High-budget flop bows out of the summer heat

The film earned 48.41 million yuan ($7.23 million) with negative reviews against its massive investment of 750 million yuan in its short stint in theaters from Friday to Sunday last weekend, as box office juggernaut Dying to Survive and Jiang Wen's new release Hidden Man dominated the Chinese market.

So far, Wen Muye's realistic drama Dying to Survive has already grossed 2.46 billion ($368 million) in 11 days and Jiang's Hidden Man has raked in 313 million yuan ($46.8 million) in just three days. Asura fit oddly with the competition and had little chance of survival against the two strong rivals.

And yet, Asura is not the only film to retreat from the heated summer film season. The kung fu comedy Oolong Contryard, which was slated for a July 13 release, dropped the date without announcing a new one. Additionally, writer-director Guo Jingming's motion-capture fantasy animation L.O.R.D: Legend of the Ravaging Dynasties 2 abandoned its July 6 release. And another 3D animation, The Wind Guardians, quietly rescheduled its release date from July 13 to July 20, then again to August 3.

The suspension of the release of Asura could be a move to save the ship from sinking, but the producers and distributors for now could not answer when the film will be re-released and how it may regain audience buy-in.