Huayu’s ex-husband.

Chapter 314 313. Top Two in Chinese Film Box Office History
"Lost in Thailand tops the box office charts, the invincible Wei Wu Dugu Qiubai! The only one who can defeat me is my future self?"

“华语影史票房冠军宝座易主！根据中影实时数据，截至2008年1月24日18：00，上映24天的魏武电影《泰囧》票房达到3.18亿，超过《画皮》的3.17亿票房纪录，成为华语影史票房新霸主！”

"Lost in Thailand surpassed Painted Skin at the box office. Congratulations to Wei Wu for dominating the top two Chinese-language film box office charts!"

"Lost in Thailand has now topped the Chinese box office charts with 3.34 million yuan. Wei Wu, who loudly declared that he wanted to be the best commercial film director in China, has finally been crowned the king of Chinese commercial films with Painted Skin and Lost in Thailand."

"According to a sample survey of cinema audiences by our reporter, Wei Wu's brand appeal is the main force supporting Lost in Thailand to top the list. Wei Wu's previous works have all been box office hits and well-received, and are very entertaining. 'Wei Wu's works are bound to be good works', which has been imprinted into the audience's subconscious. As long as Wei Wu performs at his normal level, his movies will sell well."

……

Liu Tianxian, who was wearing home clothes at home, shook the Beijing Times in her hand and said:

"Hey, the newspapers are praising you so much! The king of domestic commercial films, how do you feel?"

Facing Liu Tianxian, who was smiling sweetly and making faces, Wei Wu pinched her face and said:
"It's okay! Since everyone says so, I can accept it with some difficulty!"

"Pah," Liu Tianxian slapped his hand away, spat at him, and stretched her neck to pretend to bite him.

"By the way, how much is the box office of Lost in Thailand now?"

Wei Wu said proudly: "As of yesterday, January 1th, the cumulative box office of 30 days after its release was 30 million."

Just as Wei Wu had predicted, his strategy of throwing money around in publicity was a huge success, with the audience chattering about his big move. "Lost in Thailand" returned to the center of public opinion and attracted a surge in attention, and the single-day box office also began to rebound.

The wrap party on January 1th happened to be a Sunday, and even though the following five days were weekdays, the film easily earned 20 million yuan at the box office, and another 1531 million yuan over the weekend.

By the end of January, after 1 days of release, Lost in Thailand had grossed 31 million yuan.

“I heard that Lost in Thailand has been postponed?”

"Yes," Wei Wu nodded and said:

"It will be postponed for one month and will continue to be shown until the end of February."

"So what is the final box office estimate?"

Wei Wu held the back of his head with both hands, leaned back slightly and said calmly:

"At least another 3.45 million can be added! About 3.5 million, probably no more than million."

“I thought it could break 3.5 million!”

"It's very difficult," Wei Wu shook his head and said:
"The two main disruptors are CJ7 and Slam Dunk. CJ7 was released yesterday, and Slam Dunk will also be released in 8 days!"

Liu Tianxian was a little surprised when she heard this: "Ah, has CJ7 been released? Why doesn't it seem as popular as the previous release of Kung Fu?
"I remember the last time, even people who don't normally watch movies knew that Stephen Chow's new movie was released!"

Wei Wu shrugged and said, "Because the reputation of CJ7 is really bad! It's really bad! How can it be compared with Kung Fu?
"The film's roadshow previews were not as good as expected, with many people complaining that this was not a Zhou-style comedy but a promotional film for a doll or toy.

“The preview received a mediocre response, so we naturally didn’t dare to spend too much money on publicity, so the popularity was naturally far less than that of Kung Fu.

"Plus, the recent popularity of the film and television industry is all due to the record-breaking box office of our Lost in Thailand, so CJ7 will inevitably be affected to a certain extent."

Even though "CJ7" later received a Douban score of 7.2, in the first two years after its release, the film only received a Douban score of 6.4.

This is undoubtedly Stephen Chow's lowest-rated movie in the past 15 years, no doubt about it.

The previously least popular "The Lucky Guy" still has a score of 6.9!
Unfortunately, this "CJ7" happened to be released after "Kung Fu", which is the third highest-rated movie of Stephen Chow, second only to the two "A Chinese Odyssey". This huge psychological gap between the two led to Stephen Chow being criticized to death when "CJ7" was released, with overwhelming negative reviews and the saying that "Jiang Lang's talent has run out" becoming popular.

Don’t underestimate this movie. It finally earned 2.03 million yuan at the mainland box office, but that was purely due to the success of “Kung Fu” and Stephen Chow.

You should know that four years ago, the box office of "Kung Fu" in mainland China was as high as 4 million yuan. During these four years, the mainland film market has grown rapidly. As a result, "CJ1.95" only earned 4 million more than its predecessor.

"Kung Fu" won the championship that year, beating Zhang Yimou's "House of Flying Daggers" (1.56 million) and Feng Xiaogang's "A World Without Thieves" (1.2 million).

But "CJ7" didn't even make it into the top three, let alone win the championship, and only got fourth place in the year.

In the past, the top three box office hits in mainland China in 08 were "Red Cliff" (3.21 million), "If You Are the One" (2.6 million) and "Painted Skin" (2.32 million).

“Are there many people who criticize this movie?”

Liu Tianxian has been busy rehearsing for the Spring Festival Gala recently and has no time to watch movies, let alone "CJ7". She hasn't even seen "Lost in Thailand".

Wei Wu nodded: "There are so many negative reviews! You can check it out online yourself."

If the audience's criticisms had not been so harsh, Stephen Chow would not have been completely discouraged and ended his acting career, completely retreating from the stage to behind the scenes.

"Oh, then I want to see how they curse..."

Liu Tianxian opened her laptop and went straight to Tianya Forum to check out netizens' comments on "CJ7":

"I can't stand watching this at all, it's so cliché!"

"It's not funny at all, just whining!"

"Is this the weakest film in Master Xing's style? The life of a father and son who depend on each other is always a bit incompatible with Master Xing (many people didn't know Xu Jiao was a woman at the time)."

"It was extremely contrived from the very first shot. Stephen Chow is no longer the same as before. He has been away from the bottom of society for too long, and only the empty, powerless, simple and crude dichotomy of rich and poor, good and evil, and good and bad is left. Rich people are all clowns, and fairies are all fairies."

"What can I say? Everyone is cursing, and I want to say something nice, but I don't know where to start."

"When Stephen Chow grows a beard and pretends to be profound, and still follows the concept of tears in laughter, the film inevitably slides into affectation. Because your sensational part loses the same amount of humorous reference and balance. This is the biggest problem of CJ7."

"Neither sadness nor joy can be brought in."

"Speechless, old-fashioned. Even a bit boring and childish."

……

Liu Tianxian couldn't help but gasp: "Hiss, everyone is scolding so harshly, there is not even a single good comment!"

Wei Wu spread his hands and said, "Actually, this movie isn't that bad, at least it's above average.

"But everyone had too high expectations of Stephen Chow. Most people came for his comedies, but the result was not what they expected. It was totally different!"

In fact, the reason for so many negative reviews is that Stephen Chow has gradually raised the audience's expectations of the movies he directs.

The Douban scores of his four recent films are 8.2 (The God of Cookery), 8.8 (The King of Comedy), 8.1 (Shaolin Soccer) and 8.8 (Kung Fu).
There are all good movies with scores above 8. If you suddenly come up with one with a score of over 6, everyone will catch you and scold you to death!

(End of this chapter)