| Lost in the Stars | |||||||||||||
| Native Name: |
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| Director: | Cui Rui Liu Xiang | ||||||||||||
| Producer: | Chen Sicheng | ||||||||||||
| Cinematography: | Shan He | ||||||||||||
| Editing: | Hongjia Tang | ||||||||||||
| Distributor: | China Media Capital | ||||||||||||
| Runtime: | 122 minutes[1] | ||||||||||||
| Country: | China | ||||||||||||
| Gross: | $486.2 million[2] | ||||||||||||
Lost in the Stars is a 2022 Chinese mystery crime film directed by Cui Rui and Liu Xiang, and starring Zhu Yilong, Ni Ni and Janice Man.[3] The film is adapted from Alexey Korenev's 1990 Soviet comedy film A Trap for Lonely Man and French playwright Robert Thomas' 1960 play Trap for a Lonely Man (Piege Pour un Homme Seul). It tells the story of He Fei's wife Li Muzi who disappeared mysteriously during the wedding anniversary trip. It's a film about a story of a shocking case.[4] [5] [6] The film's style have been described by some critics as "Hitchcockian".[7]
The film premiered at the Hainan International Film Festival on 25 December 2022 and released theatrically in China on 22 June 2023.[8]
He Fei and his wife Li Muzi are celebrating the first anniversary of their marriage at an island resort in Barlandia, a fictional Southeast Asian country that appears to have Malay and Thai as their official languages. When Muzi goes missing, the local police refuse to open an investigation, citing the lack of evidence of a crime. Two weeks later, He Fei angrily confronts the police and is thrown out of the station. However, a man named Officer Zheng, who is fluent in Chinese, expresses some sympathy towards him. He Fei wakes up the next day and finds an unknown woman in his room pretending to be Muzi. She possesses a fake passport with Muzi's name. He Fei summons Officer Zheng, only to find that photographs of Muzi on his phone have been replaced with photographs of the unknown woman. Moreover, the woman knows intimate personal details that only Muzi should know. He Fei goes to a book store to find surveillance footage of his wife purchasing a book, but the footage has been replaced to include the woman instead. At a bar, He Fei sees a news segment about a successful lawyer named Chen Mai, and hires her to prove that the unknown woman is not Muzi.
Chen Mai finds evidence that the unknown woman is part of a criminal group who steals the identities of wealthy men's wives. Chen Mai notices that a car is following her and He Fei around Barlandia. She leads He Fei to a hideout where they find further evidence of the group's identity theft activities. As they exit the hideout, they are pursued by a mercenary who tries to kill them with a shotgun, but they successfully escape. Chen Mai then tracks down the local photographer who took photographs of He Fei and Muzi. The photographer demands money in exchange for testifying to the police. He Fei pays the photographer. On the way to the police station, Chen Mai accuses He Fei of hiding something from her. He Fei fires Chen Mai and tries to exit her jeep with the photographer. A sniper who was following them shoots and kills the photographer. He Fei decides to leave and return to China, but the unknown woman confronts him in his resort's room. The woman hits her own head with a glass bottle, whereupon security guards enter the room and arrest He Fei.
He Fei wakes up strapped to a hospital bed while the unknown woman and a surgeon sign a form consenting for a lobotomy to be performed on him. After they leave, Chen Mai sneaks in disguised as a nurse. She explains that she has been framed for the murder of the photographer, and that her only goal is now to prove her own innocence by finding Muzi. Chen Mai accuses He Fei of knowing and concealing Muzi's location from her, and repeatedly demands to know the location in exchange for helping He Fei escape. He Fei finally relents and says that Muzi is at a lighthouse. Chen Mai leaves but He Fei is able to unstrap himself from the bed. He wanders through the corridors of the hospital. When he exits the hospital, he finds that it is a constructed set in the middle of an abandoned complex. He then stumbles upon a dressing room where he is confronted by Chen Mai, the unknown woman, Officer Zheng, the surgeon, and the mercenary with the shotgun. All of them are revealed to be professional actors. Moreover, the local photographer was also bribed to serve as an actor and his death was staged. The police show up and arrest He Fei. It is revealed that He Fei murdered Muzi while they were scuba diving to inherit her wealth upon discovering that Muzi was preparing to file for divorce. Chen Mai reveals herself to be Shen Man, Muzi's friend who works as the director of a theatre troupe in New York. After Muzi failed to contact her, Shen Man flew to Barlandia. Shen Man asks her troupe to join her in Barlandia to trick He Fei into divulging Muzi's location. The drowned body of Muzi is subsequently found in an underwater cage near the lighthouse. She is found with an ultrasound scan of their baby. Shen Man tells He Fei that Muzi was not going to divorce because of the pregnancy. Before Chen leaves for New York, she visits He Fei in prison and tells He Fei that by killing his wife, he also killed his child.
The movie ends with a title card explaining that He Fei is sentenced to death and executed immediately. Shen Man is sentenced to 30 days' detention for causing chaos, burglary and illegal arrest. The rest of the theatre troupe is deported and barred from re-entering Barlandia.
| Hainan Island International Film Festival (festival premiere) | 25 December 2022 | ||
| China (advance preview) | 21 June 2023 | ||
| China (theatrical release) | 22 June 2023 | ||
| Australia | 6 July 2023 | CMC Pictures | |
| United States Canada | 7 July 2023 | ||
| New Zealand | 13 July 2023 | ||
| United Kingdom Ireland | 14 July 2023 | Cine Asia | |
| Malaysia Brunei | 27 July 2023 | Purple Plan, ATriNaga (Malaysia, Cambodia, Brunei), Golden Village (Singapore), Westec Media (Cambodia) | |
| Singapore | 3 August 2023 | ||
| Cambodia | 18 August 2023 | ||
| Hong Kong Macau | 24 August 2023 | Intercontinental Films Distribution | |
| Indonesia | 30/31 August 2023 | Encore Films, CBI Pictures (Indonesia), Warner Bros. Pictures (Thailand, Philippines) | |
| Thailand Laos | 21 September 2023 | ||
| Myanmar | 22 September 2023 | ||
| Philippines | 27 September 2023 | ||
| Russia | 12 October 2023 | Arthouse | |
| Globally | 1 October 2023 | Netflix | |
| Finland | 1 December 2023 | BD Technology and Culture Co., Ltd | |
| Ukraine | 18 January 2024 | Festivals Cinema |
| Pre-sale/Release | Time (2023) | Box Office (Unit: RMB) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-sale (including on-demand screening) | As of 16 June 15:58:42 | 9.465 million | 2023 Dragon Boat Festival New Film Box Office Ranking No. 1 in Total Box Office | [14] |
| As of 16 June at 17:13:35 | 10 million | [15] | ||
| As of 15:00 on 17 June | 11.8 million | [16] | ||
| As of 6:51 on 20 June | 13 million | [17] | ||
| As of 20 June at 17:25:31 | 26.393 million | [18] | ||
| As of 17:40 on 20 June | 26.535 million | Breaking the box office record of the Dragon Boat Festival film pre-sales in the past three years | [19] | |
| As of 9:28 on 21 June | 30 million | [20] | ||
| As of 21 June at 17:39:25 | 45.948 million | [21] | ||
| single day box office | As of 22 June 10:36:01 | 34.493 million | Chinese film history Dragon Boat Festival suspense film box office champion | [22] |
| As of 22 June at 17:24:01 | 102 million | Chinese Film History Dragon Boat Festival domestic film box office champion | [23] | |
| As 22 June on 21:00 | 146 million | 2023 Dragon Boat Festival single-day box office champion | [24] | |
| Public screening (including pre-sale) | As of 22 June 11:08:34 | 46.512 million | The 2023 Dragon Boat Festival Box Office Ranking No. 1 in Total Box Office | [25] |
| As of 22 June 13:03:39 | 90 million | [26] | ||
| As of 22 Jun at 13:45:15 | 100 million | [27] | ||
| As of 0:00 on 23 June | 200 million | [28] | ||
| As of 23 June 14:49:27 | 255 million | China's film history Dragon Boat Festival domestic film box office champion | [29] | |
| As of 23 June at 15:40:56 | 300 million | [30] | ||
| As of 24 June at 0:48:45 | 400 million | Breaking the box office records of suspense films and crime films in the Dragon Boat Festival of Chinese film history | [31] | |
| As of 24 June at 18:10:24 | 500 million | [32] | ||
| As of 14:13 on 25 June | 600 million | [33] | ||
| As of 0:00 on 26 June | 700 million | [34] | ||
| As of 17:38 on 26 June | 800 million | [35] | ||
| As of 27 June 10:39:47 | 900 million | [36] | ||
| As of 27 June at 18:42:27 | 1 billion | [37] |
| Date | Awards | Nominee | Results | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 April 2023 | 2022–2023 Movie Channel M List Annual Focus Movies | Lost in the Stars | [38] | |
| 3 April 2023 | The 13th Beijing International Film Festival "Tiantan Award" | [39] | ||
| 11 June 2023 | 2023 Weibo Movie Night "(Most Anticipated) Movies of the Year" | [40] |