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The move highlights the challenges facing China
as it seeks to promote home-grown productions to rival imported
Hollywood films. Several big-budget Chinese films have flopped
while more modest productions have done well.
The latest disappointment "Asura" was billed as China's next
big-budget film after 2016's "The Great Wall", a $150 million
U.S.-China co-production starring Matt Damon. It also failed to
impress at the box office.
"Asura", a fantasy epic based on Tibetan mythology, was yanked
from cinemas by producers after it brought in a meager 49.5
million yuan ($7.4 million) and received a lowly rating of 3.1
on the Chinese movie review site Douban.
In a statement posted on the film's official social media
platform, the producers said Asura was pulled from Sunday night
and apologized to viewers who would not be able to see the movie
that took six years to make.
In a separate, earlier post the producers took aim at the
mediocre ratings of the film on online ticket sales platforms,
saying they believed they were the result of an "organized,
premeditated" bid to manipulate the numbers.
Those behind the alleged manipulation were "contemptible,
foolish and laughable", and such action was a disgrace to the
movie industry, the producers said.
Chinese media quoted unidentified investors as saying the film
would be modified and re-released at an unspecified date.
Alibaba Pictures did not have an immediate comment.
Asura is something of a warning for Chinese producers on the
perils of big-budget movie making.
Even as the fantasy movie flopped, another film with a budget
reported to be around $15 million struck a chord with movie
goers.
"Dying to Survive", the real-life story of a Chinese cancer
patient arrested for importing drugs from India, has made over
$350 million, according to box office tracker EntGroup.
China, which is on track to overtake the North America film
market, has become an increasingly important region for global
producers looking to pump up their box office returns, despite a
quota on imported films and strict censorship.
(Reporting by Adam Jourdan, Pei Li and John Ruwitch; Editing by
Himani Sarkar and Darren Schuettler)
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