iQIYI releases The Long Night, the fifth suspense drama of its highly-acclaimed ‘Mist Theater’

China-based online entertainment service iQIYI Inc. has premiered The Long Night, the fifth suspense drama in its highly-acclaimed Mist Theater series on 16 September.

The drama, released by iQIYI and produced by Haoji Film, tells the story of a prosecutor who spends seven years searching for the truth in a perplexing case. The drama series is mainland China’s highest-rated series over the past 20 months.

This year, iQIYI launched Mist Theater, making it the first online streaming platform to adopt a stylised theaterlike category for online dramas. To date, the company has released five high-quality short suspense dramas under the Mist Theatre banner, namely Kidnapping Game, The Bad Kids, Crimson River, Sisyphus, and now, The Long Night.

iQIYI continues to innovate and explore different market segments, catering to the diverse preferences of its users.

These dramas cover multitude themes, broadening Mist Theater’s content offering with diverse creation perspective, and filling many gaps in the domestic suspense genre.

Mist Theater has been a hit among viewers since its debut as multiple dramas in the series that achieved an average rating of over 8 on influential Chinese social media platform Douban, which is know for its movie and TV show reviews.

With widespread popularity and great reviews, Mist Theater has driven the rising confidence in China’s burgeoning original drama series industry.

Another major hit was the recently released Sisyphus, which achieved a popularity index score of 7,000 within 18 hours of its release.

With the addition of The Long Night, iQIYI is expected to strengthen the Mist Theater brand, which has become synonymous with high-quality short suspense dramas that have widespread appeal.