A screen capture from Sina Weibo account of Dongfang Daily. (Photo/Weibo)
Liu Hui, General Manager of UME Cineplex Huaxing branch in Beijing, a theater accused of faking sold-out shows on weekdays, said she is helpless to face the allegations during an interview with Beijing News.
"People are often suspicious at the good box office performances of domestic films, but this is in itself a doubtful point to make. For a film like Ip Man, it is actually very normal to have a box office performance and showing schedules like we do. I would not be surprised if the final ticket sales reach 1 billion yuan ($154 million)," said Liu.
According to Liu, Disney's Zootopia, which is also playing right now, is showing 13 times a day at her theater. The number for Ip Man 3 is 15, not remarkably high compared to Zootopia. Attendance rate is roughly between 70 to 80 percent on weekends, and as of now, only two shows on the afternoon of March 7 and four shows on the afternoon of March 8 are sold out.
"Sold out shows are concentrated around International Women's Day (March 8), as some of the employers are buying tickets for their employees. Why is it that no one questions sold out shows for imported films, and makes such a fuss out of it when it comes to domestic films?" Liu added.
Frauds in box office records have become familiar in China's film industry. Bribing cinemas to cooperate and mass-buying tickets to one's own films may bring about a hefty marketing bill, but it is often deemed a "worthy investment" if the move can attract more viewers to the theaters. Some of the distributors allow, or have no choice but to abide by the unspoken rules of the market. However, this is the first time for a film to be "caught redhanded" and governing institutions were alarmed enough to issue statements.
China's media watchdog State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and China Film Group, one of China's largest distributors, said that they have begun to look further into box office frauds after the "serious and abnormal fluctuations in the box office since March 4" to maintain order in the film market and for its sustainable development into the future, though the specific names of the films were not released.
"We will nullify box office returns as necessary and punish cinemas, distributors and film companies involved, depending on the seriousness of the offence," SARFT said in an official statement released on March 6.
Several e-ticketing institutions, including Maoyan and Baidu Nuomi, have all received notices from SARFT to investigate the abnormal fluctuations in the ticket sales of Ip Man 3. SARFT has also asked e-ticketing institutions to provide their contracts with the distributor of Ip Man 3 for further scrutiny.
Producers of Ip Man 3 have yet to respond to the allegations.
