Despite being hated by critics, the "Running Man", is sweeping China's box office even before the Spring Festival. The movie made 227 million yuan ($36.26 million) over the weekend, even surpassing the then-reigning box-office king Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit 3."
The "Running Man" was based on last year's popular TV show and was directed by Hu Jia and Cen Junyi. It casts several mainstream movie and TV stars, including Li-Chen, Michael Chen, Wong Cho-lam, Wang Baoqiang, Ryan Cheng and Angelababy.
Originally a variety show from South Korea, the show was about the hosts and guests completing missions at given landmarks. Zhelang Television acquired the program rights and produced a Chinese version last year. The success of the show made the TV executives hire filmmakers to adapt it to a movie and cast the same people from the TV show. The movie was completed in just six days.
Critic Taotao Linlin rated the film one star and claimed it is not a real movie but rather a variety show being screened in the theater. Taotao added that last year, the movie "Dad Where Are We Going," another adaptation from a popular TV show which made 699 million yuan ($111.66 million) on its Spring Festival screening, made a precedent for networks to "invent" a new genre of films.
"It is just a variety show on the big screen, nothing else," Taotao said. He added: "This is not a phenomenon that should happen in a healthy movie market."
However, not all movie adaptations of popular TV shows are guaranteed box-office kings. In 2013, the film "I Want You" made a mere 1.75 million yuan ($279,600) in its three days of screening. "I Want You" was an adaptation of the popular show "The Voice of China." Further, "No Zuo No Die," a movie based on another hit TV show, made a mere 4.9 million yuan ($782,900) for three days of showing.