On July 25th, the Mainland China summer box office finally saw a significant surge. Led by \"Nanjing Studio\" at the Changan Litchi Theater, the market recorded a whopping 150 million yuan in a single day, setting a new Friday box office record for the summer of this year. This also marks the first film since the Spring Festival to potentially cross the 1 billion yuan mark.
By midnight on July 25th, the top three single-day box office earners in Mainland China were \"Nanjing Studio,\" \"Changan Litchi Theater,\" and \"Yuan Theatre.\" \"Nanjing Studio\" raked in an impressive 58.53 million yuan on its opening day, claiming 21.6% of total screenings and over 37.4% of total box office earnings, boasting excellent attendance rates and top market performance. Coupled with successful preview screenings, the film had already surpassed 156 million yuan in cumulative box office on its first day, with outstanding word-of-mouth across all platforms.
The film received an 8.5 rating on Douban and scored 9.7 from over 4 million viewers on major ticketing platforms, making it the highest-rated live-action film of this summer. With its solid quality and promising weekend ahead, it seems inevitable that the film will effortlessly surpass the 1 billion yuan mark, securing the champion title for the summer box office.
Directed by the dark horse of the 2023 box office gamble, the film's title might mislead audiences into thinking it's more daring than it actually is. However, under the restrained direction of director Shen Ao, the film avoids explicit content, focusing instead on the lives of those who endured occupation in Nanjing, devoid of preaching or wartime reflections.
Compared to directors who often portray the humanity of the Japanese military, Shen Ao has delivered a particularly compelling narrative, emphasizing the resilience against becoming traitors. \"Nanjing Studio\" might just be the best Chinese war film in recent years, potentially making history as the highest-grossing film in the box office.
In contrast, \"Changan Litchi Theater\" earned 32.49 million yuan on its opening day, with a screening share of 21.2nd a box office share of 20.7%, clearly impacted by \"Nanjing Studio.\" With its chances of reaching 700 million yuan now slim, it faces tough competition from the blockbuster.
The \"Yuan Theatre\" saw an opening day box office of 20.27 million yuan, with a screening share of 13.5nd a box office share of 12.9%, despite an unexpected disparity between its screening and box office shares. Combined with preview results, the film's cumulative box office surpassed 90.44 million yuan.
Given the downward trend in box office performance, whether the final box office can exceed 200 million yuan remains uncertain. According to reports, the production cost of the film exceeded 150 million yuan, and despite the joint efforts of Chen Peisi and Huang Bo, two generations of comedy kings, breaking even seems challenging.
The disappointment of \"Changan Litchi Theater\" largely stems from Chen Peisi's inability to keep pace with the times. Set in the Republican era, Chen Peisi's insistence on portraying \"theater\" as more significant during the harsh times seems more like a satire rather than a genuine comedy, lacking the appeal of pure humor films.
Compared to the rise of Shen Teng, \"The Lunar Probe Grabbing Dolls\" and others, Shen Teng effortlessly achieves billions at the box office, with a personal total exceeding 36.9 billion yuan. Meanwhile, Huang Bo's target of 30 billion yuan has fallen short once again, as \"The Second Deity\" in the Spring Festival failed to meet expectations.
Now, with \"Changan Litchi Theater\" underperforming in the summer box office, Huang Bo's dream of a 30 billion yuan box office target is once again dashed!
