Poster of "The Man from Macau III."
Movie cinema managers usually arrange film bookings based on profits instead of reviews, yet a local cinema in northwest China's Gansu Province recently broke tradition by suggesting its audiences not watch a movie it described as a "scam."
"We want to apologize to those who have watched the film...we sincerely suggest everybody not to spend money on it," said Pingliang China Film Stellar International Theater in a WeChat feed it sent to its subscribers, referring to the movie "The Man from Macau III," starring Chow Yun Fat, Andy Lau and Jacky Cheung.
"We can not understand how a bunch of previous A-list stars have such a poor taste for screenplay and how Hong Kong movies have been reduced to such a status," said the post, vowing to arrange only one screening for the movie in the following days.
The post went viral on social media platforms, with many Internet users praising the theater manager as conscientious.
But the theater later deleted the post, saying it was only the personal thoughts of its investor and does not represent the position of China Film Stellar International Theater Chain, with which it is a franchisee.
Released on the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, "The Man from Macau III" has done huge business, trailing behind only "Mermaid" and "The Monkey King 2" in the box office. Yet its reviews are also poor, scoring 5.8 out of 10 on Mtime.com and 1.1 out of 10 on imdb.com.
But the director of the movie Wong Jing, seems unfazed. He posted a message on his Weibo account Friday saying "Five days! Six hundred million yuan!"
