China’s Top TV Production Company Announces Earnings with General and I Beating Three Lives, Three Worlds in Money Made
Popularity doesn’t always mean money and oftentimes I hear of popular K-idols who lament being penny poor because they haven’t been paid due to contract or income complications. The same goes in the television world where ratings matters less than what the product sold for and how much ad revenue it brought in. The greater the delta the better for the production company so it’s interesting to see a frame of comparison this week when one of China’s biggest production companies Huace Media reported its earnings and listed the top 5 most profitable projects of the past year. Coming in 1st in earnings is period romance General and I with Wallace Chung and Angelababy, 2nd place is the Zheng Shuang‘s modern drama Rush to the Dead of Summer followed by the latest remake of Legend of the Condor Heroes in 3rd place. The biggest buzz drama of the year so far Three Lives Three Worlds, Ten Miles Peach Blossoms came in 4th and rounding out the top 5 is popular variety show Hidden Singer.
- General and I: 438 million yuan
- Rush to the Dead of Summer: 373 million
- Legend of the Condor Heroes 2016: 339 million yuan
- Three Lives Three Worlds, Ten Miles Peach Blossoms: 300 million yuan
- Hidden Singer: 258 million yuan
I only recently got into Cdrama especially Wuxia/fantasy/ancient genre so I’m not very familiar with C-actors and actresses unlike Kdrama’s.
General and I was top rated so I stared it with much expectations hoping it would be another epic drama like “Ten Miles of Peach Blossom” ,*Scarlet Heart” “Nirvana in Fire” but I couldn’t get past the first 3 episode. The male lead was so wooden that as much as I tried I couldn’t get into the drama. The female lead was relatively better but nothing much to write home about. I don’t know if he is a talked actor and the beginning of the drama was an off chance and he improved as the drama progressed but he was so damn stiff. Gorgeous leads of course but the acting…..
Haha I’m surprised to see someone critisizing Wallace Chung’s acting. He’s probably one of the most praised actors. Agree about Angelababy; even her own fans don’t want her to act because she always ruin novel-to-drama adaptations.
I know right! I never heard anyone said Wallace Chung is a bad actor before.
same here.wallace chung has a solid acting compared to the rest of the team.
Acting is a universal language, it doesn’t take a genius to know that Wallace is the best thing from ‘General and I’. In fact, Wallace is among ‘the best” actors w/in the hugely popular C-actors.
I’ve never taken any interest in Wallace Chung before but I’ve to say his acting seems ok from some dramas/movies I’ve seen him in. As for AB, I always avoid any dramas she’s in, especially period dramas. The only program with her in it that I can watch is Running Man.
I agree abou Wallace Chung. He’s one of the most emotive c actor I’ve watched, both in comedy and drama. I enjoyed Angela Baby in Love O2O but I haven’t seen her in other dramas.
I dunno what your problem is but Angelababy and Wallace did great there, with the fake scenery it’s hard to act for real but both did good. Fyi the characters on the novel are same like what the actors’ portrayed. Honestly Angelababy is good in acting she is smart but can never become stupid, dummy-cute character like her movie love you you, for sound in the cloud the story is sucks so don’t blame her. Both Angela and Wallace can acting with their eyes then we know their feelings making this drama is the best c-drama in 2017 added the smart characters’ nature and yeah the plot is too dragging.
Won’t they get more backlash from releasing this? G&I made their profits by rushing filming, extending the plot needlessly and skimping on post-production. It was absolutely terrible.
I agree, I was really surprised when I heard it was slated for January airing especially when it started filming just in May 2016. Usually a c drama will air 1 year to 2 years from start of filming.
Maybe besides taking inspiration from Korea for their dramas, idols and variety shows, they’ve decided to go further and adopt their drama-shooting system too.
Aww, nah! That’s just a bad idea!
I have issues with how General and I was directed re: use of slow motion etc but I eventually enjoyed the actual story. The major weakness to me was the set up of the love story was rushed and not well done (which is ridiculous given the episode count), but I found it got better post the first 13 or so episodes. Was it too long? Yes, but I find this to be true in all but a few C-dramas. Having said that, I do note that many who read the book were not happy with the adaptation.
I loved loved loved Eternal Love and am so happy for the success and buzz. Also happy that international viewers are getting many more options to see Chinese dramas. I get people have different ideas on the quality but Princess WeiYoung, General and I and Eternal Love all hit the top of Dramafever’s watch list and that is something that generally doesn’t happen with C-Dramas so success begets more success and hopefully licensing more C-Dramas for me to watch 🙂
By Eternal Love, I mean 10 Mile Peach Blossom…
Eternal Love is wonderful. Mark Chao and Yang Mi are so fine. Love their storyline.
I’m surprised hoe much money Rush to the Dead of Summer is making considering how it haven’t even aired. Looking forward to it.
I loved Eternal Love and am surprised it ranked behind General and I.
Rush to the Dead Summer is a modern drama, which probably costs less to produce compared to Eternal Love. Plus it has Zheng Shuang and Guo Jing Ming’s name attached to it.
General and I is also pretty hyped due to its cast. Too bad it flopped. Guess it made more money by using cheap pre-production.
Wallace Chung and Angelababy, both of them are popular actors in Mainland. People had high expectation when the production team release the cast news. But as much as i like both of the actors, but the execution of this drama was meh. I quitted at ep 8 (?).
While for Ten Miles. At first, people had lower expectations. Mark Zhao at that time wasnt as popular as he is now (thanks to ten miles). Even with YangMi, it was still not as high as WC and ABB.
Im waiting for the engsub of legend of condor heroes 2016. I wonder why it takes months… 🙁
I totally agree with your views; both Wallace C. and Angelababy had a strong fanbase in China with experience in period dramas in the past so the interest was higher than Peach Blossoms.
On the other hand, Mark Chao never participated in Chinese dramas, let alone a mythical one with 3 different roles for him, so his casting definitely did not generate positive buzz before airing. Same with Yang Mi, her acting skills were no longer widely appreciated after several flops so her inclusion was not met with excitement either. So while Peach Blossoms emerged as the more popular one and winning the audience’s love, General and I had already gained the upper hand with the advertisers and broadcasters early on. It’s a reversal of fortunes.
I’d personally expect any drama with Yang Mi to win big at the ratings game though. Whatever people say about her acting, she definitely draws viewers in. I also disagree that WC and AB’s fanbase were a bigger factor than Yang Mi’s and Dilraba’s. You have to take into account the fact that AB’s acting’s known to suck. She’s almost in the same tier as Victoria when it comes to bad acting (I do rate AB higher purely because of the good vibes she gave in Hot Summer Days way back in 2010).
I thought Mark was in a drama called Black and White with Vic Zhou years back? The drama was quite enjoyable.
Rabbityrant Black and White was Taiwanese drama, not mainland Chinese.
No but general and i is wonderful on clear plot and storyline eventhough we could clearly see the fake sceneries, also Angelababy and wallace have more chemistry compare to mark chao and yangmi. I never like mark’s acting since he cannot act well just like in his first drama black and white, yang mi is ok but to be honest angela’s acting is better for describing her character this time.
I am more surprised with Legend of the condor heroes beating 3 lives 3 worlds. Was it popular during its run?
This isn’t the profit the dramas made…
But the price one of the main productions Huace for paid from the stations. This is the price they got even before it aired…
And it’s not surprised because 3l3w was critized and hated on before it aired because YH and Mark didn’t meet their expectation in casting. So the stations didn’t give the highest price for it… while they expected more from others…
This doesn’t have anything to do with the success of the dramas
It’s is amazing to see after so many years Legend of the Condor Heroes can still garner enough interest and earnings for a company. I can’t even remember how many versions there are. Eternal love or TLTW is so draggy. Couldn’t they just cut the episodes, I had to fast forward most episodes.
I enjoyed General and I. I’m surprised Wallace Chung was criticized here for his acting. Aside from Hu Ge, he’s probably the best actor China produced to date. Meanwhile, I can’t watch Yang Mi. She just doesn’t connect. When I try to watch her, I become so aware that she is acting, if that makes sense to all. Happy for G&I.
Wallace Chung is from Hong Kong and before breaking out in Mainland he was based in Taiwan so I wouldn’t say he’s “China-produced”
Yes, true. He started indeed in HK/Taiwan. But regardless, I think his acting is spot on.
I felt the same way about Yang Mi for the longest time, i would get distracted by her “acting” and not be able to relate to her character or immerse myself into the story. She was too self-aware, causing others to notice and be reminded that she was pretending to be someone else instead of believing that she was the actual fictional person. Nonetheless, she proved her critics wrong and presented a nearly flawless portrayal of all 3 personas in peach blossoms. Angelababy annoys me with her mere presence so I am on the fence with G&I… I do like Wallace C though.
I’m a fan of Wallace Chung, but calling him the best actor China produced to date? HA. HA. HA. Even as a fan, WC’s acting is just decent. I’m watching Surgeons, and I don’t think he holds a candle to all the veterans there. He’s not even the top among his age group really.
Could it be because Three Lives production cost more…therefore more of a dent in the profit line?
I think that may be one of the reasons. I didn’t watch General and I, but there’s news of how the drama have an overwhelmingly large number of scenes being 100% CGed, so the production costs may be lowered that way.
I like the novel of gen and i , it ok but i cant pass angelbaby acting even the part she play wei wei the movie just saying i hope i can like her in the future
general and i was not a flop.it was infact very successful rating wise but people confuse critics panned dramas as flops and critics aclaim dramas as hits which is not the case.the world is not that fair.eternal love ie 3 loves 3 worlds is a critically aclaim drama whiles g and i is critically panned.
I don’t know why everyone is saying General and I was a ratings flop. In fact, General and I got twice the TV rating of Eternal Love(3l3w) and they pulled close to 20 billion online views. Far from a flop. It disappointed fans in terms of expectation and the CGI was annoying. However, when it came to TV ratings it more than delivered.
I am more surprised by #2 and #3 on this list. RttDoS doesn’t look up my alley, but it does have a lot of buzz online. And I guess I will have to check out Legend of the Condor Heroes, I saw fans were going to start subbing it.
since when did general and I get twice the ratings of eternal love?
eternal love aired at the same time slot on 2 stations so the tv rating had been provided between 2 stations.that reason why G&I tv rating was higher
This is the prices the broadcast stations paid before the dramas were aired…
TMOPB was bashed and criticized a lot before it aired. Hunan TV didn’t get it even they usually take YM’s drama but it was aired in 2 smaller stations.
So it’s not surprised that they bought it cheaper… But I’d say the later is a bigger success with rating combined in 2 stations and online views as well as the buzz it created.
Good general and i is really good even though the story is quite dragging and the ending is too short. Angela’s and Wallace’s chemistry is strong here.
General and I actually is the best movie in 2016/2017 is also one of the top movie stories in the modern date. Thanks to all the people that dedicated to this project.as of Wallace Chung and Angela Baby the chemistry between the two main characters is excellent. Wallace Chung is professional singer and actor, his acting is for every body to admire, perfect character.and Angela Baby acting is improved significantly, she is so beautiful especially when she has a light make up
Anyway I don’t have enough words to express myself all I can say is my gratitude to all the people that make this wonderful movie. Thanks to the whole group that devoted themselves to give us something that worth to watch and enjoy it
It’s really shock to hear some body criticized Wallace Chung because the fact is Wallace Chung is one of the best and top of Chinese movie industry. He is also one of the best singer and dancer
Wallace Chung acting is absolutely no question
I Love Eternal Love watched 3 times and still love every minutes of it.
Hope there is another Season coming soon.
Irene – Sydney Australia