A scene from the film Daddy, Where Are We Going?. Provided to China Daily

3D film 'The Monkey King' premieres in Beijing

Guo Tao optimistic about 'Where Are We Going, Dad'

A film critic with the online handle "Dark Knight" wrote: "If the movie market has to be fed by TV shows, it demonstrates how movies are not satisfying market needs." And some film lovers even coined the line: "Daddy, get out of the film circle!"

Defenders argue that movie theaters do not necessarily show only fictional stories that form the bulk of the cinema experience. They can also show concerts and sporting events, sometimes live. And Daddy is registered with the regulating agency as a documentary. "It would have taken away all the fun if you had asked the five kids to memorize lines and play characters other than themselves," they insist.

Xie Dikui, the director of Daddy, counters: "We prepared for eight months and our production crew consists of 500 people, divided into five teams each tracking one pair of father and kid. We shot tons of footage." And you'd have to include the efforts for the TV show, which involved more people and time, he explains.

Teng Huatao, a filmmaker who served as a producer for the film, adds: "Technically this is indeed a film. It was shot with film equipment and approved by the regulators as a film. But artistically, this is a point of debate that I'll leave to others. It will not change the makeup of China's film industry even though it may induce a slew of imitations. People should not fidget too much about it."

This was not the first time a spin-off from Hunan Satellite Television, a bastion of youth entertainment, clicked with paying audiences at the movie theater. A year ago, Bring Happiness Home, a fictional feature starring five of the station's hosts, made 154 million yuan, a big coup at the time considering its low cost. However, not all hit shows can spawn hit movies. The Voice, which has had two stellar seasons on the tube, got a paltry 3 million yuan for its movie version early this year.

"I agree it's not a movie, but it won't make Chinese cinema worse than it is," says Li Xingwen, a renowned film and TV critic. "And it is indeed entertaining, but it won't point the way for the film industry. Film is considered an ideological battleground by the powers that be, a business by the business community and a source of fun by the audience. These three forces work simultaneously to make Chinese cinema what it is now."

Meanwhile, The Monkey King has also been through public and expert scrutiny. Yu Fei, a noted script writer, comments on the confusion in its morals and values. He praises Daddy for the honesty of emotions displayed in the movie.

The cynics, a major presence online, quip that The Monkey King's success proves a movie does not have to have high quality, and Daddy's success shows it doesn't have to be a movie at all. A counterpoint is provided by Frozen, the new Disney feature that opened on Feb 5 in China, the sixth day of the weeklong holiday: Despite high praise from critics and great word-of-mouth from the online community, it has been getting only 10 percent of all screenings. It had inched close to only 100 million yuan by Feb 10.

Critics of the two domestic blockbusters point out that Frozen cost more than all the domestic movies of the season combined, and the quality shows on the screen.