Soul Snatcher

Soul Snatcher (Chinese: 赤狐书生; pinyin: Chì hú shūshēng; lit. 'Red Fox Scholar') is a 2020 Chinese costume fantasy film produced by Jiang Zhiqiang starring Li Xian and Chen Linong.[4]

Soul Snatcher
Theatrical release poster
Traditional Chinese赤狐書生
Simplified Chinese赤狐书生
Hanyu PinyinChì hú shūshēng
Directed by
  • Song Haolin
  • Yi Liqi
Screenplay by
  • Ran Jianan
  • Li Huiyan
  • Yang Weiwei
Based onChun Jiang Hua Yue Ye
by Duo Duo
Produced by
[1]
Starring
CinematographyChan Chi Ying
Edited byZhang Qi
Music byJoe Hisaishi[2]
Production
companies
  • Heroplus (Wuxi) Limited
  • Beijing White Horse Time TV & Movie Co., Ltd.
  • Edko (Beijing) Films Limited
  • Edko Films Limited
  • Irresistible Alpha Limited
  • Beijing Weimeng Internet Technology Co., Ltd.
  • Huawen Picture Co., Ltd.
  • Douyin Culture (Xiamen) Limited
Distributed by
Release date
  • December 4, 2020 (2020-12-04)
Running time
125 minutes
CountryChina
LanguageMandarin
Box officeUS$19,500,000[3]

Plot

To achieve immortality and be promoted to spiritual immortal, magical fox spirit Bai Shisan (Li Xian) disguises himself as a young man and travels to the human world in search of a 'divine pill', or a central spiritual reservoir that entities possess, to take - killing the original holder. There he befriends the innocent and impoverished scholar Wang Zijin (Chen Linong), who is on a journey to Beijing to take the arduous imperial magistrates examination. To keep Wang safe, Bai Shisan must bond with him on the road to the examination and fend off threats from mythic creatures and evil spirits who run rampant along their journey. Along the way Bai Shisan comes to realize Wang's divine pill is the key to Bai Shisan's transcendence. What choice will Bai Shishan make once he realizes that in order to achieve immortality he would have to kill his best friend?

Cast

Starring

Co-Starring

Guest Starring
  • Wang Yaoching as Liu Daoran

Special appearance
  • Hao Shaowen as donkey shack owner
  • Tien Niu as chicken restaurant owner
  • Yang Zi as Ying Wuxie

Production

Two months before the start-up, Chen Linong, and Li Xian entered the group ahead of schedule, performing an average of 6 hours of performance and movement training every day as seen on the soundtrack's MV, Glorious Future sung by the two male lead. The crew also organized script readings many times to further improve the script and character details.[5] In January, the director decided to change the title from Spring River Flower Moon Night (Chun Jiang Hua Yue Ye) into Red Fox Scholar and announced that they would set a schedule for the 2020 summer. However, because the special effects of the movie have not been completed, and the trailer cannot be cut out for the time being, the two portraits of Chen Linong and Li Xian acted as stage dramas, and they creatively performed a version of the "concept trailer".[6] In addition to the trailer, "Red Fox Scholar" also released a concept poster designed by artist Huang Hai. Chen Linong and Li Xian lay on the river facing the wind, and a little star reflected from the sky reflected on the river, forming a huge fox.[7] Due to the many private questions on Weibo, the author makes an explanation that the two male led isn't involved on love story but just friend and the genre is a fantasy drama.[8]

Marketing

Prior to the production announcement, Chen Linong and Li Xian appeared on Elle Cover. The two male lead released soundtrack of Red Fox Scholar, titled Glorious Future (Qian Cheng Si jin) peak at 8 on Billboard China Social Chart[9]

Release

In China, Soul Snatcher was originally planned to open in August 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film's release was first postponed to November, and eventually released on December 4.

Reception

Soul Snatcher earned $19,500,000 at the Chinese box office.[3]

References
  1. Shackleton2020-06-15T09:39:00+01:00, Liz. "Cannes virtual market: hot titles from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan". Screen. Archived from the original on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020. Currently in post-production, this big-budget CGI fantasy is produced by Bill Kong
  2. "中国映画『赤狐書生（SOUL SNATCHER）』音楽担当". Joe Hisaishi Official Site (in Japanese). 2020-12-04. Retrieved 2020-12-05.
  3. "Soul Snatcher Box Office". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  4. "Chen Linong Li Xian starring in the movie "Red Fox Scholar" released in the summer vacation, produced by Jiang Zhiqiang". People's Daily (in Chinese). January 18, 2020. Archived from the original on January 18, 2020. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  5. Entertainment, Neteast (August 30, 2019). "《春江花月夜》发布杀青曲MV 陈立农李现献唱". ent.163.com (in Chinese). Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  6. Meilin, Xu (January 17, 2020). "Chen Linong Li Xian starring in the movie "Red Fox Scholar" released in the summer vacation, produced by Jiang Zhiqiang". Beijing News (in Chinese). Archived from the original on February 1, 2020. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  7. Zewang, Ma. "Chen Linong, Li Xian, one man and one demon, performing "Red Fox Scholar"" 陈立农李现一人一妖，演绎《赤狐书生》 (in Chinese). No. January 19, 2019. Information Times. pp. A6. Archived from the original on April 14, 2020. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  8. Weili, Zhong (March 22, 2020). "Li Xian and Chen Linong starring in "Spring River Flower Moon Night" refused to admit that it was a delaying drama". Peninsula Network (in Chinese). Archived from the original on April 1, 2020. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  9. Billboard. "Billboard China Social Chart The week of September 21, 2019". Billboard. Archived from the original on April 4, 2020. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
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