Dylan Wang and Song Qian’s Lunar New Year Sci-fi Comedy Action Movie Per Aspera Ad Astra is a Big Flop
It’s so hard to move from drama land to movie land in C-ent, even the top drama stars slowly work their way in expect bumps and bruises along the way. So it’s no surprise that last week during lunar new year there was the usual big release stacked movies to compete with all those vacation dollars at the box office, and in the mix was the sci-fi comedy action movie Per Aspera Ad Astra with Dylan Wang and Song Qian. It’s like sending a JV player to the Olympics but hey go for it I guess. Alas the result is as bad as can be expected, the movie is a huge flop having secured only 3.4% of the screenings from theaters and at the worst times like early morning and late night due to the other bigger movies selling more tickets and getting more slots. I checked out the trailer and it looks rather chaotic and visually bombastic, but could make for a silly harmless movie to watch on a long plane ride to kill time.
Preview for Per Aspera Ad Astra:
The Chinese movie industry is all backings and connections. Whoever secured the most and best screening slots with the theaters prior to the premiere will end up with the highest box office, despite having mid plots and boring executions. And it’s always the same few people alternating between the top spot every year except for animated movies.
Why do you write it’s a flop while also giving the exact reason why it is not doing as well as other movies financially? They have considerably fewer screenings and all of them are late in evening, at night and early in the morning. But what about reviews? Most of them are positive.The movie will be shown in cinemas in other countries as well. It was bought by Netflix. And it’s a film made by a team of people not just one actor.
It’s flop because it’s trash. But he isn’t for anything better anyway, with his lack of talent.
Talking so big, you must have seen the movie.
On the premiere day director of Wandering Earth went to watch the movie. Praised it and recommended it on social media. A few days later he was seen at the cinema again watching the same movie. But sure. You must be a better expert.
Cry. Then keep crying because your idol is flopping like a dead fish on land.
I wonder since theaters seem to be losing a lot of business here in USA especially where I live and seems to be moving more to streaming from home. How is China doing with their theaters? If the first comment is true isn’t that kind of cheating?
This looks a hot mess…. but a FUN hot mess!!! I’m up for it!
BTW, an interesting name. The Royal Australian Air Force’s motto is “per ardua ad astra” – by adversity to the stars. Looking up aspera it has various meanings – cruel/violent/savage, rude/unrefined, hardship/difficulties and stern/severe/bitter … I’m kind of thinking rude/unrefined is best from the chaos of the trailer, lol.
Rumor has it his traffic is dwindling
Looks like a hot mess. Also neither are good actors but Victoria has got to be one of the worst actresses in cdrama good god. Flat, wooden, stiff, limited to no expressions. No charisma or presence to boot. Just terrible. All these kpop girl group members come back to cdrama land and take up lead actress spots and I always wonder who is backing them. All are absymal except maybe Sally liu.
So true. Both are bad actors and I still can’t forget the kpop blog article about Victoria’s bad acting that I read many years ago.
Yeah it has never improved all these years. Also im not sure why but she always has this dour, sour look about her, that makes her look 10x older, especially when shes always paired with younger men. I avoid her dramas like the plaque
What is the production cost of this movie? Was it expected to be a blockbuster? When considering commercial success, you can’t ignore revenues vs. costs. Screening slots and shares don’t tell the whole story whether a movie is a flop or not. As much as I’m not appealed to these two lead actors, I won’t jump to a conclusion that they failed the movie just based upon screening time. It’s misleading!
Song Qian? I am very surprised by this pairing…
The clip looks fun but likely execution failed. This theme is already a big gamble. If all 5 stars co-ordinate well, it will be a huge blast. But if they dont, it will be a flop. Such is the risk.
well yes. of course it’s a flop lol. they’re mostly traffic stars. these two may be bankable in terms of ads and magazines and getting their fans to buy stuff or watch their dramas online for free but the box office is a different game. no one is going to the theatres to watch either of these names if they aren’t also acting alongside bankable veterans. Or the script is simply out of the world.
I agree, and it also explains why they don’t have recognition or influence among the general public.