The late “Macau Gambling King” Stanley Ho’s 33-year-old daughter, Laurinda Ho, spent millions of yuan to star in and produce her debut film “How Much I Want to See You Again”. The movie premiered on the 14th but only grossed 160,000 yuan in presale tickets on the first day.
According to reports from mainland media, this week the Chinese film market welcomed 10 new movies, among which “How Much I Want to See You Again” garnered considerable attention. The producer list of the film includes Fu Ruoqing, the chairman of the China Film Group directly under the Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party, with Hong Kong film veteran Eric Tsang in charge, starring popular mainland actor Ci Sha, who gained fame from “The Gods”, and also featuring Julian Cheung, Benjamin Yuen, and Alec Su, creating a star-studded cast.
The film is said to be a patriotic-themed movie, revolving around the love story spanning 20 years between mainland boy Qiao Mingzhuang (played by Ci Sha) and Macau girl Shanti (played by Laurinda Ho). The Chinese Communist Party’s official media “People’s Daily” proclaimed the film as a “25th Anniversary of Macau’s Return to the Motherland gift”.
Reportedly, the production cost of the film exceeded 100 million yuan, with Laurinda Ho’s own company being one of the production entities, indicating she funded the movie out of her own pocket.
Despite high-profile promotion on social media by Laurinda Ho, with many mainland celebrities forwarding the film poster to show support, stirring up chatter about her influential connections and making her a trending topic, the film seems to have failed to ignite audience interest. With presale ticket revenue of only 160,000 yuan on the opening day and a single-day box office of just 1 million yuan from 8,037 screenings on the 14th, the reception has been underwhelming. Predictions suggest the final box office revenue may not surpass 10 million yuan.
Laurinda Ho, who comes from a business background, has delved into the entertainment industry in recent years. In 2023, she married Canadian-Chinese actor Du Xiao, who works in mainland China, and has since appeared on various variety shows.
The Chinese film market has been facing challenges this year, with many movies failing to recoup their costs and some suffering substantial losses, with reports of box office disappointments almost daily. Regarding the box office performance of “How Much I Want to See You Again”, some believe the film reflects the awkwardness of this year’s Lunar New Year film releases, while some netizens mock that regardless of the film’s quality, Laurinda Ho’s debut work during the Lunar New Year period is seen as “the rich second generation playing around for fun”.