Thai film How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies sparks TikTok trend featuring lots of crying

If there is one thing Thai filmmakers are so darn good at, it's dramatic storytelling. Over the weekend, this writer was inundated with friends raving about the latest Thai film to hit our shores, with many proclaiming it as "the best film I have watched this year!".

How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies follows a teenage university dropout who quits his game-caster job to care for his grandma who is diagnosed with end-stage cancer.

The lead’s intention is made clear in the film’s title.

But what was most fascinating was the number of moviegoers who hopped on a TikTok trend of recording their reactions before, during and after watching the tearjerker.

Needless to say, netizens who caught the film said many tissues were used during the two-hour film.

One even advised: “Bring many boxes of tissue if you are going to watch this movie.”

Another visibly emotional user even hilariously said he heard a number of people bawling their eyes out throughout the film.

“You are not human if you don’t cry during and after watching the show,” said a red-eyed TikToker as he left the theatre.

In one video, another netizen was also seen leaving the cinema teary-eyed saying, “Don’t watch if you don’t want to cry."

In Thailand, the film grossed 250 million baht (US$6.8 million) in the first 14 days of its release.

Since its release here last Thursday (May 30), local cinema operator Golden Village said the film has earned more than S$330,000 and it had the biggest opening weekend ever for a Thai film in Singapore.

How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies is also seen doing well regionally, and at press time is the second biggest Asian title in Indonesia of all time with two million admissions in 13 days.

This story was originally published in 8Days.