It is not always that only high-budget and expensive movies turn out to be a blockbuster. Sometimes tables are turned when good quality but low-budget movies enter the ring. There are signs that blockbusters with A-list directors are actors are losing power in the Chinese entertainment industry. Chinese audiences are instead looking toward small-budget productions by young up-and-coming directors.
Here is a list of some small-budget Chinese movies that made it big.
1. Lost In Thailand (2012)
Director: Xu Zheng
Budget: $4.6 million
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Adventure
Release Date: December 12, 2012
This low-budget and domestically produced comedy movie became the highest-grossing Chinese film in a short time, grossing about US$208 million. The set takes place in Thailand, where three men link up with a tourist to explore the country. This movie has slapstick comedy and action scenes.
2. Black Coal, Thin Ice (2014)
Chinese title: Bai Ri Yan Hua
Director: Diao Yinan
Budget: $3.22 million
Genre: Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Release Date: March 21, 2014
"Black Coal, Thin Ice" is a Chinese production success that won the Golden Bear award for best film at the Berlin International Film Festival. A cop and his partner, whose careers ended in shame because of a series of murders, decide to investigate them again when identical murders begin.
3. Four Springs (2019)
Director: Lu Qingyi
Gross Worldwide: $ 1.5 million
Genre: Documentary, Family, Music
Release Date: January 4, 2019
Four Springs was nominated for the best documentary film award and Best Editing at the 55th Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and won the best documentary. Four Springs presented the daily life of a family in a remote town. This movie shows the state of being of the two main characters and their attitude when facing irretrievable loss in life.
4. A Cool Fish
Director: Rao Xiaozhi
Box Office: $90.1 million
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Release Date: November 16, 2018
A Cool Fish is the second feature-length film by Rao Xiaozhi. Two lowly robbers, a security guard, and a tough-tongued woman living on different tracks come together by mistake because of a lost gun. A Cool Fish is a film full of comedy with cause-and-effect tragedy ensuing.
5. Dying To Survive (2018)
Chinese Title: Wo Bu Shi Yao Shen
Director: Wen Muye
Budget: $10.9 million
Box Office: $453 million
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Release Date: July 5, 2018
Dying to Survive is directed by Wen Muye in his film debut and stars Xu Zheng, co-producer with Ning Hao. This film is about the real-life story of a Chinese leukemia patient, Lu Yong, who smuggled cheap and generic-cancer medicine.
6. Finding Mr. Right (2013)
Chinese Title: Bei Jing Yu Shang Xi Ya Tu
Director: Xue Xiaolu
Budget: $5 million
Box Office: $84.4 million
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Release Date: February 14, 2013
Finding Mr. Right is a 2013 romantic comedy that was a box-office hit. The Chinese title translates as "Beijing meets Seattle." A city girl travels to Seattle to give birth to the child of her rich and married boyfriend. But upon reaching, poor things start happening to her, she can't connect to her boyfriend on the phone, and the credit card stops working. She gets stuck with two other pregnant women in a small house and her driver, her only company, the opposite of everything she wanted in a man.
7. No Man's Land (2013)
Director: Ning Hao
Budget: $5 million
Box Office: $42.6 million
Genre: Adventure, Crime, Drama
Release Date: December 3, 2013
No Man's Land, a film made on a budget, ended up grossing over $42.6 million at the Chinese Box Office. It was a nomination for the Golden Bear award at the Berlin International Film Festival. No Man's Land is a story of a young lawyer who travels from the city to the Gobi Desert, where he embarks on adventures and challenges.
8. So Young (2013)
Director: Zhao Wei
Budget: $ 5 million
Box Office: $118 million
Genre: Drama, Romance
Release Date: April 26, 2013
So Young is a Chinese Drama film based on the best-selling novel 'To Our Youth that is Fading Away' by Xin Yiwu. Zheng Wei, an 18-year-old, enters the college and encounters a world and life she never experienced before; a world of new friendship and love. With her new dormitory friends, she embarks on a new university life of Youth, finding it not as simple as she hoped.
9. Breakup Buddies (2014)
Chinese title: Xin Hua Lu Fang
Director: Ning Hao
Box Office: $ 195 million
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Release Date: September 30, 2014
Breakup Buddies is a Chinese romantic comedy and road film. It is one of the highest-grossing films in China. A hapless singer, recently cuckolded and reeling from his divorce, hits the road and the bar with his best bud.
10. Ne Zha (2019)
Chinese Title: Ne Zha Mo Tong Jiang Shi
Director: Jiaozi
Budget: $20 million
Box Office: $742 million
Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
Release Date: July 13, 2019
Nezha is a Chinese 3D computer-animated fantasy film. Featuring the popular Chinese mythological character, Nezha, the plot is from the classic novel Investiture of the Gods. It became the second worldwide highest-grossing non-English film. Nezha, a boy born with unique powers, is recruited to fight demons and save the people that fear him.
