For love of money

Liu embraces Rain, who plays the role of her lover in the movie. Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn

Rain, the stage name of South Korean A-list actor and singer Jung Ji Hoon, plays the character of a handsome artist, who falls in love with a café owner, Liu’s role.

The romance is revealed as a delicately schemed trap for the artist, as his mother hires Liu to lure her son and then break his heart for a reason, "you have no money", in an attempt to force the artist to quit his painting dream and take to his family business.

During the 10-city promotional tour for the movie across the country earlier this month, Rain's fans traveled with their idol and even purchased all of the tickets at a cinema hall to support their star. Some fans posted on Baidu Tieba, an online forum, that they watched the film several times.

Liu’s fans weren't behind. They have been posting positive comments about the movie on Sina Weibo, China's equivalent of micro blog Twitter. The movie topic trended for a while too.

"If numerous fans praise a film and make it an Internet sensation, it will raise non-fans' interest in the production and lead them to the cinemas," said Zheng Ye, a veteran showbiz critic.

He cites the examples of how low-budget movies, such as Mysterious Island and My Kingdom, were tailored for the fans of its lead pair to win box-office revenues.