[2022.07.17] CHILLI LAUGH STORY MAKES OVER 5 MILLION AFTER 2 DAYS

courtesy of singtao.com

CHILLI LAUGH STORY opens with HK$ 1.33 million at the box office, crushing THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER and its HK$ 1.22 million

Ronald Cheng, Sandra Ng and director Coba Cheng carry a 500 balloon to promote at the movies

Matthew Chow on his online program says that the film company doesn't hope to make money, just hope not to lose any
courtesy of mingpao.com

Sandra Ng Kwan Yu, Ronald Cheng Chung Kei, Edan Lui Cheuk On, and Gigi Leung Wing Kei starred CHILLI LAUGH STORY (HOP GA LAT) opened last Thursday (the 14th) and defeated THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER at the box office. CHILLI LAUGH STORY with its advanced screenings and two day cumulative box office made over HK$ 5 million. With many booked shows, it would likely break HK$ 10 million. Ng Kwan Yu and Cheng Chung Kei today would attend the Hong Kong Film Award. The former would vie for Best Actress with ZERO TO HERO (MAMA DIK SUN KEI SIU JI), while Cheng Chung Kei would be a guest presenter. They jokingly that they secretly plotted to "hijack" the award show and promote CHILLI LAUGH STORY on and off stage.

Ng Kwan Yu and Cheng Chung Kei two nights ago along with the CHILL LAUGH STORY director Coba Cheng Chun Hin went to three shows to show their appreciation to the audience. The audience response was enthusiastic. Some said that they have already watched it 6 times and asked when would the sequel begin production. Some even jokingly asked them about the "Alan eats fans" story in the film. Producer and star Ng Kwan Yu hoped that the film would break HK$ 10 million in its first week. Cheng Chung Kei said, "Our goal is to reach 700 million."

Cheng Chung Kei revealed after receiving the CHILLI LAUGH STORY (HOP GA LAT) script, he kept getting disturbing calls from producer Ng Kwan Yu. "Every time she called she would ask whether I read the script yet. Finally she told me, don't bother, just take the role!" Kwan Yu said that she left the script at the lobby of where Cheng Chung Kei lived and wrote "For Mr. Cheng." "He really liked this story, he already agreed to take it within 24 hours." The Hong Kong Film Award would take place tonight. Ng Kwan Yu said that she would experience the atmosphere in person and promote CHILLI LAUGH STORY to friends on site. She suggested for Cheng Chung Kei to take advantage of the opportunity to promote when he would present an award. "We should coordinate, the first thing he should do on stage is to talk (about the movie)." She joked that next year she wanted to win Best Supporting Actress with this film. Cheng Chung Kei said that she should aim for Best Film.

CHILLI LAUGH STORY opened on July 14th. Its opening day box office was over HK$ 1.32 million, crushing the over one week long release of THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER's single day take of HK$ 1.22 million. This year the Hong Kong film box office has been average in the first half. According to the Hong Kong Box Office Co. Ltd.'s first run movie box office performance from January 1st to June 30th, 73 films were released and only 6 were Hong Kong films. Due to the pandemic, the cinemas closed for business for 104 days. When operation resumed on April 21st the admission amount was also restricted. None of the 6 Hong Kong films were able to pass HK$ 1 million mark at the box office. In first place was BREAKOUT BROTHERS 3 (TOH YUK HING DAI 3) with around HK$ 710,000.

Two nights ago CHILLI LAUGH STORY's executive producer Matthew Chow Hoi Kwong on his online program talked about the difficulties of Hong Kong film. He said that CHILLI's box office has been decent, but the boss actually has not made money yet. They only hoped not to lose any. Speaking of the film's original Lunar New Year scheduled release, their WhatsApp group was full of momentum and said that they wanted to sweep up all the shows. Yet with the fifth wave of pandemic, the group has been quiet for almost two months. Everyone did not dare to even say any comforting word. The release now was due to good luck. He also said that when the audience went to see CHILLI, they wanted to see how they endured until this summer slot to be able to say Gung Hei Fat Choi to everyone.