China holiday box office flop for fantasy video game adaptation – five other Chinese films that sank
Legend of the Ancient Sword, directed by Renny Harlin, starring Wang Leehom and adapted from a game of the same name, attracts derision after US$1.25 million ‘golden week’ opening
The week-long October national holiday in China usually brings rich pickings for movie studios, which fall over themselves to bring their best films to the big screen. Movies open to great fanfare during the “golden week” and receive overwhelming media attention. Big audiences often follow.
However, the much-hyped new movie Legend of the Ancient Sword, plugged as the first Chinese fantasy action movie adapted from a video game – video games have previously been adapted for Chinese television – took only 8.59 million yuan (US$1.25 million) at the box office when in opened on Monday, and attracted widespread derision online on Tuesday.
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Its takings paled in comparison to those for two other Chinese productions: Hello, Mrs. Money took more than 100 million yuan at the box office on Monday and Zhang Yimou’s new epic Shadow more than 80 million yuan.
Legend of the Ancient Sword is directed by Renny Harlin, who also directed the popular Jackie Chan-Johnny Knoxville comedy-action film Skiptrace (2016) and 1990s hits including Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger. The film is adapted from a Chinese role-playing game (RPG) of the same name and financed by Alibaba Pictures (Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post). Its production budget has not been disclosed.
The film stars heartthrob Taiwanese actor Wang Leehom, Chinese actress Victoria Song and Hong Kong’s Julian Cheung Chi-lam. It depicts the quest by a swordsman (played by Wang) to find a holy blade to save the world.
