The billowing publicity surrounding a forthcoming romantic comedy reaffirms the role fans can play in blowing away the box office.

Miss Granny - a remake of a South Korean blockbuster by the same English title about a 70-year-old who becomes 20 again after getting her photo taken at a magic studio - stars Taiwan actress Kuai Ya-Lei. But its real appeal comes from Beijing singer Lu Han.

The 24-year-old heartthrob set a record on Monday when the film's theme song, Our Tomorrow, got more than 1 million clicks within 47 minutes after it was posted on the Web portal QQ.

The crush of fans outside the hall of Monday's news conference led to physical altercations with security. Staffers claimed some offered 3,500 yuan ($570) to get in.

Security was tight, since a fan had stolen entrance tickets reserved for journalists from the reception desk at a November news conference.

Taiwan filmmaker Teste Chen joked at that conference that he's nearly gone deaf from so many young colleagues screaming to him that Lu should play the grandson.

Miss Granny is Lu's first silver-screen foray.

He shot to fame for singing and dancing with the Korean boy band EXO. He filed a lawsuit on Oct 10 to terminate his contract with SM Entertainment, Korea's largest talent agency.

The release date for the film, a Sino-Korean coproduction, will be pushed up a week to Jan 8 from its original schedule to accommodate the start of many young fans' winter vacations.

Miss Granny is just China's latest fan film.

Adoration of South Korean actor Rain propelled the commercial success of November's For Love or Money, adapted from Hong Kong author Amy Siu-Haan Cheung's best-seller.

Despite mediocre reviews of the plotline, some fans say they've watched the film several times in cinemas.

Critic Zheng Ye says films tailored for fans have proliferated as a means for low-budget flicks to earn top dollar.

"People born in the 1990s are usually the most loyal fans," he says.

"They're familiar with social media marketing. People who aren't fans follow them to the cinema after the movie becomes an Internet sensation."

Experts point to such low-budget flicks as Mysterious Island and My Kingdom as classic cases.

Insiders forecast the upcoming Tiny Times 4 (based on books by idolized author Guo Jingming) and Somewhere Only We Know (directed by actress-director Xu Jinglei) will continue to demonstrate the trend in the coming months.

xufan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 12/04/2014 page7)