Fans on target to support Zhang Yimou's new film

Film and Olympics' director Zhang Yimou was on Weibo trending again on Saturday, this time for his new movie "Sniper."

Zhang has just finished as chief director of the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, leaving him no time to market "Sniper."

The film was almost neglected given the highly competitive movie market during the Spring Festival.

"For the opening ceremony of the Games, I am too busy to take care of my new film," said Zhang on Friday night, during an interview in which CCTV anchor Bai Yansong mentioned the film.

Since Tuesday, when the epic war film co-directed by Zhang and Zhang Mo premiered, it was screened for only an average of 7 percent – even less than animated movie "Boonie Bears Back To Earth" – and was screened with poor time slots, either in the early morning or late night.

As a result, the box office receipts of "Sniper" were 170 million yuan (US$26.8 million), compared with more than 2 billion yuan of "Water Gate Bridge."

On Saturday, the screening rate of "Sniper" was lifted to 8.4 percent, likely a response to more than 110 million people on Weibo following the topic, which has 13,000 likes, calling to support the film.

Among them there was renowned actor Yu Hewei, who tweeted that "we should go to watch 'Sniper' even it is only a compensation for the spectacular opening ceremony of the Games".

Unique way to present the final torch lighting

The opening ceremony was acclaimed as a perfect presentation of Chinese romance, with a good combination of modern technologies.

Zhang is especially proud of the way the Olympic cauldron was presented.

"It was the first time in history that the final Olympic cauldron was not lit, but was put there," Zhang said.

"No matter you like it or not, the idea of a low-carbon game is clearly presented. When people hope to carry out a greener Olympics in the future, I bet they will remember the Beijing 2022 Winter Games and make it a reference."