I just read something so revolting about what this movie went through during the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) that elicited many questions I hope to find answers for. Anybody who knows the answer to or have additional information about any question, please feel free to reply.

Director Han Yan wanted to release the movie during the summer vacation period, but the movie was offered a slot in the Spring Festival after another film withdrew from the festival at the last minute and PAAA was pulled in as a filler. He didn't have the authority to refuse and got an unpleasant surprise.  The other movies had already divided up the best showtimes, leaving PAAA with crumbs.

How bad were the crumbs? Not only were there few showtimes left, they were mostly at inconvenient times such as 1:30 am, 2:45 am, 3:40 am and 4:50 am. Who watches movies from 1 to 5 in the morning?!?!

https://x.com/Adriana80791695/status/2023825780061729181

Furthermore, movie theaters cancelled sessions, forcing moviegoers to either watch another movie or have their tickets refunded.

Netizens speculate that it's because the movie has no capital backing, i.e. not backed by big studios, and thus has been blacklisted.

PAAA has been acclaimed by moviegoers and critics alike, so its quality is unquestionable, making the suppression highly questionable.

My questions are:

1. Why was the movie invited to the Spring Festival when all the good showtimes have already been taken?
2. Why doesn't a movie invited to the festival have authority to refuse the invitation? Why was the movie that pulled out of the festival able to refuse inclusion in the festival, but PAAA couldn't?
3. First, the good showtimes are taken, next, a movie invited to the festival can't refuse the invitation. Isn't this dooming the movie to fail?
4. Is it true about movies being blacklisted when it has no capital backing such that sessions may be cancelled by movie theaters anytime?
5. Might PAAA have been sabotaged? By who? Why?
6. Aren’t members of the Chinese movie industry who are actively taking part in this suppression ashamed of what they’re doing? It shows such an insecure, immature, greedy, vile, selfish and heartless industry.

Director Han Yan said that “Per Aspera Ad Astra" was in preparation for over two years, with the entire cast and crew giving it their all. He acknowledged it's an innovative film, and he knows the path of innovation is not an easy one. He said that the Spring Festival season is very cruel. He stated that setting the release date was not something he or the creative team could control.  His colleagues who handle publicity have told him online they say we're here to be cannon fodder for the Spring Festival season, but the extremely low number of screenings, with none of them being in effective time slots, was something he did not anticipate. He expressed gratitude to the audience for their early mornings and late nights to support the film, while also feeling deeply apologetic. As newcomers to the Spring Festival lineup, the entire team of "Per Aspera Ad Astra" is earnestly asking theaters to provide more effective screenings without causing them difficulty, because innovation in Chinese cinema needs support.

Turn on English caption:

http://xhslink.com/o/9SdXePhzVRE

You should google or ask a non-biased Chinese person how the Chinese film releases work there.  This is my understanding, which may not be exactly correct, as I'm not Chinese.

Spring Festival release is NOT a film festival. It's  a holiday, like Memorial Day weekend or Thanksgiving holiday in the US.  It is the holiday with the biggest box office, because almost everyone is off for the long Spring Festival / Chinese New Year holiday, and many families go to the movies during that time.  Lots of movies want to air then, hence the waiting list, which PAAA was on.   But other movies want to avoid the big movie competition.   It was the production or the distributor's choice to go for that air date, and wait list, not some conspiracy.  Unless their contract says otherwise, I assume any film can end their run, if they aren't able to get the box office or pre-sales they were hoping for, as I know other films have done so in previous years, and clearly another film did so this year.  If PAAA is still airing, it's because the production company (who are they?) wants it to.

If you start late, of course, your chances are not as good as films that started earlier than you.  But again, that was PAAA's choice.  And they could have gotten more screens or times, had their pre-sales been better, because that's how you get them -- unless you made some sort of deal or bundle with the movie theaters, or your production company also owns movie theaters.  You also have maintain a certain percentage of sales or increase them to get more screens or better times.  This is actually not that different than it is in the US, where you can tell when a film is getting ready to leave, if it has fewer air times or only offers matinees.  So, that's on the production / distributor and Wang Hedi's traffic (how much was the pre-sales?), who didn't buy enough tickets.

I haven't heard of films being blacklisted.  But these movie theaters are businesses.  They need to make money.  If the film isn't selling tickets, they aren't going to keep it in their theaters, or give it screens, just to support Wang Hedi or 'quality.'  Likewise, if a big production company is going to give them a better deal on their block buster movies, then of course, they are going to take it.  I don't know about showings being canceled which I haven't heard of either, but if only one person shows up, and at a late showing, is it worth the cost of running the movie?  I'm not sure about these past midnight air times, but maybe they are for those fan and friend theater buyouts, where people don't actually attend.  There is a lot of manipulation of data in China.  Or perhaps they are in one of the five geographical timezones away from Beijing, since I do find it odd that these middle of the night shows are a third more expensive than the matinees.

I have to question this idea that the biggest box office days of the year 'needs' canon fodder.  That makes no sense.  The theaters want to make money.  The industry wants a big overall box office number.  This is supposed to be the time that the big money makers and movies come out and one of the best opportunities for them.  The only only reason a film would be canon fodder, is if it was from a big production company and they wanted to claim slots that would have gone to a film from another production company ... which makes no sense, given the director is claiming these slots are so awful that his 'quality' film can't make money off them.  Also, isn't the budget for this drama large?  I heard the special effects had to be redone, and they were costly -- though I don't know if that's true or not.  Not the sort of movie you want to use as canon fodder.

The Chinese film industry is interested in making money, just like the rest of the world.  There probably is some of the usual distribution deals made that favor bigger production companies, because they are the ones bringing in the big money making block busters.

Anyway, I don't think this is sabotage or supression.  I think whoever decided the release date made a mistake, thinking this drama had more box office potential then it had, especially on this highly competitve holiday.  

 phoenixfrost:

My understanding is that the movie's budget was mostly used for special effects such that the actors did it almost for free. Whether or not it's the sort of movie that would be used as cannon fodder is irrelevant since it did become cannon fodder and got the worst showtimes. And with showtimes from 1 to 5 AM, how could a movie make money, no matter how good it is?

It doesn't matter what the budget went to, the question is, was it large?  If so, it's unlikely that the production company is going to allow it to be cannon fodder, unless someone is reimbursing them the cost of the movie.  And yes, it is relevant, because the other poster was claiming it was 'supposed' to be cannon fodder, which as I said, makes no sense, for multiple reasons.  Poor box office doesn't equal cannon fodder.

You act like being 'good' will automatically guarantee box office, when that's not the case at all.  And again, if you start any contest late, how do you expect to compete at the same level?  The screens are determined by pre-sales.  What were the pre-sales?  If the public interest and the fan club didn't get high enough pre-sales, they aren't going to get the screens.  That could also determine the time slots, as the theaters are giving the best ones to the films with the most demand, or marketing push, or perhaps distribution deal.  It's about theaters doing what they think will make the most money not malicious supression or sabotage.

 phoenixfrost:

In the first few days of its release., the attendance rate was in the top 3 among the movies released in the period. Thus, claiming the cancellations were caused by poor attendance is unjustified. The cancellations were reported by moviegoers who said the theaters claimed to have "technical" problems.

What does attendance rate even mean?  Do you mean people actually using the tickets that were bought and watching the movie?  Cause plenty of tickets were just bought to support the film, not to actually watch it.  And if it was top 3 in ticket sales, then there wouldn't be a problem.  I don't even know if cancellations occured much less the exact situation or attendance.  But I'm pretty sure a movie theater is not going to tell a full house that the movie was canceled. 

 phoenixfrost:

It appears you have a pristine view of the Chinese Entertainment industry. Have you heard of companies that pay hundreds of millions of rmb to launch smear campaigns on actors and dramas? Of netizens called YXH that are paid to write negative articles about actors and dramas? Of water armies that are paid to spread negative comments?

I don't have a pristine view of C-ent OR fandoms.  I've very aware agency tricks and of YXH and black marketing smears and water armies, as well as fandom shenaghians and nasty fan wars.  But you've repeatedly said the film got good reviews, so clearly the YXH haven't been set on anyone for this film.  Also, the platforms have their own YXH and the celebrities have their fans to help combat YXH.  I'm willing to bet the supression / sabotage rumor is coming from the fandom to combat the lack of box office.

 phoenixfrost:

Even Xin Ping is aware of how dirty the Chinese Entertainment industry and tried to curb its questionable practices as noted here:

That behind a paywall for me.  But from the link, I can see it's talking about the government crackdown on fandoms and BL, probably after the 227 incident, not the industry.  Though clearly, the industry / celebs are using fandoms also.

 phoenixfrost:

In light of these, what happened to PAAA needs to be investigated before assertions of suppression are dismissed.

Good lord.  No one is going to investigate yet another fandom complaining about poor box office and supression, especially when the director himself said they weren't victims.  And it isn't like this director doesn't know what the deal is for a CNY / Spring Festival release.  A couple of years ago his film Viva La Vida was pulled after a week because it couldn't compete, to be re-released at a later date.  So, perhaps something similar with happen to PAAA.

Regardless, the film is getting international release, which many films don't, and it got sold to Netflix, which many films don't.  It will also get sold to the some of the platforms, so it has more chances to succeed or at least earn it's budget back.