A scene from Tiny Times 2 Photo: IC

It is rare to see a movie director make two movies to screen within two months, and, both perform extraordinarily well in terms of box office. But Guo Jingming did it with his Tiny Times.

The bestselling author's Tiny Times 2, a sequel to Tiny Times (June 27) based on his novel of the same name, harvested over 50 million yuan ($8.16 million) on its opening day of August 8 and gains over 100 million within three days, leading other domestic movies like One Night Surprise and Crimes of Passion of the same period.

It seems easy for Guo to create another box-office miracle, but not without controversy - again. The sequel has aroused another round of discussion and has encountered equal criticism from critics and insiders as his first movie, even before the disturbance by the first wave has subsided.

Darker, but unreal

Tiny Times 2 follows the storyline of Tiny Times and continues to tell the tale of the four girls and their lives, still with Lin Xiao (Yang Mi) as the narrator.

Unlike the light and dreamy description of their friendship and love on campus in Tiny Times, the sequel tries to demonstrate the dark side of life and human nature, after the pretty girls and boys graduate from university and step into society.

While the heroes and heroines continue to live a comfortable life (moving from luxury dormitory to luxury apartment), the director begins to let them taste the bitterness of life.

There are lies, betrayal and deception to threaten their friendship and love, which darkens the harmonious surface when Nan Xiang (Bea Hayden) bursts out at Gu Li (Kuo Tsai-chieh)'s birthday party and scolds Gu for sleeping with her boyfriend. At that moment, Lin Xiao acknowledges that she saw a girl kissing her boyfriend, clouding the couple's relationship. A dark tone runs throughout the scene, then revenge, disease and death appear in their lives one after another, in an attempt to represent the true and complicated face of life.

In the movies, however, without necessary foreshadowing and explanation, these misfortunes seem to be created out of nowhere, simply thrown in for the sake of showing a "dark side." Also, the misfortunes never really hurt them or they get resolved in the next scene. As a result, the movie appears like a sketch about of a bunch of teenagers playing house, accompanied by flashy pictures.

The world Guo tries to create is still a castle for princes and princesses without real worries about life, even on the dark side. It is a world packaged by luxury, fashion, and "glamour." Audiences unfamiliar with Guo's novel can hardly be expected to connect with these characters.

Roaring box office

Tiny Times 2 gained 166 million yuan in its first week, second only to Pacific Rim at the domestic box office. It is expected to gain 300 million yuan and harvest 800 million yuan together with the first installment.

It is no doubt a successful commercial movie, with the cost of the two totaling 47 million yuan. But since its release on August 8, the film and its box office have stirred much discussion among film critics and the insiders.

Though the sequel shows improvement in narration, showing contradictions and human nature, and the actors interpret their roles better, there are complaints about its disconnected plot, emptiness, use of flashy scenes and abuse of close-ups. It is even rated lower than Tiny Times at some movie websites, called a bomb by many moviegoers.

A report in the Beijing Times simply concluded that the movie is suitable for three kinds of people: Guo's fans, professional film critics and entertainment reporters.

Some senior directors also joined in: Zhang Jizhong, a director of many popular TV dramas, said he watched Tiny Times online, but "had to stop after 15 minutes." "I don't know what is going on there… either about love or high consumption," Zhang said, as quoted by Guangzhou Daily.

But it also has supporters of this age. Hong Kong director Jing Wong wrote on his Weibo on August 10 that, without such movies liked by young people, the market will be all dominated by Hollywood movies. "They have a good script and box office, with beautiful photography. Why do so many people attack it?"

Talking about the controversy aroused by his works, Guo said in the press conference of Tiny Times 2's premier that to "let a hundred flowers blossom (diversity) could make the movie market better."

Beyond the movie

The sequel also started a screen scheduling "war" as several movies were playing in conjunction with Chinese Valentine's Day (the 7th day of the 7th lunar month), August 13.

Tiny Times 2 dominated as much as 35 percent of the screen time on its first day while Crimes of Passion took only around 15 percent. The next day, One Night Surprise entered the competition, with 20 percent, but that for Tiny Times 2 continued to rise. Consequently, Crimes of Passion was squeezed out.

Meanwhile, Young Style by Liu Jie, which managed to climbed from 8 percent of its first day (August 2) to 12.28 percent on August 8 pushed by word of mouth, fell sharply as Tiny Times 2 came in. "The momentum [of Young Style] will stop tomorrow. Today will be the last day for you to have easy access to it," Liu wrote on Sina Weibo on August 7. It is interpreted by many as indicating that Tiny Times 2 would squeeze out his movie.

Gao Qunshu, director of Crimes of Passion, wrote a long entry on Weibo on August 11 after several days of argument with Guo's fans. "Originally, there are only three movies for Chinese Valentine's Day this year: Crimes of Passion, One Night Surprise, The Palace … but Tiny Times 2 suddenly was put ahead to August 9… and then August 8… It is widely known that Tiny Times 2 is a fans' movie and fans are crazy about it in the first few days. It is equivalent to jumping the dominant screening for three days."

Chen Su, who is in charge of publicity of Le Vision Pictures, the publisher of Tiny Times 2, told media that the schedule is based on theaters' prediction of market demand. "It is theaters' reaction to market. The performance of Tiny Times allows theaters to estimate the market for Tiny Times 2… The comments about Tiny Times are not good, but reviews and the market are two separate things."

As insiders analyze, good timing and correct targeting of the audience is the key for Tiny Times 2's success despite the controversy.

While the fate of the main characters in Tiny Times 2 stays uncertain, it is expected Guo will shoot another sequel to continue the story. But no details have been revealed yet.