Li Chen’s directorial debut film fails to meet expectations

Chinese actor Li Chen made his directorial debut in the Chinese war film Sky Hunter, which was recently released on Sep 29 in China. High expectations were set for this movie, which was China’s first aerial warfare film, as it was produced in collaboration with the People's Liberation Army Air Force and features notable names such as Fan Bingbing and Li Chen himself.

However, the movie did not live up to its expectations as ticket sales have yet to surpass the RMB 45 million (approximately S$9.2 million) mark and only ranks sixth out of all the recently released movies.

Despite being released two days earlier than intended, Sky Hunter did not have a very good reception on the first day and only grossed 20 percent of positive ratings. It did not have impressive sales records either, as it barely broke the RMB 30 million (approximately S$6.1 million) mark.

Although the movie had a poor showing, according to viewers, the movie was actually not too bad.

That being said, some felt the actors casted were not suitable and failed to identify with the characters they played. They said that because it was a war film, it required more realistic and suitable actors for the plot. Viewers thought that the two main characters, played by Bingbing and Li Chen, did not look the part and therefore made the entire movie non-believable.

To make matters worse, a large sum of money had been invested into the making of Sky Hunter. It was reported that total expenses for the movie exceeded the initial budget of RMB 120 million (approximately S$25.8 million). The cost was so high that even if Bingbing or Li Chen were willing to act for free, their salaries would only cost less than 10 percent of the total amount. With the movie not even reaching RMB 45 million in ticket sales, many were worried that heavy losses might be incurred.

Some netizens also speculated a factor for the poor response could be due to the lack of promotion efforts made by the couple. Despite the large number of followers on their respective Weibo accounts, they posted more about news of their engagement which took place on Sep 18 and neglected their movie, despite it being so close to the release date.

Photos: PBE Media

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