Themes of family, love, and duty in How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies have resonated with audiences around the world. Thai blockbuster How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, one of the 15 films shortlisted under the International Feature Film category at the Oscars, will be released in cinemas across the UK and Ireland next week.
The only Southeast Asian film shortlisted in its category, How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies has been a hit both at the domestic box office and with critics. Grossing an estimated $78.3m worldwide, the film has become the highest-grossing Thai film of 2024 and eleventh-highest of all time in the country even, as well as breaking box office records in other Asian countries.
The family drama is Thai director Pat Boonnitipat‘s feature film debut, and follows a cancer-stricken woman named Mengju (Usha Seamkhum) and her college dropout grandson M (Putthipong ‘Billkin’ Assaratanakul), who volunteers to take care of her in the hope of an inheritance. There are others also in the running: Mengju’s conscientious daughter and single parent to M, Sew (Sarinrat Thomas), well-to-do son Kiang (Sanya Kunakorn), and youngest son Soei (Pongsatorn Jongwilas), who desperately needs money to pay off his gambling debts.
The film was released in Thailand on 4 April and released internationally in competition at the 23rd New York Asian Film Festival on 17 July. It came to the attention of a broader audience online earlier this year after Tiktokers posted videos of themselves crying after watching the film.
