The sudden withdrawal of the movie is like a heavy blow to the hearts of fans. At the end of the May Day holiday, a highly anticipated movie quietly left the scene, seemingly sweeping the audience's expectations and enthusiasm. This movie is "There is No Thing That Can't Be Solved by a Hot Pot" (referred to as "A Hot Pot") starring the popular actress Yang Mi.
At first, the filmmaker decided to stage this pot cooking adventure during the Spring Festival, aiming to meet the audience on the third day of the Lunar New Year, avoid the excitement of the Spring Festival schedule, and dominate the scene. But at this time, the movie seemed to remember its personality again, changed its face, and turned its attention to the May Day schedule. Perhaps, they feel that this can get more attention on the May Day schedule, but the truth has pierced their dreams.
The May Day schedule was once considered the prime time of the film industry, but the performance of "A Hot Pot" was incompatible, and it only received more than 50 million box office in 5 days, which was not even half of the box office of the re-released animated film "Howl's Moving Castle". Such an achievement is really staggering, as if a bucket of cold water was poured on the enthusiasm of the film.
The filmmaker issued an urgent statement, claiming that it was affected by various environmental factors and was unable to meet more audiences. However, judging from the data since the release of the film, the actual reason is likely to be the lack of film scheduling and poor box office performance, so the decision to withdraw had to be made. The speed of this transformation is unbelievable, as hasty as a movie version of a flash marriage and divorce.
The box office on the first day was good, reaching more than 18 million, but on the fourth day, it fell sharply to about 4 million, which forced the film and the publicity team to take urgent action. Such box office fluctuations are like a raging storm, coming and going in a hurry, which is unexpected.
However, even if a movie is initially scheduled with fewer films, if the quality is excellent, it can still become a box office dark horse. As a suspense comedy, if "A Hot Pot" can't even succeed on May Day, then the expectations for other schedules will be even slimmer. This feeling of sliding from heat to frustration is like a meteor that knows no world and pierces the sky and then disappears into darkness.
As for whether "A Hot Pot" can achieve a box office of more than 100 million after its re-release, people's opinions are not optimistic. On the one hand, it is questioned whether the production quality of the movie is guaranteed, because the similar movie "Rise to Fame" was filmed for more than 50 days, "Crazy Call" was filmed for nearly 3 months, and "A Hot Pot" only took 20 days;
In the case that the quality of the film is not guaranteed, it is understandable for the filmmaker to stop the loss in time, but choosing to escape and start again may not be the best solution. Perhaps it is one of the better options to take it offline as soon as possible and sell it to an online video platform. This kind of disposal is like a sober business choice, which maximizes the balance between benefits and risks.
Looking back at the movies that chose to withdraw before, most of them failed to achieve the desired box office performance, and it can even be said that the withdrawal has basically no impact on the final box office, and in some cases, it may be better to stay on the schedule for release.
"Chinese Ping Pong: The Jedi Strikes Back" is one of the first movies to start playing "Withdraw from the game". It was first set for the Spring Festival in 2023, and then adjusted to the third day of the Lunar New Year, and finally decided to screen it on a small scale and re-release it three days after Valentine's Day. However, despite many adjustments, the final box office was only 100 million, in stark contrast to "Exchanging Lives", which had a poor box office in the same period.
In this year's Spring Festival, there are four movies "up first and then withdraw". Among them, two animated films "Huang Pi: The God of Wealth Cat Descended from the Sky" and "Eight Rings: The Nether of the Canopy" are not very popular, and they have been withdrawn on the seventh and eighth days of the Lunar New Year, and have not been re-released so far.
The other two more well-known movies are "Mr. Red Carpet" starring Andy Lau and "Let's Shake the Sun Together" starring Li Gengxi and Peng Yuchang. "Mr. Red Carpet" adjusted the schedule many times before its release, and finally set it for the first day of the Lunar New Year, but it was withdrawn on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year and re-released a month later, with a final box office of less than 100 million. After "Let's Shake the Sun Together" was released on the first day of the Lunar New Year, it was withdrawn on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, and finally re-released five days before the Qingming Festival holiday. This movie was not ideal because it was released during the Spring Festival, but it performed quite well before and after the Qingming holiday, and the final box office reached 270 million.
The film market is like a silent war, and every film is trying to fight for its place. Some soar like eagles, and some fall like birds. And "A Hot Pot" is a meteor in this war, although it flashes with dazzling light, it is destined to disappear in the dark. Perhaps, this is the cruel reality of the film market, and no one can control the trajectory of fate.