The romantic comedy production Honey Money Phony – filmed in Macau by Wanda Film Holding Co., Ltd. and centered on online and phone scams – generated some 368 million yuan ($50.3 million) since its premiere in mainland China cinemas on December 31st, 2024, making it the second-highest-grossing film this year so far.
The film plot revolves around a girl in Macau – depicted in the film as the fictional city of Aogang – who accidentally incurs a massive debt, and crosses paths with a con man who ends up helping her get back at another con man who tricked her into a “love scam”.
Directed by Biao Su, and stars mainland actors Chen Jin, Sunny Sun, and Xueqin Li, with most main tourist attractions and areas, including several Sands China properties, featured in the movie.
The results come after Wands Films released its performance forecast for 2024, predicting a net loss attributable to shareholders of the listed company between 850 million and 950 million yuan.
This marks a sharp decline from a profit of 910 million yuan reported during the same period last year.
The company attributed this downturn to a sluggish film market and asset impairments. A shortage of major film releases has significantly impacted national box office revenues, which fell by 22.6 percent year-on-year, while the number of moviegoers decreased by 22.3 percent.
Wanda Film’s domestic cinema box office revenue also faced a decline, dropping by 24.3 percent year-on-year, with attendance figures falling by 23.7 percent. Despite achieving nearly 1.9 times the national average in single-screen output, high fixed costs have led to financial losses in the cinema sector.
Additionally, the overall recovery of the film industry has not met expectations, prompting Wanda Film to conduct impairment tests on various assets. As a result, the company has made provisions for impairment totaling approximately 700 million to 800 million yuan.
Despite these challenges, Wanda Film has continued to achieve success in film investment, production, and distribution.
Notable films produced by the company during the reporting period, such as “Peacekeeping Riot Team,” “Catching Dolls,” “White Snake: The Afterlife,” “Kidnapping 3,” and “I Don’t Want to Be Friends with You,” have all turned a profit and garnered box office success during key release windows.
Looking ahead to 2025, Wanda Film maintains an optimistic outlook for the film market, with several major releases already scheduled for the Spring Festival.
China’s advanced ticket bookings for movies set to be released during the upcoming Spring Festival holiday have exceeded 235 million yuan as of 3 p.m. Monday, marking a strong start for the world’s second-largest film market this year.
The annual Spring Festival holiday is one of China’s most lucrative movie-going seasons, running from Jan. 28 to Feb. 4 this year, one day longer than in previous years.
In addition to its own productions, including “Detective Chinatown 1900” and “Boonie Bears: Rebooting the Future,” Wands is planning to release other blockbusters like “Nezha: The Devil’s Child,” “The Investiture of the Gods Part II: War in the West,” “The Legend of the Condor Heroes: The Great Hero,” and “Operation Dragon.”
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