Rene Liu’s directorial debut for the movie Us and Them 后来的我们 is about two people, played by Jing Boran and Zhou Dongyu, who meet each other on a train on the way home for Chinese New Year. The movie just premiered last Saturday, April 28, 2018, and has been met with great success.
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After only 5 days in the box office, the movie has already earned 1 billion yuan which accounts for 65% of total box office sales. This makes Rene Liu the first rookie female director to have such high box office numbers ousting Xue Xiaolu for her movie Book of Love last 2016 with 785 million.
Rene Liu is a Singer-Turned-Director
Rene Liu has had a prolific singing career since she started more than 20 years ago. This is her first directorial project. Unfortunately, it has been hit with a ticket sale scandal on its opening day after it was revealed that tickets were purchased in large numbers and were later refunded.
Further adding to the controversy is that Mao Yan which is the ticket sales company also has a stake in the movie. Mao Yan has confirmed that while 54% of the refunded tickets were regular customers, 46% were maliciously purchased and they are investigating the matter closely.
Rene Liu Studio has also released a statement that they are cooperating with all relevant departments to find out the truth about the ticket sale controversy. They are hoping to find out how it started and reiterate that Rene Liu and her team values integrity and created this movie project to sincerely share with everybody. The statement further explains that in her 24 years in the business, Rene Liu has always respected the team, the movie and the art of performing.
The document ends with appreciation expressed to those who believe and support her and advises others to avoid making the issue worst than it is. It is such a great achievement for a rookie director. I hope they get to the bottom of this scandal because it will be a shame to have her achievements marred with a scandal like this.
Anonymous
It does seem a bit shocking for a romance movie to pull off these numbers. Even during CNY it takes movies a few days and it is a very profitable weekend.
But I am curious if the movie is good. Has anyone seen it?