Grossing more than 2 billion yuan in nine days, Stephen Chow’s The Mermaid set to become mainland China’s highest-grossing film ever

Stephen Chow Sing-chi’s The Mermaid is on its way to becoming mainland China’s highest-grossing film of all time, after smashing Lunar New Year box office records in the mainland and Hong Kong.

But critics say the film’s rare success in both Hong Kong and mainland markets is a worrying sign as the city has failed to produce another generation of talent that could live up to Chow, and the on-going Hong Kong-mainland tension will divide movie audiences in the two places further.

The fantasy romantic comedy has grossed more than 2 billion yuan (HK$2.4 billion) in nine days, and industry insiders tipped the film to surpass last year’s record 2.4 billion yuan taken by Monster Hunt. That was the highest-grossing mainland film of all time, a fantasy action comedy directed by Hongkonger Raman Hui.

The Mermaid, produced by Beijing Enlight Pictures and China Film Group, opened on February 8 with 276 million yuan, an opening record for a Chinese-language film in mainland China.

It opened on the same day in Hong Kong an took HK$4.9 million, breaking the HK$4.4 million opening day record that Chow set with his action comedy Kung Fu Hustle. The Mermaid had taken HK$28.1 million as of February 14, just behind this week’s champion Deadpool, which grossed HK$28.9 million.

Critics said the success of The Mermaid, which tells a story revolving around the themes of property hegemony and environmental issues, was a rare case. They said in most cases, films which succeeded in the mainland market failed in the city, even if they were helmed by Hong Kong filmmakers.