Chinese filmmaker takes responsibility for mega movie's failure

Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, whose mega production "The Great Wall" tanked at the box office -- especially in international markets like the US, took responsibility for its failure on Thursday.

"The Great Wall" is a US-China co-production and China's biggest budget film till date.

"Probably the story is a bit weak, or the timing wasn't right, or we didn't do a very good job in making the film. There could be many reasons," Zhang told the China Daily.

The budget of "The Great Wall" -- a 3D fantasy film that centres around the idea that the famous Chinese monument was built to defend the empire of bloodthirsty monsters -- was pegged at $150 million, Efe news reported.

It managed to earn $332 million in revenues worldwide, while in the US, known to be the biggest film hub, it could earn only $45 million.

In China, despite extensive promotion and marketing, the film earned only $171 million.

The film is also one of the first China-US co-productions by Legendary East, that was acquired by Chinese real estate and theatre chain developer, the Wanda Group.

Zhang, who has won awards in European festivals for films such as "Red Sorghum" and "Raise the Red Lantern", however, praised the performance of Hollywood stars like Matt Damon in the film and hoped the failure of the film will not affect future US-China film collaborations.

"'All beginnings are hard.' But I feel that this beginning is valuable. I hope there will be more cooperation like this, and that people won't stop just because the result wasn't so good," he said.

--IANS

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