Thrilling Thai film ‘How to Make Millions Before Your Grandma Dies’ has taken both the Southeast Asian box office and the TikTok generation by storm

Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s biweekly series in which we shine a light on TV shows and movies that are succeeding in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as ever, but breakthrough hits are emerging in different parts of the world and it can be difficult to keep up with them. That’s why we’ll do the hard work for you.

This week we head to Thailand to watch a moving, emotional film. How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies broke box office records in Southeast Asia, with audiences raving about the soulful tearjerker, and TikTok played quite a role in that.

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Name: How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies
Country: Thailand
Producer: GDH
International sales: Independent WME
Distribution: Southeast Asia, China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, ANZ
For fans: FarewellHirokazu Kore-eda’s Films

When Thai filmmaker Pat Boonnitipat decided to direct his debut feature film How to make millions before grandma diesHis main goal was to complete the film in time for his grandmother to watch it and help with the family business of making mirrors and glass.

But now Boonnitipat is looking for another story, given its huge regional success How to Make Millions Before Grandma DiesSince its April 4 premiere in Thailand, the film has topped the domestic box office, grossing 334 million Thai baht ($9.1 million).

Outside of Thailand, How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies became the most successful Thai film of all time in Singapore and Malaysia. In Indonesia, the film was watched by 3.5 million viewers, surpassing the Korean horror film Exhumation (2.6 million views) became the highest-grossing Asian film in the country. Global box office receipts amount to 1 billion baht (about $27 million) and 10 million admissions.

The film will premiere in Taiwan on June 21 and will also come to the States at the New York Asian Film Festival, which begins July 12.

How to make millions before grandma dies tells the story of a young man, M, who moves in to take care of his terminally ill grandmother in order to get her inheritance. M is played by popular singer and actor Putthipong Assaratanakul (also known as Billkin), and his grandmother is played by relatively newcomer Usha Seamkhum. The film’s Thai title is Lahn Mahwhich means “grandmother’s grandson.”

Boonnitipat studied communication arts at university, but was inspired to make films after watching the works of legendary Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Japanese directors such as Akira Kurosawa, Naomi Kawase, Hirokazu Kore-eda and Yasujiro Ozu. He soon began working on wedding films and directing programs for mainstream television, working on Project S Series AND Evil genius.

The producer gave Boonnitipat the script for the film How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies about three years ago. Working with screenwriter Thodsapon Thiptinnakorn and drawing on his own life experiences, he made two major changes to the script. First, the duo changed genres, moving away from the slapstick comedy elements of the first draft to incorporate a more emotional narrative. Second, while the original script only featured the grandson and grandmother, Boonnitipat felt it was important to add characters to create a “middle generation” of children. “I live in a large family, and all those middle-generation people really affect the dynamics of the relationships between the generations,” he tells Deadline.

Life imitating art

To help with his writing, Boonnitipat let life imitate art, moving back in with his 92-year-old grandmother to get to know her better. “We spent a lot of time together and I asked her a lot of questions, like, ‘What would you do if something like this happened?’ and “Who would you leave your legacy to?” says Boonnitipat. He adds that his grandmother began to become suspicious of his intentions, but Boonnitipat later told her that he wanted to make a film about her life.

Although the character of the grandmother was originally based on the writer’s grandmother rather than his, Boonitipat claims that he “could only come up with my type of grandmother because she’s the only one I know so well.”

“I’m so glad I could finish this film while she’s still alive, because it took three years. During the shooting and editing, I kept thinking, ‘I really have to finish this quickly,’” Boonnitipat says.

His grandmother managed to watch the film, and her reaction was usually restrained.

“She said it was just a normal movie and added, ‘My life is much harder than this,’” he recalls her saying.

As for casting, Boonnitipat said he wanted to find a lead actor that people could emotionally relate to, rather than judge him for having bad intentions. Billkin fit the bill well because deep down he’s a good heart, the director told us.

Meanwhile, Seamkhum left viewers guessing with her emotions, he explains, and he liked that she didn’t have much acting experience. Boonnitipat explains that the band discovered Seamkhum in an independent music video that was made five years ago.

At the other end of the age scale, How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies sparked a wave of TikTok videos showing viewers’ emotional reactions before and after the film.

“In the beginning, I tried to watch every clip because it is so interesting that now, as a filmmaker, I can see the reactions of viewers around the world,” says Boonnitipat. “You can see reactions and emotions that are completely different than just reading a typed comment. This not only helped create buzz around the film but also provided feedback to me.”

He says movies gave him an education. “For example, I realized that people who watched this film didn’t talk much about it, but they used it to talk about their lives, so these reactions taught me a lot about the impact of this film on people’s psychology. audience.”

The film’s record-breaking box office haul surprised Boonnitipat, who initially agreed to return to help with the family business after making one film. “As filmmakers, our profession is not very solid. I said yes to helping with the family business before I even finished the film,” he adds.

He first felt that the film could be bigger than he imagined after it was a success in Indonesia. “Everyone told me the film would be successful in Chinese-speaking countries or with ethnically Chinese audiences,” he adds. “But in Indonesia, where most people are not Chinese and also follow the Muslim religion, the fact that they responded to the film in such a personal way made me feel that the film had something universal about it and would be successful in other countries as well.”

“People told me that the film healed their families and hearts, or they told me how they felt about a loved one,” he adds.

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