Mei Ren Yu

Production Budget Analysis

What was the production budget for The Mermaid?

Directed by Stephen Chow, with Lin Yun, Deng Chao, Zhang Yuqi leading the cast, The Mermaid was produced by Alpha Pictures with a confirmed budget of $60,720,000, placing it in the mid-budget category for comedy films.

With a $60,720,000 budget, The Mermaid sits in the mid-range of studio releases. Marketing costs for a wide release at this level typically add $30–60 million, putting the break-even point near $151,800,000.

Budget Comparison — Similar Productions

• 2 Guns (2013): Budget $61,000,000 | Gross $131,940,411 → ROI: 116% • Gone Girl (2014): Budget $61,000,000 | Gross $370,890,259 → ROI: 508% • 15 Minutes (2001): Budget $60,000,000 | Gross $56,359,980 → ROI: -6% • Almost Famous (2000): Budget $60,000,000 | Gross $47,386,287 → ROI: -21% • Analyze That (2002): Budget $60,000,000 | Gross $55,003,135 → ROI: -8%

Key Budget Allocation Categories

▸ Talent Salaries & Producing Deals Established comedic talent can command $15–20 million per film, with top-tier stars earning even more through producing credits and backend deals. Comedy ensembles multiply this cost across several well-known performers.

▸ Production & Location Filming While comedies generally avoid the VFX costs of action films, location shooting in recognizable cities or exotic locales adds meaningful production expense.

▸ Marketing & P&A (Prints & Advertising) Comedies rely heavily on marketing to build opening-weekend momentum. Studios typically spend 50–100% of the production budget on marketing, with comedy trailers and social media campaigns being particularly expensive.

Key Production Personnel

CAST: Lin Yun, Deng Chao, Zhang Yuqi, Show Lo, Tsui Hark Key roles: Lin Yun as Mermaid Shan; Deng Chao as Liu Xuan; Zhang Yuqi as Ruolan; Show Lo as Brother Eight

DIRECTOR: Stephen Chow CINEMATOGRAPHY: Choi Sung-Fai MUSIC: Wendyz Zheng, Raymond Wong Ying-Wah EDITING: Cheung Ka-Fai, Jack Tang Man-To PRODUCTION: Alpha Pictures, Star Overseas, Shanghai New Culture Media Group Co Ltd, Beijing Enlight Pictures, China Film Group Corporation FILMED IN: China, Hong Kong

Box Office Performance

The Mermaid earned $3,232,685 domestically and $550,577,543 internationally, for a worldwide total of $553,810,228. International markets drove the majority of revenue (99%), indicating strong global appeal.

Break-Even Analysis

Using the industry-standard 2.5x multiplier (P&A + exhibitor shares of 40–50% + distribution fees), The Mermaid needed approximately $151,800,000 to break even. The film surpassed this threshold by $402,010,228.

Return on Investment (ROI)

Revenue: $553,810,228 Budget: $60,720,000 Net: $493,090,228 ROI: 812.1%

Detailed Box Office Notes

Buoyed by anticipation from fans as well as having the advantage of opening a day after the Chinese New Year, The Mermaid earned an opening day record of US$40.9 million, at the time this was the biggest opening day for a Chinese film and the second biggest of all time there behind the opening day of Furious 7. US$1 million came from midnight screenings. The film set a record for the fastest film to earn (US$152.4 million), doing so within four days of release, and also recorded the largest five-day gross receipts (US$187.3 million). Through its seven-day opening week, it grossed US$275.1 million, breaking records for the biggest seven-day gross and the biggest opening week of all time in China (breaking the record of Furious 7), and the third biggest of all time, behind Hollywood films Star Wars: The Force Awakens (US$390.8 million) and Jurassic World (US$296.2 million). It grossed US$120.4 million alone for the three-day opening weekend (Friday to Sunday), the biggest of all time in China and the second biggest three-day gross behind the Saturday-to-Monday gross of Furious 7. This along with From Vegas to Macau III (US$119 million) and The Monkey King 2 (US$116 million) helped the Chinese box office to break the Guinness World Record for the biggest box office week with $548 million from 8 – 14 February 2016.

On 19 February 2016 – 12 days after release – the film became the highest-grossing film in China with , overtaking the previous record holder, Furious 7. In its second weekend, its receipts fell by 53% to US$55.9 million from 155,704 screenings for a 14-day total of US$419.2 million. On 26 February, it was announced that The Mermaid had grossed three billion yuan (US$459 million) on its 19th day since release in mainland China. It was the first film ever to launch the three-billion-yuan club in China's film industry and set a new milestone. On 5 March, it became the first film to gross over in China and the seventh overall in a single territory. The Mermaid grossed 3.39 billion yuan (US$525 million) in China, Due to its success, its theatrical release in China was extended to June 2016.

The film also found success outside of China, scoring the largest opening day of all time for a Chinese film both in Malaysia ($838,000) and in Singapore ($528,000).

Profitability Assessment

VERDICT: Highly Profitable

The Mermaid was a clear financial success, generating $553,810,228 worldwide against a $60,720,000 production budget — a 812% ROI. After estimated marketing costs, the film still delivered substantial profit to Alpha Pictures.

INDUSTRY IMPACT

The outsized success of The Mermaid likely influenced studio greenlight decisions for similar comedy projects.

Records: Crossed the $500M worldwide threshold, placing it among the top-grossing films of 2016.

PRODUCTION NOTES

▸ Filming & Locations

The Mermaid began filming in October 2014, with shoots taking place in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dongguan, and in Beijing. Before the filming, confirmed cast members include Deng Chao, Show Lo, Zhang Yuqi, and newcomer Lin Yun was from a talent contest held specifically for The Mermaid in Shenzhen.

The film's production was a well-kept secret. A major set was built up in a large factory, which was used once for glass production, in Shenzhen as the shelter of mermaids in the film. Reports say that most of the scenes in his latest film have been shot more than 50 times to meet his exacting standards. Chow has even personally coached most of the cast on acting-from lead stars Deng, Zhang Yuqi and Lin Yun to Show Lo, as well as other cast members. To get the best result, Chow once let Deng Chao and Lin Yun eat 150 roasted chickens for shooting a scene.

Filming wrapped up in Beijing on 2 February 2015,

[Filming] The Mermaid began filming in October 2014, with shoots taking place in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dongguan, and in Beijing. Before the filming, confirmed cast members include Deng Chao, Show Lo, Zhang Yuqi, and newcomer Lin Yun was from a talent contest held specifically for The Mermaid in Shenzhen.

The film's production was a well-kept secret. A major set was built up in a large factory, which was used once for glass production, in Shenzhen as the shelter of mermaids in the film. Reports say that most of the scenes in his latest film have been shot more than 50 times to meet his exacting standards. Chow has even personally coached most of the cast on acting-from lead stars Deng, Zhang Yuqi and Lin Yun to Show Lo, as well as other cast members. To get the best result, Chow once let Deng Chao and Lin Yun eat 150 roasted chickens for shooting a scene.

Filming wrapped up in Beijing on 2 February 2015,

▸ Music & Score

The theme song of The Mermaid is titled "Invincible". The song was written and composed by Stephen Chow and performed by Deng Chao. Film score composer Raymond Wong (Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle, CJ7 and Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons) made the arrangement, while the music producer Patrick Tsang (who produced records for Faye Wong, Eason Chan and more) mixed it. The song also has a music video in which Deng Chao sings in studio while Stephen Chow, Kris Wu and Lin Yun appear to sing the song too. Their vocals are never heard as there is only one vocal track by Deng.

Adam Cheng, Lin Yun, Stephen Chow and Karen Mok appeared at a press conference in Beijing on 18 January 2016, to release the promotional song "You Are the Best in the World" for the film. The song is Cheng and Mok's cover of the popular old song from the 1983 TV series "The Legend of the Condor Heroes." The music video of "You Are the Best in the World" shows a duet by Adam Cheng and Karen Mok with Stephen Chow adding background vocals.

▸ Marketing & Release

Stephen Chow was on a 20-city tour in China to promote The Mermaid, including many fan meetings. Nine companies, including China Film Group, Hehe (Shanghai) Pictures and Enlight Media, invested in the production, while four companies, Star Overseas, Hehe Pictures, Maxtimes Culture, and Union (Beijing) Pictures collaborated in terms of marketing and promotion.

On 24 May 2016, Stephen Chow, Deng Chao and Lin Yun joined Chinese government ministers in Wellington for a screening of The Mermaid as the opening of the "New Zealand China Film Week" at New Zealand's national museum to bring cultural exchange between the China and New Zealand film-making communities.

There were three trailers released before The Mermaid's debut. In the first trailer, the tycoon, played by Deng Chao, tells police that he has met and been kidnapped by a mermaid. In its final 90-second trailer released on 31 January 2016, it showed the love story between Liu Xuan and Shan, the two main characters, as well as the killing and hunting of the mermaids. An interesting twist and a historical link was seen in the second trailer, where there was a clue hinting at legendary Chinese mariner Zheng He's voyages in the 15th century.

Chow also adopted "hunger marketing" this time to maintain high secrecy and mystery by not letting anyone, including theater managers and film critics, see the film in advance at any premieres until it actually opened in theaters.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Summary: 8 wins & 14 nominations total

Additional Recognition: ! colspan="6" style="background: LightSteelBlue;" | List of awards and nominations

! Award ! Date of ceremony ! Category ! Recipient(s) ! Result ! class="unsortable"|

CRITICAL RECEPTION

Response to the film was generally positive. It earned a 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 37 critic reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Mermaid requires a willingness to embrace the strange, but backs up its wacky flights of fancy with a big-hearted fairy tale and a resonant message." It earned a 69% score on Metacritic.

Glenn Kenny of The New York Times noted that The Mermaid is "no ordinary fantastical rom-com…encompassing as it does weaponized sea urchins, incredibly delicious roasted chickens, man-octopus self-mutilation and other comic oddities." Bilge Ebiri of New York Magazine praised the film, saying that it's "amazing how distinctive and strange Mermaid manages to be, especially given the highly derivative concept - how personal it feels, amid all the absurdist, go-for-broke humor. It deserves to be seen." Dylan Kickham of Entertainment Weekly thought the film was "at its best when embracing the ridiculous, no-holds-barred, farcical comedy that Chow had become known for, thanks to films like Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer. From the start, and throughout the middle of the movie, Chow and his actors present a full-force farce." Simon Abrams of RogerEbert.com noted that "It doesn't matter if you don't like subtitles. It doesn't matter if you've never heard of the director. It doesn't matter if you've never seen a Chinese movie in your life. It will make you laugh. Guaranteed." South China Morning Post film critic Ben Sin gave the film three out of five stars and described it as "a solid dramedy with heart and, more importantly, a message", though he opined that, being Chow's second film where he stayed behind the camera, it "has to be disappointing to Hongkongers".