[2026.02.22] PHILIP YUNG ASKS IF NIGHT KING IS HOGGING THE THEATER SCHEDULE

Edan Lui gathers with his family, of course his sister would be there
courtesy of on.cc

Some online screen captures THE SNOWBALL ON A SUNNY DAY and NIGHT KING's shows at the theater. The two films have drastically different. SNOWBALL director Philip Yung reposts the photo and expresses his displeasure

Edan Lui has been promoting THE SNOWBALL ON A SUNNY DAY actively as he watches the movie again with his family at the theater
courtesy of mingpao.com

The Philip Yung Tsz Kwong directed Lunar New Year film THE SNOWBALL ON A SUNNY DAY (GUM DOR BO) starred Elaine Jin (Kam Yin Ling), Chung Suet Ying, Guy group MIRROR member Edan Lui Cheuk On and others. The film opened on the 13th and as of two nights ago it surpassed the HK$ 8 million mark, but its box office and shows are quite a distance from the Dayo Wong Tze Wah and Sammi Cheng Sau Man starred Lunar New Year film NIGHT KING (YEH WONG). Yung Tsz Kwong discovered that after a week in release, SNOWBALL shows have become "heaven and earth shows" at some theaters. He expressed his displeasure on social platform. "What happened to the win-win for Hong Kong films we agreed to?", "Does this count as film scheduling hogging?" He said that he only wanted to have the space to survive, and for viewers who wanted to watch to be able to.

Yung Tsz Kwong mobilized his own money and took out loans to make THE SNOWBALL ON A SUNNY DAY. Earlier during promotions he revealed that it would have to reach HK$ 30 million to break even. At the time he was still confident from the trend, hoped to be able to make a little profit, be able to continue to start productions and support young directors. THE SNOWBALL ON A SUNNY DAY as for two nights ago exceeded HK$ 8 million at the box office, while NIGHT KING continued to sustain its advantage with over HK$ 35 million as of yesterday morning.

Yung Tsz Kwong two days ago reposted screen captures from another online on social platforms. In them the differences between shows of THE SNOWBALL ON A SUNNY DAY and NIGHT KING at two theaters could be seen. The original poster wrote, "On the rare occasion of returning to Hong Kong for the Lunar New Year, I thought I would bring the two elders to watch the Lunar New Year film THE SNOWBALL ON A SUNNY DAY and took a look at the Lunar 4th schedule. What? There were only 8:20 AM and 00:40 AM shows? Didn't the movie just open? Why didn't it have any normal schedule, yet NIGHT KING is scheduled so tightly. Hey, can theater operators give back more choices to the audience?"

Yung Tsz Kwong was upset and posted, "I understood that it is a business, but our admission rate has not been embarrassing. Actually we only hope to safeguard the second place that cannot threaten the box office champion. Yet......does this count as schedule hogging?" He then again, "8 something in the morning and 12 something in the early morning, then sparing a 1 something afternoon show. One movie has 27 shows a day, the other has 2 a day. What happened to the win-win for Hong Kong films we agreed to? Didn't we ask everyone to watch all the Lunar New Year films? We have opened for less than a week, with an average daily box office of over 1 million. Do we deserved this treatment? We only want to have the space to survive, for viewers who want to watch us to be able to." Yung Tsz Kwong's post led to discussions online. Some posted that the problem was with certain cinema circuits, other circuits still had many SNOWBALL shows daily; some also pointed out that the business has to make money to operate, let the market decide.

On the other hand, Lui Cheuk On has been promoting the Lunar New Year movie he starred in THE SNOWBALL ON A SUNNY DAY hard, which attracted a large number of fans to come to support him. Yet recently some posted online that they took the elderly to watch the show that day and bumped into Edan's arrival, because they did not want to keep people from taking pictures they stopped. However they were treated rudely by fans who were anxious to enter; and pointed out that some fans walked around talking on the phone after the show started, which seriously affected other audiences. Edan hurriedly left a message to apologize on behalf of the fans when he saw the post. "I'm sorry for affecting your and the elders' viewing experience. Most of them are very well-behaved, and I will remind everyone. I hope there will be no similar situation again." The people online also accepted the apology and thanked Edan for responding personally.

In addition, Edan recently uploaded a photo from the New Year's dinner with his family and claimed that he was his grandmother's "Snowball" as he took the opportunity to promote the movie while showing his warmth.