China sci-fi film Shanghai Fortress fails to build on The Wandering Earth’s success
- Critics, film-goers blast the alien invasion fantasy, rated 3.3 out of 10 on film rating website Douban, for lead actor Lu Han’s bad acting and its incoherence
- Internet users say good prospects for Chinese sci-fi have been dashed by film’s failure, and its director takes responsibility in apologetic Weibo post
Shanghai Fortress, a big-budget Chinese sci-fi movie that was highly anticipated after the success of another science fiction film, The Wandering Earth , has bombed at the box office, drawing withering reviews online and criticism that it has tainted the reputation of Chinese sci-fi movies.
Made with a budget of 360 million yuan (US$51 million), the film, which opened on Friday, was rated 3.3 out of 10 on Douban, the popular Chinese film rating website. Sixty per cent of the 60,000 users on the site who said they had seen the film gave it one star out of five.
A Douban user called Gengen said: “This is a romantic film under the guise of science fiction. The plot doesn’t have coherence at all. Lu Han’s acting is very bad.”
Another Douban user called Reaper said: “Shanghai Fortress the book is one of my favourite novels. It has affected me for over a decade. Over the years, I have wondered countless times how it would look if turned into a movie. However, after watching the film, I would rather this film had never been made. It was rubbish.”
Shanghai Fortress’ first-day box office takings were 74 million yuan, barely half the 137 million yuan taken by recent Chinese box office champion Nezha , an animated film based on Chinese mythology. The poor audience response to the film saw ticket sales drop dramatically after the first day, and by the end of Sunday, they stood at 113 million yuan.