Stephen Chow - from king of pirated CDs to king of the box office

Deeply ingrained in the audience's memory with a series of films about the underdogs in society, now that he is no longer acting, the Hong Kong actor is still warmly welcomed.

In early 2016, Stephen Chow continued to mark a new milestone in the Chinese film industry, when The Mermaid, directed by him, became the highest-grossing film in Chinese box office history. The work, with an investment of 300 million yuan (nearly 46 million USD), has so far earned more than three billion yuan (nearly 460 million USD) in the mainland Chinese market.

In Hong Kong and countries like Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia..., the movie about the clumsy mermaid also achieved impressive revenue. In North America, the work was restricted to viewers but also achieved some achievements such as "Most popular Chinese film on the opening day", "Most popular Chinese film on the opening weekend"...

However, the comedy was not critically acclaimed. QQ commented: "Mermaid is just an ordinary commercial film, with limited special effects and nothing special about the 3D effect." What made the film so successful at the box office?

Stephen Chow directs scenes in "The Mermaid".

The Eastmovie film website believes that the decisive factor in making the film a box office hit is the influence of Stephen Chow..

Since the film began filming, the Hong Kong comedian's huge fan base has been chanting the slogan "We owe Stephen Chow a movie ticket." This slogan was explained by the audience that when they were young, they watched Stephen Chow's comedy movies for free and it was time to "pay back" for those free viewings. Many fans were calling for the "Saint"'s film to become the biggest box office hit.

Before Shaolin Soccer (2001), pirated discs were the main way to connect Stephen Chow with audiences outside Hong Kong such as Thailand, Vietnam, mainland China, Malaysia... and made the actor a familiar name to audiences. His creativity, familiar character image, childish acting style, and somewhat "vulgar" way of making people laugh became spiritual food for young people. When the Internet boomed, Stephen Chow continued to accompany many audiences, of which students made up a large part.

With the above slogan, for nearly a year, after each article about The Mermaid, there have been countless comments about the audience's memories of Stephen Chow's films in the 1990s. "Growing up with Stephen Chow's films, every time he releases a new film, I feel like I'm meeting an old friend after a long time. For me, watching Stephen Chow's films is because of the feeling of missing beautiful childhood memories," a reader who introduced himself as a father of two wrote on Eastmovie.

"In my personal opinion, The Mermaid is not very funny, people go to see it to pay off their debts. The work is not really attractive but I still support it, for no reason, just because of the three words Chau Tinh Tri. I think people will feel warmer if he appears in the film, even just for a moment. A Tinh, long time no see", reader Zhouzhou shared the same feeling.

A woman from the 70s generation shared: "The revenue reached three billion yuan because everyone loves Stephen Chow. The reason why people like him is because they have seen his classic comedies such as National Bond 007, School of Gamblers, The Deer and the Cauldron, Beggar Man... Since Stephen Chow became the director, I feel that the movies are not as good as before, and they no longer have the 'quality' of the past... Now, all that remains is nostalgia."

A VnExpress reader commented: "I remember my student days, renting movies one after another to watch with my roommates and laughing so hard every time I heard Stephen Chow's voice and words."

Eastmovie asks: "If pirated DVDs weren't so widespread in the past, would Stephen Chow have had such great appeal as he does now?"

Most audiences commented that "The Mermaid" is not as funny as previous films starring Stephen Chow such as "God of Gamblers", "School of the Dragons", "The Legend of Fuyao"...

Since the beginning of the year, The Mermaid has become the unbeatable, surpassing all other Chinese blockbusters, most notably From Vegas to Macau 3. The movie about God of Gamblers has the participation of Chow Yun Fat, Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung with a team of directors and producers including Andy Lau, Wong Jing, and Hong Hua Qiang - who together with Stephen Chow created classic Hong Kong comedies of the 1990s. This confrontation in theaters further demonstrates Stephen Chow's superiority in attracting audiences.

"God of Gamblers, with the performance of a whole cast of superstars including three movie emperors plus the Hong Kong Heavenly King, Carina Lau and Psy, had a total revenue far less than The Mermaid, with a cast of young and unknown actors, the most famous of which were only Deng Chao and Show Luo. This shows how big the shadow of Tinh Ca is," reader Ju Ly commented on VnExpress.

The next factors that made Mermaid a hit were the two generations of "Star Girls" appearing in the film, including Truong Vu Ky and Lam Doan, along with the participation of Dang Sieu and La Chi Tuong. On the other hand, good promotion strategy and release time also affected the film's revenue.

Sina commented that with Journey to the West: The Extra Story or The Mermaid, Stephen Chow affirmed his personal appeal and won the position of "Box Office King". If he returns to acting, it is very likely that the actor will break his own record.

According to VNE