"Cupid's Arrow" was first shown in Beijing on Oct. 10. (Photo : Getty Images)
Coming-of-age romantic film "Cupid's Arrow" hit Chinese mainland theaters on Oct. 14, Friday, after recently premiering in Beijing.
Directed by Ma Zhiquan, the film introduces a modern love story where a fictional studio creates "unexpected" meetings to spawn the "perfect" love story. Young and hopelessly romantic adults hire the studio to set them up with their crushes in attempts to fuel a relationship.
The plot was inspired by Ma's two decades of writing romance tales that are often set in ancient or modern times, wrote China Daily, in an interview with the scriptwriter-turned-director.
Prior to its release, "Cupid's Arrow" had been the talk of many due to the controversial pullout of actor Cao Yunjin from the film.
Last year, several media outlets reported that Cao was removed from the cast and fired on the first day of shooting as he was "too arrogant to obey the contract."
Reports said that Cao showed up two hours late for work, leaving about 200 crew members waiting for him on the set.With a botched contract, Cao has yet to reimburse 400,000 yuan or $60,000, which he received as an advanced payment, according to Ma.
Cao, meanwhile, is reportedly filing a case against the producers for breaching the contract. His agents said that producers of "Cupid's Arrow," which translate to "Ai Shen Jian" in Chinese, are using the controversy to promote the movie, stressing that the actor's image had been put on the line.
Cao's camp is also asserting that the film producers were the ones who broke the contract.The producers are yet to issue a statement regarding the matter.
Cao was replaced by Ying Haoming as the male lead. The latter appeared in numerous TV shows, including "The Mystic Nine," "Ancient Mirror," "The Ladder of Love" and "Loved in the Purple."
"Cupid's Arrow" was first shown in Beijing on Oct. 10.
