Chapter 142 Made for Foreigners to Watch

Instead of suffering the awkward fate of being cold at home and hot abroad as it did in the previous life, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon proved to be even more fervent than overseas. On its opening day, it raked in over sixty million in box office revenue, instantly shattering the domestic record for opening day earnings in China. The second day still maintained a fifty-million-yuan haul.

Crossing the hundred-million mark in just two days instantly stimulated other moviegoers. However, in terms of box office stamina, it seemed to lag far behind North America.

In the North American region, due to an increase in theater screens and intensified promotional efforts, the box office showed significant growth. It claimed the weekly box office championship in its first week with over thirty million dollars, and surged to forty million in the second week.

Back home, however, an entirely opposite result unfolded. After breaking a hundred million in the first two days, the box office plunged directly to thirty million on the third day, twenty million on the fourth day, barely twenty million on the fifth, and dropped below the twenty-million threshold on both the sixth and seventh days. Although the first-week box office reached over two hundred and twenty million, the first two days alone accounted for half of that total.

An opening week of two hundred and twenty million broke the domestic film record for a debut week, but the overly steep downward trend also invited considerable gossip and criticism.

Mainstream media reviews for this film stood in stark contrast to those of Flirting Scholar, receiving almost unanimous and exceptionally high praise. On the internet, however, the sentiment was the exact opposite of Flirting Scholar.

Online opinions did not claim the film was bad; countless people even praised it as a classic. Yet, they found it unappealing and unenjoyable. Fans of Zhang Le conducted a poll comparing Zhang Le's three films, revealing that while Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon received the highest artistic evaluation, its likability score was the lowest—pitiably low.

The astronomical box office numbers of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon during its first two days were clearly driven by the film's success overseas. After watching it, however, audiences found it fell short of their expectations, making the sharp decline in box office revenue inevitable. Furthermore, the potential of the domestic Chinese film market was inherently limited to that extent.

Unappealing did not mean the film was poorly made. The reason it was unappealing boiled down to one thing: they simply did not like it!

Did audiences automatically love every classic film? Clearly not. Many classic films performed worse at the box office than absolute trash. Not every moviegoer was a master critic.

Too few moviegoers pondered the meaning of life after watching a movie. Far too many treated films like web novels—seeking a quick thrill and casting them aside!

Perhaps this was why almost all low-budget films that achieved massive box office upsets were comedies. Too many viewers went to the movies purely for a laugh.

Scarcely anyone wanted to gain insights into life or contemplate the future from a film. Even fewer sought emotional resonance or drew strength from it.

Too many moviegoers failed to comprehend Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, nor did they have the inclination to decipher it. Perhaps another major reason was that this martial arts film diverged too drastically from traditional martial arts films and from the genre as envisioned in the public's mind.

Too many people watched martial arts films merely to satisfy their own fantasies. They wanted to see charismatic masters wielding swords across the pugilist world, dispensing chivalry and justice with effortless style, or encountering consecutive strokes of fortune to master supreme martial arts before seeking revenge with exhilarating gratification. They had no interest in observing the complexities of the pugilist world, nor did they want to reflect upon human desires afterwards.

Although its third-week box office in North America declined and it was dethroned as the weekly champion by a newly released Hollywood blockbuster, it still powerfully secured thirty million dollars, successfully crossing the one-hundred-million-dollar milestone. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon thus became the first Chinese-language film to surpass one hundred million dollars at the North American box office.

Meanwhile, the domestic daily box office in its second week consistently hovered above ten million, pushing its weekly total just past the one-hundred-million mark, bringing the cumulative box office to over three hundred million. Once again, this caught many people by surprise.

When Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was first released, its initial box office momentum was so ferocious that countless people believed it might shatter the record held by Waiting for Return and become the highest-grossing domestic film of all time. At this point, however, it seemed reaching five hundred million would already be a commendable feat.

The stark contrast between this reality and their initial high expectations left many unable to accept it. Among them was Yang Xiner, though Zhang Le was not one of them.

"How could this happen?" Yang Xiner asked Zhang Le, looking somewhat bewildered.

She had been brimming with anticipation, but now her extreme joy had turned to sorrow.

"Isn't this normal?" Zhang Le asked with a smile.

"Normal? You call this normal? Crossing a hundred million in two days, yet ending up with only five hundred million after a month in theaters—you call that normal? A hundred million in the first two days means the remaining four hundred million took twenty-eight days," Yang Xiner said, frowning as she looked at Zhang Le. She could not comprehend why he did not display even a shred of discouragement.

"Have you ever imagined a martial arts film making five hundred million at the box office?" Zhang Le asked with a smile.

"Oh," Yang Xiner paused for a moment, looked at Zhang Le, and then said, "But this film had a much higher budget than Crazy Stone and Flirting Scholar, yet the box office is about the same. This... well, I suppose I was blinded by the first two days' box office numbers. No wonder you looked so surprised when you first learned those initial figures, yet seemed enlightened when the box office started to drop."

"This film is going to make much more money than the first two," Zhang Le said with a smile.

"That's true!" Yang Xiner nodded. Leaving aside how much money was generated from selling copyright licenses in European countries, the North American box office revenue share alone translated to hundreds of millions of yuan when converted. After deducting production costs, it was undeniably his most profitable film to date.

Moreover, the greatest asset this film earned was not merely money, but fame.

Through this film, Zhang Le's standing within the director's circle skyrocketed. The status of everyone involved in the film, from the actors to the behind-the-scenes crew, also rose within the industry. Without a doubt, this was entirely due to the massive influence the film wielded.

"However, with the film's box office rapidly declining, quite a few negative comments have appeared online. The most damaging narrative is that this movie was made specifically for foreigners to watch," Yang Xiner said, seemingly recalling something.

"Made for foreigners to watch?" Zhang Le looked at Yang Xiner in slight surprise before bursting into laughter. "Is that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?"

"Do you think negative criticism is meant to compliment you?" Yang Xiner rolled her eyes and said.

"Made for foreigners to watch? They are essentially saying that I used a Chinese film to take foreigners' money while exporting Chinese culture. Don't you think that sounds rather great?" Zhang Le smiled and said, "Actually, I've always had a wish: to make my own films and take foreigners' money. Not only did Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon take foreigners' money, but it also enabled countless people whose livelihoods depend on tourism to earn foreigners' money as well."

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon caused a sensation abroad, and the breathtaking scenery depicted in the film captivated countless foreigners. The number of people inspired by the movie to travel to China was immeasurable. The promotional impact this film exerted on the domestic tourism industry was certainly an effect that could not be ignored.

The label "made for foreigners to watch" indeed caused quite a few moviegoers to develop an aversion to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Some biased fans directly lumped it into the category of worshipping foreign things and pandering to the West, and even called for a boycott.

Yet no one expected that right at this moment, a post by Yang Xiner on Weibo would directly spark a new round of debate: Should Chinese directors prioritize satisfying the tastes of domestic moviegoers, or should they pander to the palates of foreign audiences?

And that particular post by Yang Xiner simply quoted Zhang Le's own words: Make Chinese films, win major international awards, and take foreigners' money!