Director Feng Xiaogang attributes successful debut of new movie to negative reviews

While institutional investors in Huayi Brothers Media found the studio's newly released comedy Personal Tailor appalling, China's filmgoers voted otherwise, as its buoyant box office figures showed.

Famed director Feng Xiaogang's latest hit grossed 80 million yuan (HK$102 million) on Thursday; the highest ever opening-day figure for a 2-D mainland movie.

Yet the success was unexpected for many, following the 3 billion yuan loss Huayi suffered after unimpressed fund managers dumped its stock in droves on Wednesday.

Returning from the film's private premiere on Tuesday night, fund managers said they were so dissapointed by what they saw that selling the "overpriced" stock would be the only sensible option. They acted accordingly on Wednesday, leaving both Huayi and individual investors reeling from the losses.

But on Friday, an exhilarated Feng Xiaogang thanked the unbelieving fund managers for "generating a curiosity" among Chinese viewers that drew them to the cinema.

"Criticism and compliments have both helped make the film a hot-rod topic," Feng revealed in an interview with the Chinese press.