No More Bets

No More Bets (Chinese: 孤注一掷) is a 2023 Chinese crime thriller film directed by Shen Ao and produced by Ning Hao. The film chronicles a story about persons being trafficked to overseas and forced to defraud online. It features Lay Zhang, Gina Jin, Yong Mei, and Eric Wang. The film premiered in China on August 8, 2023 and achieved box office success.[2]

No More Bets
Official film poster
Simplified Chinese孤注一掷
Literal meaningSink or Swim
Directed byShen Ao
Written byShen Ao
Zhang Yifan
Xu Luyang
Produced byNing Hao
StarringLay Zhang
Gina Jin
Yong Mei
Eric Wang
Production
company
Dirty Monkeys
Release date
  • August 8, 2023 (2023-08-08) (China)
Running time
130 minutes
CountryChina
LanguageMandarin
Box office$527.6 million[1]

Plot
See also: Fraud factory

Programmer Pan Sheng and model Liang Anna were lured overseas by a supposed high paying job. However, it turned out that the promised employment is actually a slave camp-like fraud factory. Being imprisoned and abused by their handler, they are forced to commit cyber fraud on online victims. Through their actions, a stranger Gu Tianzhi got addicted into online gambling. After losing all his savings, Gu attempts suicide by jumping off a building. Gu's girlfriend called the police. Police Zhao Dongran started investigations and eventually cracked down the syndicate.

Cast
  • Lay Zhang as Pan Sheng, a programmer trapped in the fraud factory
  • Gina Jin as Liang Anna, a model trapped as a croupier in the fraud factory
  • Yong Mei as Zhao Dongran, a Chinese police officer
  • Eric Wang as Lu Bingkun, the manager of the fraud factory
  • Darren Wang as Gu Tianzhi, a stranger defrauded by Pan and Liang
  • Zhou Ye as Song Yu, the girlfriend of Gu
  • Sunny Sun as An Juncai, the second hand of Lu

Additionally, Sheren Tang and Lam Wai appear as Tianzhi's mother and father respectively.

Production

Director Shen Ao is a newcomer signed by Ning Hao's Dirty Monkey 72 Transformations Film Project. This is his second feature film, following My Dear Liar in 2019. In 2020, a friend told him a suicide case due to cyber fraud and gambling. He decided to turn it into a crime film.[3]

Before filming, the director team, with the support of the police and the anti-fraud center, collected overseas online fraud cases in the past three years. The materials including pictures, texts, audio and videos, reached 1TB hardware size. The script writing took one year and a half. Tens of thousands of cases had been analyzed and distilled.[4]

In June 2021, the Dirty Monkey studio revealed the film and its cast, featuring Lay Zhang and Gina Jin.[5]

Production companies：Bad Monkey(Shanghai)Culture Communication Ltd., Shanghai Ticketmaster Film&TV culture Co., Ltd., China Film Corporation, Beijing Shanglion Culture Communication Co.

Release

The film began test screening on Aug 5, 2023 and scheduled the general release on Aug 11, 2023. It quickly became a box office hit in China.[6] The film then changed its general release date to Aug 8, 2023.[7]

Reception

Box office

By August 8, 2023, three days since the test screening, its box office gross was $69.3 million. This makes it the highest test screening gross in Chinese film history.[2]

On the opening weekend after general release, the film earned $88 million gross, making it the No.1 box office in the world on that weekend. [8] The Japan Times stated that "Crime action film “No More Bets,” which has topped the Chinese box office since its release in early August, offers an unprecedented peek into the intricate workings of cybercrime in Southeast Asia."[9]

Controversies

Subtitles Group controversy

Affected by the scene in which members of a subtitle group accepted gambling advertisements in the film, on August 14, 2023, one of the earliest subtitle groups in China, the Eden subtitle group, announced its disbandment. However, Zhang Wenbo, the CEO of Fang Bole Marketing, which promoted the film, clarified that the plot in question aimed to show a rational and firm attitude of the members of the subtitle team to "oppose uncertain information and suspected misleading information".[10]

Ban by Cambodia

The film has been banned in Cambodia because official claims that it "seriously damages Cambodia's image and reputation".[11][12][13]

Criticism by Myanmar

The Military Junta of Myanmar has criticised No More Bets as hurting its reputation, due to the similarities of Myanmar and the unnamed Southeast Asian featured in the film. No More Bets has not been shown in Myanma cinemas.[14] Myanmar's Consul-General in Nanning, China, U Kyaw Soe Thein, met with the Director of the Foreign Office of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Lian Yin, on 26 September discussed the film's role in "hurting" Myanmar's reputation in China.[15] A poll conducted by the Japan Times on Weibo found that 48,000 of the 54,000 polled would shun travelling to Myanmar.[16]

References
  1. "Gū Zhù Yī Zhì (孤注一掷) (2023)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  2. "'No More Bets' breaks the box office". Chinadaily. 2023-08-08.
  3. "专访《孤注一掷》导演申奥: 现实远比电影惨烈得多". sohu (in Chinese). Qianjiang Evening News. 2023-08-09.
  4. "万起境外网络诈骗真实案例 凝炼出惊心动魄《孤注一掷》" (in Chinese). Yangtse Evening Post. 2023-08-10.
  5. "坏猴子公布2021年度片单，宁浩文牧野等新片曝光". dzwww (in Chinese). Qilu Evening News. 2021-06-15.
  6. "《孤注一掷》成中国影史点映票房冠军". chinanews (in Chinese). China News Service. 2023-08-08.
  7. "《孤注一掷》提档，"逼真写实"是影片特质". The Paper (in Chinese). 2023-08-07.
  8. "China Box Office: 'No More Bets' Beats 'Barbie' to World-Leading Weekend Haul". yahoo. Variety. 2023-08-14.
  9. Chen, Alyssa (2023-09-04). "Hit Chinese movie raises fears of travel in Southeast Asia". The Japan Times. Retrieved 2023-09-17.
  10. "读创--【原创】伊甸园字幕组解散，矛头直指电影《孤注一掷》！"闹剧"背后谁是赢家？". duchuang.sznews.com. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
  11. "Cambodia Seeks Chinese Action on Online Crime Movie". Cambodianess. 2023-09-27. Retrieved 2023-10-01.
  12. "Cambodia Bans Chinese Anti-Scam Film No More Bets As It "Seriously Damages [Cambodia's] Reputation"". 8days. 2023-09-27. Retrieved 2023-10-01.
  13. "Cambodia To Block Release of Chinese Cyber-Scam Film". The Diplomat. 2023-09-28. Retrieved 2023-10-01.
  14. AFP (2023-10-02). "Junta angry over 'tarnishing' of Myanmar's image by Chinese hit film". Myanmar Now. Retrieved 2023-10-06.
  15. "Myanmar Consul-General Clarifies 'No More Bets' Movie - Global New Light Of Myanmar". 2023-09-29. Retrieved 2023-10-06.
  16. Chen, Alyssa (2023-09-04). "Hit Chinese movie raises fears of travel in Southeast Asia". The Japan Times. Retrieved 2023-10-06.
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