Feng Xiaogang's New Film 'Catching the Spy' Flops at Box Office Despite Han Hong's Promotional Push

During China's Dragon Boat Festival holiday, renowned director Feng Xiaogang's new film "Catching the Spy" hit theaters, with famed singer Han Hong invited to help drum up support. Even so, the film's box office returns remained dismal after its release.

On June 17, Feng Xiaogang's "Catching the Spy" held its premiere in Beijing, with Feng appearing alongside lead actors Lei Jiayin and Hu Ge, as well as the rest of the creative team. Video footage showed mainland singing superstar Han Hong also on hand, appealing to the public to support the film.

Han Hong said: "The premiere hasn't happened yet — here in Beijing we're giving you the first screening. Can our Beijing brothers and sisters, men and women, do us this favor? Beijing has more than 20 million people. Please make the effort, come out and give us your support, help kick off this first wave of box office, and we'll be set."

The film assembled a lineup of A-list stars with a lavish cast, yet still failed to draw large audiences. Data showed that as of around June 15, the film's presales stood between 1 million and 1.15 million yuan (currency in yuan hereafter), with Dragon Boat Festival presales reaching just 1.66 million yuan — lagging behind rival releases in the same window. Its share of opening-day screenings was under 20%, and its box office ultimately ranked at the bottom.

According to mainland media reports, filming on the project officially began two years ago and wrapped more than a year ago, but the subsequent review process did not go smoothly. It was not until June 12 that the release poster was unveiled, with the film opening in mainland theaters on June 19.

Two days into its run, the film had grossed only 40 million yuan. Industry insiders estimated: "'Catching the Spy' will likely end up with a final box office of around 120 million yuan, while its cost was as high as 300 million yuan, in all likelihood resulting in a loss of 250 million yuan for the production side."

"Catching the Spy" is adapted from the novel "Tracking Without Regret," telling the story of a tracking battle of wits between a policeman, as portrayed in Chinese Communist Party propaganda, and an undercover agent. Lei Jiayin plays Xiao Dali, a CCP police station chief who senses something suspicious about elementary school teacher Feng Jingbo (played by Hu Ge), suspecting him of being an undercover Kuomintang operative. To pursue this, Xiao Dali moves in near Feng Jingbo's home, becoming his neighbor and beginning a long campaign of surveillance and investigation.

Some viewers online commented that the film is primarily about "watching how Chinese people survive within their era" — much as in reality, where amid the CCP's "anti-espionage" climate, overseas students and those returning from abroad to settle down have been designated as targets of "special attention," even viewed as "foreign forces," with their daily words and actions folded into the CCP's grassroots surveillance system.

Other viewers said the film cloaks itself in a spy-catching premise while actually depicting the history of China after 1949. "Just watched it — it's filmed obliquely, to pass censorship, but behind every shot lies the great political campaigns that crushed the entire nation at the time, wrapping history in an absurdist cloak." They noted that the brief so-called "mainstream message" tacked onto the film's ending was likely a compromise made so the film could pass review and be released.

(Editor: Tang Ying)

Source: NTD Television — https://www.ntdtv.com/b5/2026/06/21/a104107999.html