A still image of The Enchanting Phantom features the protagonist Ning Caichen, starring actor Chen Xingxu. [Photo provided to China Daily] |
The fantasy film The Enchanting Phantom, a remake of late Hong Kong megastar Leslie Cheung's 1987 classic A Chinese Ghost Story, has become a runaway hit on streaming sites during the just-concluded Labor Day holiday.
Authorized to use the 1987 film's theme song, sung by Cheung, the new film has stirred up a storm of nostalgia, earning around 18 million yuan ($2.5 million) at the online box office -- revenue shared between streaming sites and producers -- in merely four days since its release on the streaming giant Tencent Video on May 1.
Exemplifying its popularity, the film has been ranked in the most-searched topics list on the Twitter-like Sina Weibo six times, seeing its soundtrack broadcast over 100 million times online and accumulating 460 million clicks on related topics on Sina Weibo.