China’s latest box office hit is a satire on Big Tech work culture

The most popular movie in China so far this year is a comedy that strikes a chord with anyone who has worked at a Big Tech firm, where daily pressures include a gruelling work schedule, worries about lay-offs, and just trying to stay on the right side of office politics.

The film, called Johnny Keep Walking!, tells the story of a blue-collar worker who is mistakenly offered an administrative job at a famous company, leading to a clash between his working-class background and the corporate culture.

It has raked in 987 million yuan (US$134 million) at the box office since its release on December 29, overtaking the China hauls of Hollywood superhero movie Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom and concert film Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, according to data from online ticketing platform Maoyan Entertainment.

Dong Runnian, who wrote and directed the film, said that when he started working on the story in 2017, lay-offs were not the subject of “widespread concern and discussion” as they are now, according to an interview with Chinese media The Paper earlier this month.

Chinese Big Tech, including e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, social media and gaming titan Tencent Holdings and search and artificial intelligence champion Baidu, have all embraced strategies to “cut costs and improve efficiency”, a term that hints at staff reductions, amid a weak economy.

In the 12 months through June 2023, Post owner Alibaba and Tencent reduced their workforces by a combined 23,000 people. Baidu’s core business hired 36,300 people in calendar 2022, 3,300 fewer than a year before. However, the changes in total staff numbers were not entirely the result of job cuts, as the companies also underwent significant business shifts.

Besides lay-offs, Johnny Keep Walking! draws from other workplace issues, such as impressing the boss by being willing to work overtime, and whether employees should take an English name or use their Chinese names.