, losing to "The Annual Meeting Can't Stop" and finishing in runner-up. The
cartoon "Happy Superman: Time and Space Rescue" ranked tenth, with 7.55 million in its first weekend. There is also an animation "Porpoise·Wind Time Dance" that did not break into the list.
The fantasy action film "A Thousand Bones" became a "cannon fodder" film in its third week. The box office flopped very badly. It only collected 4.73 million in 3 days, failing to advance into the top ten. Moreover, the single-day box office has dropped to 380,000, basically losing money. competitiveness.
In fact, the film's first-day scheduling data was very good. On the day it was released on January 20, theater managers across the country scheduled 53,000 shows for the film, accounting for 11.4% of the film's share. However, the attendance rate was only 1.3%, and the premiere received only 301 million box office.
's film schedule for the next day fell directly to about 4%, and then encountered Waterloo. According to the current trend, the total box office is predicted to be around 7.45 million.
Existing data shows that the film studio will receive a box office share of 1.57 million, and by the time it is released, it is expected to receive a net income of about 2 million.
You must know that this is a theatrical movie.
"A Thousand Bones" was launched in 2019 and was the first batch of productions to resume production after the pandemic in 2020. The main location was in Guangxi.
The filming phase will be completed in 2021, and the special effects post-production will be completed in 2022. It will be initially announced and released in 2024. The estimated production cost of the finished film is about 50 million to 80 million.
The theater box office cannot be less than 150 million. Obviously, 4.73 million in 3 days will definitely make the producer lose money. It can be said that no one can save this film.
It’s no wonder that director Zhang Chao’s video apology for his haircut really caused the investors to suffer heavy losses, and the efforts of everyone in front of and behind the scenes were in vain.
2. The quality of "Flower Thousand Bones" is worrying, and its reputation is hard to say enough.
"A Thousand Bones of Flowers" is the first theatrical film directed by Zhang Chaoli, starring Chen Duling, Li Chengbin and Mao Zijun, and a film co-produced by artists such as Lai Meiyun, Zhang Zining, Xu Muchan, Chen Xiaodong, Zhang Li and Zhang Danfeng.
tells the story of Hua Qiangu, a mortal woman played by Chen Duling who accidentally broke into the fairy world in ancient times and was involved in a huge conspiracy.
The film attempts to tell the entire story of "A Thousand Bones of Flowers" in 100 minutes, so that the plot is so fragmented that sometimes it is like keeping a running account, sometimes it is too rushed, and the crazy and violent rhythm makes the movie fans confused. .
In terms of character creation, each character appears with a line or CG fight, which feels like excerpts of lines from the original novel and TV series and were applied mechanically.
The costumes, CG special effects and actors' performances did not meet the standards of theatrical movies, so that some viewers gave it the title of "the first bad movie in 2024".
You can imagine how bad the reputation of "Flower Thousand Bones" is! If this continues, this film may be nominated for the 2025 Golden Broom Awards.
To be honest, if you have read the novel or the original TV series and still remember it, there is no need to watch this movie; if you have not seen the original version, it will not be easy for you to understand. Therefore, I am afraid that only those who can attract movie fans to the theater will be able to watch this movie. A loyal fan now.
This is the main reason why "A Thousand Bones" failed at the box office.
Secondly, creative director Zhang Chaoli still needs some heat.
This director has only filmed one online drama called "Hockey Boys" before. There was no famous cast involved and it was purely for practice.
Before that, he studied with Stephen Chow, Chen Desen, Wilson Yip and Er Dongsheng for a period of time, and served as assistant director in Stephen Chow's movie "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons", Donnie Yen's "October Siege" and "Ip Man 2" ", he is also the assistant director.
Last year, Zhang Chaoli was also the executive deputy director of "Super Family" starring Allen and Shen Teng, but the film's reputation was quite poor.
The movie version of "A Thousand Bones" is his first theatrical feature film. If there is no expert guidance behind it, if you want to master such an important IP by yourself, you will need strong control capabilities.
For example, last year's blockbuster films include "The Disappearance" directed by Cui Rui and Liu Xiang, with Chen Sicheng as the mastermind behind it; Ning Hao as director of "All or Nothing"'s bid for the Olympics; and "The Third Brigade" apparently directed by Dai Mo. , in fact, Chen Sicheng was worried behind the scenes.
And "A Thousand Bones of Flowers" was entirely dependent on him. To put it bluntly, he may not even know whether the movie is good or bad.
3. Chen Duling, you are not Liu Yifei and Xiao Zhan.
"A Thousand Bones of Flowers" was released with the intention of copying the movie versions of "三生三世十里桃花" and "Zhu Xian".
In 2015, Huo Jianhua and Zhao Liying starred in "A Thousand Bones of Flowers";
In 2016, Yi Feng, the son of the Li family, starred together with Zhao Liying and Yang Zi in "Qingyun Zhi", also known as "Zhu Xian";
In 2017, Yang Mi and Zhao Youting co-starred in " "Three Lives, Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossom";
These three TV series all have a common feature. They are all adapted from popular online novels. They are supported by big IPs. They have fans all over the country and almost all young people have watched them.
Some investors are thinking that if this kind of IP is adapted into a movie and some popular stars are invited to star in it, wouldn't it be profitable at the box office?
As a result, some producers began to work on "Three Lives Three Worlds Ten Miles of Peach Blossom" and "Zhu Xian".
The movie version of "Three Lives Three Worlds Ten Miles of Peach Blossom" invited international superstar Liu Yifei and popular niche Yang Yang. In the end, the mainland box office earned 535 million yuan. Including broadcast rights and peripherals, it finally achieved a net income of more than 100 million yuan.
The movie version of "Zhu Xian" had a budget of 100 million, and invited popular celebrities Xiao Zhan and Li Qin. The theater box office received 405 million, and the net income also exceeded 100 million.
Zhang Chaoli and the producers behind him are interested in this. Both "Three Lives Three Worlds" and "Zhu Xian" can earn high box office, so let's also create a movie version of "A Thousand Bones of Flowers".
The biggest failure of the film is the casting problem. They chose Chen Duling as the first heroine, and none of the male protagonists are well-known.
Take a look at the success of the previous two films. In addition to IP, the main reason is Liu Yifei and Xiao Zhan . One enjoys a high reputation in China and even has works published internationally. The other is all over China. One of the most powerful traffic stars.
can make the box office take off just by relying on the purchasing power of their fans.
Let me ask Chen Duling, how do you compare with Liu Yifei Xiao Zhan?
In terms of works, you can't stand out in any of them. In several popular dramas, you are a supporting role.
When it comes to traffic, the prerequisite for traffic is works. As long as you expose popular works, your traffic will naturally increase.
Therefore, the box office success of "A Thousand Bones of Flowers" is closely related to the personal popularity of the lead actor Chen Duling.
4. Ending.
big IP, if you don’t have a good creative team, don’t start hastily.
"A Thousand Bones" failed at the box office. I hope it will sound a warning to the management behind it. After all, the risk factor of theater movies is extremely high.
How to adapt the popular TV series into a movie that is recognized by the audience has a long way to go.
In 2024, a Jin Yong martial arts movie will be released, and that is Tsui Hark will challenge "The Legend of the Condor Heroes". I hope Xiao Zhan and Zhuang Dafei can bring us different Guo Jing and Huang Rong.
