In the face of a sluggish film market, Andy Lau recently disclosed during an interview that in order to have sufficient production budget for the movie “The Hunt for Gold Game,” all actors in the cast are only receiving one-third of their usual salaries, a drastic reduction that has surprised many.
The Hong Kong finance-themed film “The Hunt for Gold Game,” produced by Andy Lau and Lin Xiaoqiang, written and directed by Qiu Litao, stars Andy Lau, Wilfred Lau, and mainland Chinese actress Ni Ni. The movie was released in Hong Kong on May 8. The film revolves around financial master Zhang Tuo (Andy Lau) and his partner Gao Han (Wilfred Lau) manipulating the market behind the scenes, while Anna (Ni Ni) is forced into dark dealings and becomes the next target of capital. Helen Li (Huang Yi), following the stock market trend, leads it toward an unpredictable direction. In the swirling vortex of capital flows, a long-planned investment trap is about to unfold.
Before filming “The Hunt for Gold Game,” Andy Lau and Qiu Litao had previously collaborated on crime and police action films like “The White Storm 2: Drug Lords” and the “Shock Wave” series. When asked about their decision to film a finance-themed movie, Andy Lau mentioned during the interview with Qiu Litao, “If this film had explosions or action scenes, the investors would have more confidence in its commercial success. Without these elements, maybe it’s like going from giving $10 to $2.”
Andy Lau implied that the production budget for “The Hunt for Gold Game” is only 20% of the cost of their previous collaborations in action films. He admitted, “I’m not afraid to reveal that all of us are only getting one-third of our usual salaries, reallocating resources to the production budget to complete this work.”
However, Andy Lau also jokingly remarked, “Apart from reducing my remuneration for this movie, the fees I receive for other films are quite substantial.”
In fact, Andy Lau’s starring film “The Red Carpet Gentlemen” last year had dismal box office performance, earning only 73 million yuan in the first five days since its release on New Year’s Day. Seeing the unfavorable trend, the production team immediately decided to withdraw the film from the Lunar New Year screenings. Upon its re-release on March 15, the box office numbers were even bleaker, with only 2.45 million on the first day and dropping to 2 million the next day.
According to financial data released by the production company “Joyful Media,” the production cost of “The Red Carpet Gentlemen” was 260 million yuan, including a production fee of 20.86 million yuan, director Ning Hao’s fee of 24.6 million yuan, and the lead actor Andy Lau’s salary of 60.7 million yuan. With the final box office revenue failing to exceed 100 million yuan, the losses are estimated to exceed 230 million yuan. Even though the revenue sharing was insufficient to cover Andy Lau’s salary alone, the payment to the actors had already been settled.
In recent years, Hong Kong has seen numerous mid-to-low-budget films, such as Lau Ching Wan’s award-winning film “Father” and the film that marked Sammi Cheng’s first post-award win, “Floating Petals.” While Andy Lau is interested in participating in similar small-scale productions, he feels that his status as a “Heavenly King” could potentially hinder him, as he appears to be concerned about the existing perceptions from the public and viewers.
Earlier, the Hong Kong Film Workers Association held the 2025 Spring Gala, where the association’s president Louis Koo, in response to questions about the industry’s cold winter, voiced concerns about the outlook. Louis Koo mentioned that reducing salaries is not the current issue, but the lack of investment in the industry, suggesting a more severe situation.